Careers that allow one to get BAEC GGL at a young age
Jan 14, 2019, 4:34 pm
#61
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: London, ARN, HEL, ..... or MAN
Programs: BA GGL / GFL, Mucci Diamond!, HH Diamond, Radisson Premium, IHG Gold, Hertz Gold
Posts: 5,895
I am not in MBB, but in one of the big 4 consulting firms and I know plenty of BA Golds and GGLs in our firm, in their mid to late 20s.
It depends on the particular client or project you end up on, but I do know of a few quite junior people who travel in J longhaul pretty much every week or at least fortnightly, especially if the client is in a country where our firm may have a smaller footprint. Popular client destinations seem to include South Africa, ME (especially Dubai) and HKG. Our US firm is huge so it's less usual to end up on a US engagement where weekly travel is needed.
The consulting skills needed for travel can be anything from business strategy, digital strategy, org design, technical implementations, cyber advisory, tax advisory, financial advisory, natural resources, property - in fact all sorts of things!
But I do also see a lot of very burnt out people who haven't hit 35 yet
It depends on the particular client or project you end up on, but I do know of a few quite junior people who travel in J longhaul pretty much every week or at least fortnightly, especially if the client is in a country where our firm may have a smaller footprint. Popular client destinations seem to include South Africa, ME (especially Dubai) and HKG. Our US firm is huge so it's less usual to end up on a US engagement where weekly travel is needed.
The consulting skills needed for travel can be anything from business strategy, digital strategy, org design, technical implementations, cyber advisory, tax advisory, financial advisory, natural resources, property - in fact all sorts of things!
But I do also see a lot of very burnt out people who haven't hit 35 yet
Jan 14, 2019, 4:52 pm
#62
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: 4éme
Posts: 12,040
Why dedicate your life to all of that study when you can become a profession travel blogger?
Jan 15, 2019, 12:44 am
#63
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: London
Programs: BA, VS, HH, IHG, MB, MR
Posts: 26,871
The problem is that it is actually a fairly good idea, looking at the earning potential (£1m pa is far, far easier from YouTube than from a blog) and his Daddy is not exactly well placed to argue :-)
Jan 15, 2019, 4:13 am
#65
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: SIN and Medway, UK (so... LCY/LGW/BRU)
Programs: A3 *G, BA OWS, IHG Diamond Amb, Bonvoy Plat
Posts: 749
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
Also, OP, you're not much younger than me - maybe 4 or 5 years?, and there was a time I was in your position; where my mum's SQ PPS seems rad and amazeballs, and that seems like a thing to gun for - except I've never thought that long term like you. Sooner or later you'll realise it's just a card, really, like how I felt after getting my Aegean *G for the first time. It's just what it is - ok, what's next?
These days I find that I enjoy flying more when I get to interact with people - sitting in the cheap seats at the back of the Qantas A380 upper deck and talking to the crew, than in one of those solitary seats up front with minimal contact. Perhaps you don't feel so now, but there might be a day that you very well value human contact enough to give up a significant portion of your flying.
Jan 15, 2019, 4:21 am
#66
Join Date: Dec 2004
Programs: BA GGL, A3*G, Mucci de l'expertise des Apps
Posts: 3,366
This is what I did.
Get a job that pays shed loads of money, has little travel but long holiday entitlements (30 days plus bank holidays). I was a partner in a private equity fund but you don't need to be that ambitious .....
The benefits of this are:
a) business travel is a lot less fun than personal travel, so minimising it means you don't start hating flights / lounges / airline food / luxury hotels etc
b) you will earn lots of money so you can fully maximise those 30 days leave plus bank holidays to run up exciting personal travel - which, importantly, you will still find fun because you won't have become jaded due to excessive business travel
The main reason I started recruiting full time staff for Head for Points is thatI didn't want to do all the travel. I still need to find it fun. As I always say, the day I wake up in the morning and go 'sod it, another blinkin' first class flight to do today' is the day I sell up and go home.
Get a job that pays shed loads of money, has little travel but long holiday entitlements (30 days plus bank holidays). I was a partner in a private equity fund but you don't need to be that ambitious .....
The benefits of this are:
a) business travel is a lot less fun than personal travel, so minimising it means you don't start hating flights / lounges / airline food / luxury hotels etc
b) you will earn lots of money so you can fully maximise those 30 days leave plus bank holidays to run up exciting personal travel - which, importantly, you will still find fun because you won't have become jaded due to excessive business travel
The main reason I started recruiting full time staff for Head for Points is thatI didn't want to do all the travel. I still need to find it fun. As I always say, the day I wake up in the morning and go 'sod it, another blinkin' first class flight to do today' is the day I sell up and go home.
Jan 15, 2019, 4:43 am
#67
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Dorset, UK
Programs: BA GGL
Posts: 635
Of course the problem for me with self employment in a changing marketplace is that you have to evolve to adapt and the work travel started to make everything fit...
Jan 16, 2019, 11:54 am
#68
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2018
Location: London/ Oxford
Programs: BAEC Bronze; LoungeKey
Posts: 53
Thank you all for the responses!!!! I really wasn't expecting so much advice - I really appreciate it. And, apologies - I would reply to everyone individually but I think there are too many responses for that to be feasible - I really wasn't expecting so many responses. Thank you all again!
I guess the main takeaways then are (i) Corporate travel may be over-hyped (ii) Pursue only careers which truly intrest me and which I'd truly enjoy (I was largely planning this - travel &hope of GGL would just be a nice perk and may have swayed me in a direction if I was undecided) (iii) Having (a lot of) money and holidays => Lots of quality high-end leisure travel which is enjoyable > lots of forced business travel which is not enjoyable (at least after a while) (iv) Have fun at university and pursue academic interests and don't be overly career oriented (although a bit of that is okay) (v) Flying less in J/F at a young age may be better in the long term to help me appreciate the luxury that it is when I'm older and to ensure that my pleasure of flying does not go with time (vi) Friendship/ Family/ relationships, at some point, become more important than flying (vii) If I do want to fly a lot in J/F, then IB/ Law/ MBB consulting or similar such industries are where to look. If I chose to pursue a career as a development Economist or similar, there'd be less of that to look forward to (although, correct me if I'm wrong, but World Bank has strictly J+ policy for long-haul, right?).
Thank you all again for your insights & advice - maybe I'll be back in a few years with GGL under "Program Affiliations" posting all the latest about BA & BAEC on these threads!
I guess the main takeaways then are (i) Corporate travel may be over-hyped (ii) Pursue only careers which truly intrest me and which I'd truly enjoy (I was largely planning this - travel &hope of GGL would just be a nice perk and may have swayed me in a direction if I was undecided) (iii) Having (a lot of) money and holidays => Lots of quality high-end leisure travel which is enjoyable > lots of forced business travel which is not enjoyable (at least after a while) (iv) Have fun at university and pursue academic interests and don't be overly career oriented (although a bit of that is okay) (v) Flying less in J/F at a young age may be better in the long term to help me appreciate the luxury that it is when I'm older and to ensure that my pleasure of flying does not go with time (vi) Friendship/ Family/ relationships, at some point, become more important than flying (vii) If I do want to fly a lot in J/F, then IB/ Law/ MBB consulting or similar such industries are where to look. If I chose to pursue a career as a development Economist or similar, there'd be less of that to look forward to (although, correct me if I'm wrong, but World Bank has strictly J+ policy for long-haul, right?).
Thank you all again for your insights & advice - maybe I'll be back in a few years with GGL under "Program Affiliations" posting all the latest about BA & BAEC on these threads!