Start your own business.

That way you can travel on your own terms, taking all the ex-EU TP run itineraries to get to whatever conference you want to go. Don't want to go to a meeting? No worries, sent one of your employees instead.

Find out what it is that C.W.S does, beyond sheep farming in the depths of Northumberland, and get into a role like that.

I reckon that threads like this where young people contribute and ask advice brings out the best of us in this forum :)

Whatever you do don't go to the Bar

Oil and Gas has had a very rough last 3 years, you won't be seeing any J travel as a new hire. A phrase I have heard more than once is that "oil is only found in the armpit of the world", i.e. typically not places you'd ever want to visit. Siberia or Ft St John BC in January come to mind, or Saudi in July. Or Oklahoma anytime:p

I've said it here before, but colleagues of mine were sent from Western Canada to Pakistan all in Y, no lounge access and a pair of 12-14 hour layovers in places they didn't have visa's for so ended up sleeping on different airport floors for 2 nights. All because the company has a "lowest fare" travel policy. They said they were walking zombies when they finally got there to negotiate a contract.

It seems that the travel policies in large companies are written by people who have never travelled. They will tear apart your expense account based on what it costs in their city, not what things cost in the places you've been sent. One of mine was they seemed to think that spending more than £50 a night for a hotel in Central London was a criminal waste of company money, and violated the travel policy. I had to send a screen shot showing a hostel at £60 before they begrudgingly accepted my expenses.

My older brother who is an oil tanker captain will confirm that. :D

Interesting feed here. It's an honest question and deserves an honest answer. As someone who does human capital development and corporate training in different continents, I get to travel quite a bit long haul now (crossing the Atlantic or Pacific about once a month from Mexico to Europe or Asia), but rarely above Y+. I'm on track for gold this year, but that's come out of pushing for Y+ where I can and getting some CE if I happen to be in Europe and able to pick up a good fare, e.g. tomorrow flying KRK to LHR in CE because it was 50 quid more than the Y fare. The J+ travelling these days is becoming more and more restricted to senior jobs. It does not mean that all companies are like this, but more people I talk to now are in Y until they reach near to director level. Companies are keen to cut costs and it is not as common as it used to be for companies to pay high fares. This is of course a generalisation and there are companies across a range of industries that will pay the higher fares. At the end of the day, if you are in any industry that is international and you are highly valuable to your firm then you'll have chances to travel. Travel is often a cost, but if you are valuable enough then it becomes an investment.

As for your choice of career, I own my own consultancy that sends people to Masters and PhD's at the world's best unis. If I had a pound for the number of people who chose each university for the wrong reasons (e.g. merely its ranking, location or historical name), I'd be a rich man. Just make sure whatever you choose is your passion and something you feel is your life's goal, not just work.

Hope that helps.

Someone was watching George Clooney in "Up in the Air", I guess.

As a strategy consultant working in development, don't expect to get to GGL if you want to work properly in development.

(I am, however, rapidly approaching Flying Blue Gold - and probably Plat - from (economy) flights around Africa. I keep BA Gold from mostly personal travel. If QR leaves OneWorld, it'll be a struggle to keep it.)

Before fully committing yourself to your studies, have you perhaps considered taking a gap-year and going travelling or even to join the armed forces like the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (officer school)?

+1 to this. As someone who took the path of working first in investment banking (which was policy J class for all trips, F is J was not available) and then shifted to economic development (policy is Y class only unless premium economy is the same cost); it was a painful transition of turning right at the boarding door after years of turning left. I strongly recommend when you are young to experience some of the seating with the masses, so that you can really appreciate business and first when it happens.

In the economic development field, there is also increasing pressure not only to spend less, but not to be seen or perceived as spending more than you need to, which is often translated into economy only. Especially if the job is funded by government, multi-lateral, or charitable funds. Thus, even though you may have enough frequent flier miles to go upfront, expect scorn and disdain from colleagues and peers. And importantly, don't be seen instagramming your champagne from the front of the plane if you are there in part on the tax-payers dime.

I'm pretty sure this is a joke but I'll chime in anyway. I won't go into detail about what I do for work but I'm mid-20s and flying frequently (and often longhaul) at my age is actually kind of depressing. Flying should not be a chore this early in life. When I have some downtime I find myself wanting to do anything but get on a plane. Premium cabins and lounges are full of old people and crotchety middle-aged men yelling into AirPods. I don't blame them because flying every week or two already makes me grumpy, 10 more years of this and I'll be plotting to steal Christmas. I enjoy flying in economy with friends far more than flying up front by myself.

The only people I know working in international development and traveling regularly in F/J are lawyers. It arises because most law firms have their own travel policies independent of their clients' and it's still considered the norm in most markets for lawyers to travel in J. Even if a client has a corporate travel policy that limits their employees to Y they usually have to foot the bill for their lawyers to travel in J.

As someone who used to work for MBB, if the aim is really to go for GGL at an early age, then that's your job. I know people 1-2 years out of university, analysts, who are GGL / CCR (and in at least 10 separate cases I can think of in the NY office, CK or Global Services). It is utterly terrifying how much flying is done, especially if you are on an international project. There are juniors right now who are doing London (or Munich / Frankfurt) -Hong Kong return, every week, for months on end, and who all have the highest possible tiers in the airlines they fly (i.e. GGL, HON, etc.)