Careers/Jobs of Frequent Flyers

[Jasecoop]

Mining Engineer but unlike Reggie still in the game although dont spend too much time underground anymore. I work for a South African company but work from home when not travelling. Normal travel is all over the place, last year was 10 trips to Joburg, 4 Ghana, 2 US (Alaska and Eastern states), mexico, China, Europe (Sweden, Austria, Finland). This year I have already had 2 trips to joburg and 1 to Brazil - off saturday to Joburg again. Sick of travel but great to work from home when I am here, try to keep my trips to around a week which seems to keep the wife a little sane.

 

[Stewey]

Hi,

I am a Project Manager in the Telco field, my travel is usually at least once a fortnight as most of my projects are National and some are very remote.This year already I have had 3 trips to Perth, 2 trips to Sydney, 5 trips to Adel , 1 trip to Alice Springs, you get the drift.

In my previous role I spent a bit of time in SE Asia and the USA

cheers,

Stewey

 

[casanovawa]

Trade policy officer for a WA Govt Dept... Have managed to get several work trips over to Syd/Canb/Mel over the last 3 years or so, but not turn it into overseas work travel unfortunately... If i worked over East Coast with Fed Govt probably be a better chance... But there u go...

Apart from work travel, self paid is infrequent and either short hops up to Bali for fun, or 6 week trips to Europe (08 and 10) to really explore... 11 week RTW this year and i'm thinking 8 week RTW next year... Maybe something special for '13 (J class)??? i think these points RTW could be a regular thing less i meet a SWMBO who doesn't have the travel bug...

Would like to find a way to get into a travel related job, but the higher your pay goes often a hit to shift to new careers eh, but then there is that thing about loving your job!?!?!

 

[YQY]

T
I'm an IT guru specialising in IT security

Same - but 95% of my travel is work related - mostly (90+ sectors) domestic and NZ. After three years of weekly travel - i want to do the minimum required to retain platinum and spend more time at home.

 

[Misha]

Wow, so many students! I only wish that during my years at University I was able to travel as much as you

I am in HR/Injury Management and work in the Insurance Broking industry. Not much domestic travel (about twice a month - mostly Mel-Syd though sometimes other states; last couple of years clients have been less likely to ask us to travel to Perth for example). I travel more for leisure (a bit domestic and about 2 - 4 times a year internationally).

Anyone who wants to employ me to undertake international travel please PM

 

[whereishome]

Worked overseas for a few years as a English jack-of-all-trades (teaching/translation/interpreting/localisation), then came back to Australia and worked in venue sales for a multinational events production company. After a few years of that, I got jack of dealing with idiots who couldn't tell the difference between an overhead projector and a data projector (yet still had titles like "National Events Director" :evil.

Stupid people annoy me.

I decided that there wasn't enough ammunition in the world to kill them all, so I decided to try and actively work to make people unstupid. Now I work as a high school teacher.

My travel is purely leisure at this point (frequently to Japan where I have interests), although every few years I get a business trip through work. With 25 senior high school students, mind.

That sucks - kids cramp my lounge style.

 

[samh004]

That sucks - kids cramp my lounge style.

What lounge style? I didn’t think you had access to any lounges

 

[Fantic125]

I work for a multi-national manufacturing company with head office in Germany.

I'm based in Adelaide and responsible for our Global Supplier Quality Assurance program, which basically means meeting with suppliers on a regular basis, and sorting out any issues that may arise.

Pretty well all of my domestic flights are simply transfers to international flights. Last year consisted of 100 sectors and a total of 240,000 miles.

Countries visited last year include multiple trips to USA, China, Taiwan, Korea, Germany and single visits to Singapore, India, Philippines, Ireland, Brazil and a few others.

So far this year I've had 4 business related trips - 2 to Germany, 1 to Jakarta and 1 to Taipei, and 1 week vacation in Fiji. As I write this I'm sitting in a Hotel in Bengaluru. The last 8 days I've travelled ADL-SIN-BOM-GOI-BOM-DEL-MAA-BLR. The next 5 days will BLR-GOI-BLR-BOM-SIN-ADL.

 

[whereishome]

What lounge style? I didn’t think you had access to any lounges

I have my ways. And when I don't have access to a lounge, I just drink heavily at the airport bar.

 

[missafternoondelight]

Very interesting hearing about all the different occupations floating around the forum.

I'm a Contracts Manager for a transport organisation based in WA. Travel around a some to regional towns in WA (1-2 times a month) but only 2-3 times a year are flying, and it's just short domestic hops. I'm heading for QFF gold in the next couple of months, but 85% of the SC to get there are from leisure travel.

Adore travel for the romance of it all - chance meetings, goodbyes, coincidences, freedom and new experiences. So many possibilities!
Also love the QP for the sexy guys in suits. Mmm. Haha

 

[Sifor]

As a law commerce student I'm also enjoying reading this thread... might put me on the right track for becoming a business traveler.

Alternatively... making money and flying on my own terms might be the better option!

 

[V1213]

Interesting thread.

I'm a public transport planner with the WA Government.
The vast majority of my travel is self-funded, as I only average 1 interstate trip per year with work.

I've always been interested in the planning, scheduling and fleet management side of things (hence my job), so it's always fun to travel and see how airlines choose to operate compared to the mass public transport modes I work with.

 

[Keith009]

Web marketer and jack of all trades of an online social photography and social gaming company with an operational base in San Francisco and other offices in Sydney and Singapore. Previously an Arts/Law student.

I probably flew a lot more as a student! Albeit it was 100% self-funded leisure travel rather than company-funded work travel. Unfortunately annual leave isn't as generous as those ridiculously long uni vacations...

Be careful what you wish for.

 

[admin]

Pior to starting AFF in 1998, I was a consulant with one of the big US firms. Would travel continuously - both domestic and international.

While a consultant, I saw how my fellow consultants valued their frequent flyer points and airline status. I'll never forget the sight of one of our practice directors (an educated highly paid individual earning top dollars to give objective advice to corporates) reconciling boarding passes with frequent flyer statements!!

Thats when I realised the need for something like AFF.

Ironically since starting AFF, my travel has dropped dramatically!!

 

[Blackadder]

Employee for the NSW Government (Transport), purely self funded FF.

 

[bjm76]

Work in financial and management reporting for an investment bank.
Usually only one work trip to Asia per year.
Rest of travel is self-funded, usually two or three domestic trips and one international.

Was working elswehere in 2008/2009 and was doing lots of shuffles between Brisbane and Sydney, all flights were DJ and were booked at the cheapest non-flexible fare, so I never even got status!

 

[blackcat20]

I'm also a perpetual student, and self-employed, neither of which are conducive to lots of travel. Probably fly on average twice a year. Joined AFF to get the most out of my international trips.

 

[Balwyn3103]

I'm a social worker and supervise a mental health project on three US air bases in Japan. Travel there monthly plus there are company meetings (a US company has the contract for the project) twice a year, normally in Hawaii and Seoul. Hoping to get the travel back to every two to three months now the project is more settled.

Did similar work on US army and air forces bases in Europe for many years and since moving back have moved from Bronze to Platinum in short order.

 

[Andyzx]

An Accountant by trade, but now work in the business (ASX manufacturing) helping them make the right decisions (I hope) and projects. Domestic for work, travelled every week between 1st Aug and 4th Dec last year, now mostly just desk bound. Intl is self funded, usually Y - NZ and J - UK (1 on points and 1 pay). Enjoy the flying but the ever increasing security is a pain but necessary.
Previous role I had some Asia responsibilities. I would often do a 4 day week SYD-SIN-KUL-BKK-SYD. The long legs in J but SIN-KUL-BKK in Y (less than 4 hours rule)
On some occasions would pay $300 to upgrade J to F on BA10. Sometime worth it sometimes I just slept:shock:.

Like the archenemies bit in here. I went to UK and Germany for my MBA study tour and conference, that has to be the life....

 

[Katie]

I work for a software company based in Brisbane, and work in technical documentation and internationalisation. All of my travel for the past three years has been self funded (either just fun holiday travel or to attend or speak at conferences).
For the couple of years before that I had a few trips each year in Y to the US, as I had staff and a manager in the US.
My travel bug started with holiday travel at about the age of 5 as a UM on flights to exotic locales like Lonreach, Winton, and Julia Creek.