A Day in Aviation & Transit with Lizzie Molnar

Step Away From the Desk

Not everyone wants to sit at a desk from 9 to 5 every day. If you’d like more flexibility and freedom in your work, consider a career in hospitality and tourism. There are many pathways to success that prioritize activity and variety over sedentary routine.

That’s what Elizabeth “Lizzie” Molnar discovered when she took a job as Flight Coordinator with Otter Air Services, a boutique air charter service operating out of the Gerald R. Ford International Airport. She spends part of her workdays at a desk, but she also greets passengers at the gate, helps them with their bags, serves drinks and snacks, inventories aircraft, and performs various other tasks throughout Otter’s private hangar and lounge.  

“This job gets me up and moving throughout the day,” Lizzie says. “I’m not just tied to my desk.” She’s not tied to a traditional schedule, either: “I start my day at 11 am and get off at 7 pm.” She says she was never a morning person, and the later start allows her to be much more energized and alive at work. “And I still have a decent amount of my day to get things done” when her workday is over.  

Aviation was not on Lizzie’s radar as a potential career choice while she was pursuing a Bachelor of Business Administration degree at Grand Valley State University. “I did not go to school for anything in the aviation world,” she says. “I actually went to school for business management and hospitality, and never saw aviation as either of those two.”

She had done some work in event planning and was looking for a job along those lines when a family friend forwarded the Otter listing to her. “She thought it would be a great fit for me. But I kind of just dissed it because I had no experience or qualifications for it.”

But the air service job kept nagging at the back of her mind. “It seemed unique and interesting, and I was excited to learn new things as I got out of college. So I thought, the worst thing they can do is say no. I put my application in, got a call back, and here I am.”

Aviation Is Hospitality

Turns out, her academic credentials and real-life experience were very relevant to the flight coordinator role.

“Event planning has a lot of similarities to flight coordinating,” she explains. Managing complex details, building relationships, and staying calm and adaptable when things change are critical to both roles. They also share an end goal of creating engaging experiences for people.

“A lot of customers come to us with requests, and then we go through a kind of event planning stage where we send them the quote. We plan all the logistics and itinerary for the trip. We help with coordinating different vendors, like catering companies, transportation services and customs officers. We schedule our pilots and aircraft. We follow up with invoicing.”

Then there’s the people-facing aspect of the job. “Especially in the private aviation industry, we're constantly forming relationships with our customers, especially our regulars and members. So that's such an important and huge piece of what I do.”

It’s also the piece she loves most. “That’s what drew me to hospitality. I knew I wanted to work with people. I waitressed in the past, I worked for a wedding venue and then some other event stuff. My favorite part of all of those roles was forming relationships with my customers. Regulars, newcomers, I love talking to them all.”

Take a Leap … You Just Might Soar

Lizzie’s advice for hospitality and tourism career-seekers? “Take a chance. Even though you may not have the experience they say they're looking for, sometimes just getting in front of them and showing who you are and what you have to offer can be enough.”

If you do get the job, show up ready to learn. “I was so eager and willing to learn and just take in everything they could teach me. I think that really went a long way. I was able to adapt quickly into my role and just be a useful part of the team from pretty early on, I would say.”

One of the biggest things Lizzie’s learned is just how fast-paced and unpredictable the charter world can be. “Unlike commercial aviation, our trips don’t follow a set schedule; they revolve entirely around the needs and timing of individual clients. What the schedule looks like one day can be completely different from the next. Because of that, I’ve had to quickly learn to trust my instincts, think on my feet and handle challenges in real time. It’s surprised me how well I’ve adapted to that environment and how capable I’ve become at navigating constant change.”

Lizzie intentionally pursued hospitality as a career, but she never dreamed she’d be working in aviation after graduation. Now she understands that aviation jobs focused on the customer experience – from flight coordinators and cabin crews to ground staff and ticketing agents – are a vital part of the hospitality industry.

“I’m so glad I took a chance when I did,’ she says. “I ended up in a field I truly love!”

Hospitality is about relationship-building and problem-solving, not a desk or a 9-5 routine. It also extends beyond hotels and restaurants to other people-first, experience-driven career pathways like aviation – where the sky’s literally the limit for your advancement.