Read the MR forum and track farecompare and when a great deal to one of your cities shows up - jump on it and book as many weekends as you can.

Wow...you guys are harsh! When I was in my early 20's (about ten years ago), busting out on weekend trips was a high priority for me! When else are you going to do it? If the girlfiend in Austin is so serious that he's seeing her every four weeks, chances are good she's The One and five years from now he's going to be worried about buying a minivan and some carseats, not taking weekend trips.

So I say...do it now. Fly often! You have limited cash, so you're always going to be looking for deep discount coach fares. For your cities, AA is a good call: you will earn full miles and elite qualifying miles on the cheap-o fares. Out of that market, they will offer competitive fares with Southwest. Ditch Southwest: at your age, my goal was to pile up the miles and get off of this continent once in a while.

At that point in my life, the value of my time was significantly lower. I was still busy, but you can study, work, whatever on a flight. So while I never took pure "mileage runs" like many here do, I would take circuitous routings quite often. I took every VDB that was offered and even got to know which flights had a high probability of needing volunteers for bumps.

Anyway, I know my outlook is different from others. I traveled a lot when I was single, loved every minute of it, and wished I would have traveled even more. My only regret was that I wasn't creative enough: I rarely leveraged partner carriers to get to the most far-flung destinations, instead opting for a lot of Europe, Central America, etc. because I could get there on AA metal. If I only paid closer attention to "the system", I would have been in Asia, more unusual spots in Europe, maybe Africa, etc.

Yes, go places now before the big commitments come around. I travel 5 months of the year around the world by myself, and spend about 15-20k a year doing it. 35-40% of this amount is for tickets. This year I will fly 180k miles or so, about 140k of it paid. If you are at the highest level earning, you can earn two RTW trips a year in coach, or about 1 1/2 in Biz if you pick the right carrier.

If you pay *close* attention to the Mileage Run forum, you will see numerous good deals every year. Just in the last year, I've booked 17 tickets to mostly international destinations. Normal price for these tickets would be about $25,000. Flyertalk price = Less than $5,000.

If you're going to be an academic and teach at a research university, you will have a great deal of time to travel -- at *least* 4 months annually maybe 5 1/2 months depending on whether you're on quarter (2/2/0) or semester (2/2). You'll also be given a research budget for domestic and international conference travel -- I agree with the people who are saying focus on finishing your program successfully so you have these perks to enjoy in the future.

Just for kicks I did a spot-check comparison.

SFO-LAS-SFO, leaving 11/13, returning 11/15.

Student Universe = 281.19 (all in)
AA.com = 241.70 (all in)

It does seem to me like people are being a little harsh with their responses. I'm from near ORD (and have a dotcom startup company also based in Chicago), went to undergrad near LAX, and currently am in grad school an hour from LHR (probably back to LAX in another year). For part of all this I've also had a girlfriend "back home."

While I never flew back once a month, which it seems like you're going to attempt, I certainly was/am flying back and forth every term and occasionally for something in the middle of a term. For me, it made a great deal of sense to figure out which airline seemed to have the best fares on those routes and--all else being relatively equal, of course--stick with that one. (The adjustment I use is that frequent-flyer miles are worth roughly $0.01 each to me.) AA almost always has the cheapest LHR-ORD flights, and it doesn't take very many of those roundtrips each year to get a lot of miles--particularly having done the Gold and Platinum Challenges, which I never would have heard of if not for FlyerTalk.

So, I think it's worth it to at least consider the reward programs, and you're being smart by planning ahead if this is what you really intend to do. From my perspective, they make things cheaper... every 4th roundtrip or so that I take (which would be taken anyway) across the Atlantic is free.

I've never viewed grad school (I'm in my 3rd year overall, though that's at two different schools) as a necessarily monastic experience. I don't think I could do it if it were! Quite frankly, if I didn't do some travelling and other things to make sure that I wasn't feeling isolated, I'd be miserable. If my "lack of focus" means that I don't finish the PhD, that's a good sign that I'm not cut out for a research career anyway. If that happens, I'll just go work for McKinsey or something and *really* rack up the miles.

Both Studentuniverse and STA Travel are hit-or-miss. Sometimes they have great fares, sometimes they are they same as regular fares, and sometimes they are higher than regular fares. They're still worth checking, because one never knows which site/booking method will be the cheapest.

Worth checking, but I'll note that I've never personally found a cheaper fare at either site than those on kayak.com. (I've mostly been checking for the LHR-ORD roundtrip though, so it's possible that they just don't have any, or many, student deals on that route.)

Doesn't STA Travel and the like focus on international routes where true "wholesale" fares are available? Seems like using them on a domestic U.S. route would be less effective.

I used STA back in the early 90's to buy tickets back and forth between Wales and Kansas City. Every time I checked with the airlines, STA would find something significantly less expensive for me. Plus they could obviously sell all of the necessary train segments at the same time...

For me it probably has a bit to do with the fact that whatever wholesale fares they have seem to involve roundtrips only originating in the US... For example, statravel.com currently has flights ORD-LHR-ORD in December and January for under $500, but won't sell tickets originating outside the US. statravel.co.uk, which will, has their cheapest flights LHR-ORD-LHR in December and January for over 500 GBP. Ouch.

My theory of income smoothing states that your total income is much more than monetary income, and can also include time and opportunity.

Currently you have time and the opportunity to hang out with a fantastic girl, though the money lags. Soon, you will certainly have more money, but probably not as much time nor the chance to hang out with a girlfriend (either she'll be your wife and you'll be prohibited from seeing other girlfriends, or you'll be on to the next g-friend).

Some say this leads to irresponsible spending by youngsters, but those who use their assets most effectively tend to get more out of life, and assets include more than money.

I am in the same boat as you. Young grad student, limited budget etc... you all know the story. What I have found is, depending on your interest, find overseas opportunities that fit with what you are looking to do. They not only help build your international network, but also give you strong learning experiences to use once you graduate. If the program is organized by the school jump on it. Chances are they will pay your way through scholarships or other funding.

This year I am on my third trip to China right now. All paid, except for maybe 20% of the cost. I have two more trips to India planned for the rest of the year, again paid. School programs primarily, but all fundable through the University. They will give you money if you position yourself right.

What this equates to. Great experiences, seeing the world, and TONS of miles. I will have Exec Plat on UA as a result, and will paid a pretty minimal fee for it.

I definitely agree with what has been said. Keep you expenses to a minimum, but make use other opportunities to help you see your girlfriend frequently, at a minimal cost.

Hope this helps.

Not harsh. Some of us have lived similar lives and watched some peers succeed while others failed and flailed. We'd rather see the OP succeed.

I'm in my mid-30s travelling 100,000+ self-funded miles for the year, and enjoying myself. This is a function of time and professionalism. It's also a function of income. The travel gets easier and more available as you become richer and more specialized in your career.

Many young people would be well advised to follow amazon.com's early mantra: "get big fast." After your income is rolling in, your retirement is being funded, and your workplace has a heroinlike addiction to your bona-fide skills, you will be able to enjoy all the travel you wish.

-KF

Eh...I beg to differ somewhat. I'm a graduate student too, and making significantly less than listed above (the east and west coast students tend to make a LOT more than we do in the midwest). On top of that, I've managed to buy a house, save for retirement and am still able to take trips on a regular basis. A lot of them are for work, but on my own dime I've been to Hawaii, Connecticut and Boston this year. Will be heading to Romania next summer (thanks to the mileage run forum).

If you can do it, go for it. I'm sure that your family and girlfriend will appreciate it.
As far as maximizing mileage goes, I like the red-eye advice, especially if you can sleep on planes. Also, try to maximize the amount of mileage you acquire through meetings, etc. They'll help you out tremendously.

Also, remember that depending on the airline and ticket, a lot of fares on Student Universe and through STA earn MINIMAL (like 500 max) FF miles, if any.

Well, in order to do that, we'd need to understand the OP's definition of success. I'm not sure that maximizing net worth at the expense of all else is it. If it is, by all means, he should not travel at all.

That's great for your situation. I know for me, travel was a lot easier when I was poorer and younger. I was living near ORD and I was unmarried. If I found out today that AA was running a weekend special $99 one-way base fare to MXP or CDG (which they did in those early years of email-only fares), I knew I had the flexibility to be on that flight tomorrow. I could usually find 1-2 buddies to join me. And I was still young enough (with memories of the Eurailpass still fresh in my mind) that I thought nothing of throwing some crap in a backpack and going without a real plan for once I got there. There's always a cheap pensione with a room available somewhere.

Now I'm in my mid-30's and we still take perfectly nice vacations, but the dynamic has changed. Time is scarce - if we want to take an international trip for a week or so, we calendar it 6-9 months in advance. And of course we have to arrange the right hotels, the right flights that are easy for kids, etc.

No question about it: if your goal is max net worth fast, that's the way to do it. But who knows when or if you will get to enjoy all the travel you wish. I'd like to think that once kids are all in college, we're going to do a 3-month around the world trip. But who knows... I definitely didn't have that mindset in my 20's - then it was more like "I want to experience the world now."