MilesBuzz! - What do you suggest for miles accumulation by kids?

One of my readers ask me

What do you suggest for miles accumulation by kids? My sons each have about 3 ff memberships, but don't travel enough to keep the miles from expiring in each program (American, Delta, & Continental). They aren't old enough to have credit cards, so iDine is also out. What would be the simplest way for them to add a few miles to their accounts?

I responded:

Tough question. Most miles earning opportunities require the use of money, even if they do not require spending it. Since that money won't be theirs, it would have to be yours.

If you are investing for college education, for example, or othewise giving them money for savings, perhaps a bank or broker will open an custodial account in their names with you as custodian, with the miles going to them.
At some point you may want your kids to establish a credit record. I think some credit card issuers will give your kids credit cards if you will guarantee the account. If you ask about this, please let me know who you find who will do this, especially if the card is miles producing.
When you kids become teens, they will certainly want their own telephone, preferably a cell phone. And you will want to give them one, if only to free up your own phone, and to always have some contact with them wherever they roam. So miles deals will be available for them there if the phone account is in their name. (Added benefit: If they pay the bill, even with an allowance from you, they get practice in managing money, with real consequences if they blow it.)
Take a look at the second paragraph of my Student Programs page. If you suggest this to your kids at some time, be prepared for the consequences :-)
I would very much like to see you post this question on the Miles Buzz forum of FlyerTalk, and on the Airline Programs section of the FrequentFlier Forum. If you do this, I will be monitoring the answers daily. I suspect that there are a lot of parents on these forums who have dealt with the same problem.
Anyway, in general, I think it will have to be your money until they earn their own.


Sorry I can't be of more help. I would be very interested in hearing about anything you try, successful or not.

Apparently she didn't post the question here. But I am most interested in your responses. Ideas?

Thanks.

With a minimum $10 donation to the National Parks Foundation, AA will give you 100 miles (10 miles per $1 contributed). From what I've read on the AA board (so take this with a grain of salt), ANY activity will keep your account active and work around the 3 year expiration rule, so if they're at the 3 year mark and at risk of losing significant AA miles, this might save them for a small price. I haven't had the need to try this myself...maybe someone will come along and verify it works.

What about shoping through AAdvantage mall? Last week I entered my son's AAdvantage number but at the time of check out, it was my credit card and my name. I hope he will get the mileage credit?

The person who asked pgary the question is wrong about iDine. I registered my one year old with iDine using one of my credit cards. Miles posted as normal to her account.

The person who asked pgary the question is wrong about iDine. I registered my one year old with iDine using one of my credit cards. Miles posted as normal to her account.

Ditto. All my/our iDine miles go to our kid's accounts.

There's always a mileage run.

Also, what about just calling the airline and explaining the situation? I don't know of any programs (could be wrong) that automatically purge "inactive" accounts (12-month expiry programs excepted) on the 365thX3rd day. Perhaps the airlines could manually reset the expiration date for these youngsters.

Keep in mind the cumulative effect, as well. Even if you're not actively earning miles now, if the kids are young and there is some form of activity at least once every three years, those miles can add up over a decade or so...so long as there is a trip every year or two.

My parents opened many of my FF accounts when I was 5, and I was pleasantly surprised to look at the account balances when I started paying attention around age 21.

Any type of account activity gives a new life to the AAdvantage account (I hope all other accounts too). I ordered some magazines out of my son's dying account and the rest of miles got a new life for another 3 years.

You could do www.opinionplace.com

But not sure about the chances of qualifying for a survey if you are that young ;)

You can transfer points from, say, AirMilesMart to anyone's AA or DL account so that's one way to keep accounts alive.

Starwood allows transfers of points between accounts at the same home address. So a parent can move SPG points into a kid's account, and then move points from the kid's account to whatever airline account needs to be kept active.

Opportunities come along every so often where it's great to have lots of accounts in the family... last year there was the great but short-lived Delta game that awarded 10k miles for a couple minutes on a website... there were the points from meetingsplanning.net... there was the BA/Jaguar deal... kids with FF accounts can be handy indeed!

Thanks for posting this topic. I'm also interested in the responses, though perhaps not as urgently as the woman who originaly posed the question, since I'm only maintaining a Delta account for my daughter at the moment, and I suspect she'll fly on a paid ticket at least once per three years.

My parents opened many of my FF accounts when I was 5, and I was pleasantly surprised to look at the account balances when I started paying attention around age 21.My nine year old son is already paying attention and knows his Mileage Plus balance to the mile :D He has decided (at least this week) that he's saving for a trip to Tahiti (first class, natch) and wants to stay in the overwater bungalow he saw on the PBS show Globetrekker.

I've created a travel monster.

of course, all of this leads me to wonder:

what if you could refer a new, non-existing person to some airline FF program (United had one deal a while back where you could refer people and you get miles even if they do not fly, and so do they), then set up all these promos for the non-existing person, do idines for them, build miles for them, buy things in their name, all without having to get a CC, and then, when you HAVE a kid, name him or her THAT previously non-existing person's name!

For example,

a little baby boy named John Steiger could be set up by Gary, and then when he has a newborn, John now has a boat load of miles before the age of 1!

Now, later in life the birth dates will be screwed up but you could probably fax in a copy of the birth cert if needed, and always claim it was some kind of error. Worse case: you lose some miles you never paid for anyway, and yet, if you are really concerned with that possibility, just redeem them using this person's pin and account info BEFORE you tell the airline that birthdate was incorrect!

it could work.
Anticipated birth dates and name choices based on miles!

:)MM
I SHOULD write a book about this crap!

OK! May be that was a bit too much of a stretch of imagination. May be it is possible, but why concentrate all these energies and efforts for a future imaginary person instead of yourself. You can always use miles for that person if need be.

OK! May be that was a bit too much of a stretch of imagination. May be it is possible, but why concentrate all these energies and efforts for a future imaginary person instead of yourself. You can always use miles for that person if need be.

true, but some promos allow multiple users, hence the good part about having a family means that everyone earns, and besides, I need to have kids and create more RED SOX fans!

Whenever there's a survey, etc, I do it for my wife, mom and self, and sometimes my brothers if they are too busy. I am the family miles guy. Dad was before he passed away, and now it's me. With starwood, for example, you can all earn, but if you share the same address, you can combine points.

... With starwood, for example, you can all earn, but if you share the same address, you can combine points.Marriott will also let you cpmbine, it a limited sort of way. Your spouse and you can combine up to whatever is needed to get an award. They mau actually go further than that, but that much I know is true.

I believe Hilton will also let you combine spousal accounts under certain circumstances, but the old mutual accounts are a thing of the past.

Hilton also lets you combine different accounts in the same name. Don't ask me how I know that. :)

The simplest way to keep a frequent flyer account active is to just use one of their FF#s whenever you have a hotel stay. They don't care whose name is on the account; the mileage is credited by the frequent flyer account number.

My husband and I do this regularly, alternating accounts to make sure each one has some activity at least once every three years.

We rotate airline accounts with our Hilton HHonors "double dip" stays--the hotel credits go to my husband's HHonors account, and the mileage goes to "whomever".

We also elect to earn miles in our various frequent flyer programs with hotel chains where we don't stay often enough to make accumulating hotel credits worthwhile. We join every program we can, even if we don't think we'll ever stay there again.

Continental currently gives 250 miles for playing an online game about building a plane.

Delta had miles under Coke caps last year.

AA had kellogs. Now Dannon Water.


There are enough of these little promotions to keep the accounts alive

Continental currently gives 250 miles for playing an online game about building a plane.
What online game? Do you happen to have a link to the game?

My reader writes:

I also found another way - I signed up my kids for the points.com promo through the aadvantage and the delta sites (each earning 100 points).

of course, all of this leads me to wonder:

what if you could refer a new, non-existing person to some airline FF program (United had one deal a while back where you could refer people and you get miles even if they do not fly, and so do they), then set up all these promos for the non-existing person, do idines for them, build miles for them, buy things in their name, all without having to get a CC, and then, when you HAVE a kid, name him or her THAT previously non-existing person's name!

For example,

a little baby boy named John Steiger could be set up by Gary, and then when he has a newborn, John now has a boat load of miles before the age of 1!

Now, later in life the birth dates will be screwed up but you could probably fax in a copy of the birth cert if needed, and always claim it was some kind of error. Worse case: you lose some miles you never paid for anyway, and yet, if you are really concerned with that possibility, just redeem them using this person's pin and account info BEFORE you tell the airline that birthdate was incorrect!

it could work.
Anticipated birth dates and name choices based on miles!

:)MM
I SHOULD write a book about this crap!

Early this year, when the Delta Dash to the Gate game appeared, of course I got 10,000 SkyMiles each for myself, my wife, and my 3-year-old daughter. But at the time my wife was about 7 mos. pregnant, and I wanted to get 10,000 miles for my soon-to-be son, as well. So I tried to open a Skymiles account for him. Problem is, as MM has noted, you have to supply a name and a birth date. We had some ideas for a name, but had not settled finally on just one. But I nearly named my son that day for the sake of the 10,000 SkyMiles. The problem, though, came with the birth date. My wife was scheduled for a C-section, so I knew the birth date in advance (or I thought I did; in actuality he decided he wanted out before the doctors had planned). At any rate, I entered the name I had chosen that day, and the anticipated birth date, but the form would not accept birth dates in the future. So little Heldon (not his real name) does not yet have any SkyMiles.

I actually considered entering the date with a "typo" in the year. I figured I could enter 2004 and later claim it was early in the year so I hadn't gotten used to entering 2005 yet, or I could've entered 2000 and called that last 0 a finger slip. But I figured any problem correcting the date later could cost not only the 10,000 SkyMiles from the game, but any others he might have more legitimately earned in the intervening time. So I decided to hold off on creating his account and wait to see if I could snag a new member sign-up promotion for him later.

If this story sounds familiar, I told it earlier on FT, in TravelBuzz, under a topic called "What's the most outrageous thing you've done for miles" or something like that. I wonder if Delta would've been interested in a story for their inflight magazine: "I named my son for SkyMiles."

Early this year, when the Delta Dash to the Gate game appeared, of course I got 10,000 SkyMiles each for myself, my wife, and my 3-year-old daughter. But at the time my wife was about 7 mos. pregnant, and I wanted to get 10,000 miles for my soon-to-be son, as well. So I tried to open a Skymiles account for him. Problem is, as MM has noted, you have to supply a name and a birth date. We had some ideas for a name, but had not settled finally on just one. But I nearly named my son that day for the sake of the 10,000 SkyMiles. The problem, though, came with the birth date. My wife was scheduled for a C-section, so I knew the birth date in advance (or I thought I did; in actuality he decided he wanted out before the doctors had planned). At any rate, I entered the name I had chosen that day, and the anticipated birth date, but the form would not accept birth dates in the future. So little Heldon (not his real name) does not yet have any SkyMiles.

I actually considered entering the date with a "typo" in the year. I figured I could enter 2004 and later claim it was early in the year so I hadn't gotten used to entering 2005 yet, or I could've entered 2000 and called that last 0 a finger slip. But I figured any problem correcting the date later could cost not only the 10,000 SkyMiles from the game, but any others he might have more legitimately earned in the intervening time. So I decided to hold off on creating his account and wait to see if I could snag a new member sign-up promotion for him later.

If this story sounds familiar, I told it earlier on FT, in TravelBuzz, under a topic called "What's the most outrageous thing you've done for miles" or something like that. I wonder if Delta would've been interested in a story for their inflight magazine: "I named my son for SkyMiles."

I love it. I would have risked it myself. It would not have hurt any other member directly... Sure, they could one day become more strict on policy, but over all, that's actually a good things for all of us: Think about it, if rules are carefully thought thru and promos are well managed and planned by marketers, then less error occurs all around at posting time! I am all for stricter policy within the world of mile gigs, but yeah, I am glad they many times make mistakes in my favor as well.

Anyway, speaking of combining things, my late father has 20k HH points and mom and I have a bunch as well. Hilton will not allow us to combine these in any way and trust me, we have periodically tried and tried again. They have essentially listed him as deceased and locked his account. It can be accessed and used by anyone with the acct number and pin, but only for 20k HH points, meaning you can basically get a cat2 room or something and that's about it.

The interesting thing is that for a while, after I called to tell them of his death, they had mistakenly listed me as deceased, and later, when I called back, they had to fix it. This mistake was something that did not bother me, but the CSR felt so bad about it that they made me gold and credited me with several thousand points at the time. So did I profit from my father's loss? Well, stranger things have happened in the name of miles & points.


:)MM

what if you could refer a new, non-existing person to some airline FF program (United had one deal a while back where you could refer people and you get miles even if they do not fly, and so do they), then set up all these promos for the non-existing person, do idines for them, build miles for them, buy things in their name, all without having to get a CC . . . .My dozens of inlaws abroad might as well be non-existent for several purposes. Out of sight, out of mind? :)

Diners Club works well for keeping points alive, except AA & BA.

My dozens of inlaws abroad might as well be non-existent for several purposes. Out of sight, out of mind? :)

Diners Club works well for keeping points alive, except AA & BA.

Among others, I have some upstairs neighbors named the Pendeltons who have helped me gather tons of UAL milez and awardz, and somewhere--I cannot remember where--I have all the passwords to their Yahoo email accounts.

put it in the cookie jar!
;)MM

Use your child's Aeroplan card at Esso in Canada, 1pt/$3(CDN).

Buy a Continental Privilege Pack for your child, you can use the coupons while your child gets the miles. Limit of one booklet every 12 months.

Going back to the OPs question about keeping the accounts alive. People have tossed out some great ideas. I liked the idea of the hotel points. You could also do the occasional surveys that the airlines have for points. Anything to keep them alive.

Since the points are over three different airlines I would over the years try to bring each one up to 25k miles. This will give them three trips for their high school grad trip and college spring breaks.

After that concentrate on a single airline. If mom and/or dad have a favorite, go with that one. If not, bank the miles in one like AS. Over the years I have seen lots of people who have a prefered airline and then use AS as a catchall for other tickets. They have partners (including the ones in the OP) that fly almost everywhere. If you were trying for status and flying places other than the left coast you would go with a different airline, but since this is for the occasional flying kid it is no big deal.

One transcon pre year until 18 would give them about 90k miles or a business ticket to Europe.

Continental currently gives 250 miles for playing an online game about building a plane.

Delta had miles under Coke caps last year.

AA had kellogs. Now Dannon Water.


There are enough of these little promotions to keep the accounts alive

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?catid=63&threadid=494824&highlight_key=y&keyword1=continental

continental.com/for/aeromatic

Thanks, Jerry.

Any idea how long it takes for the miles to post?

My sons are away on vacation, so I think I'll play the game for them. They would have liked it.

Hi, this thread is very interesting because I'm in a similar, but reversed situation (if you get what I mean).

When I was a kid my father enroled me in the TWA program and I earned fair few miles. Some were redeemed to get me cheap/free flights. Now I'm an adult and Daddy no longer taking me with him on business trips to the US I am now left with an AAdvantage account with a enough miles not to want to loose them, but not quite enough to do anything with them. I've never flown with AA, and in my current lifestyle unlikely too in the near future (I live in the UK).

I have managed to keep the account live with transferring Priority Club points from hotel stays, and last week my BA flight within Europe has now given me another 3 years.

Best way to redeem my AA miles is a topic for another thread......

flyingbee

.... I need to have kids and create more RED SOX fans!


This is indeed considered child abuse in 46 states across America. :td:

I've never flown with AA, and in my current lifestyle unlikely too in the near future (I live in the UK).

I have managed to keep the account live with transferring Priority Club points from hotel stays, and last week my BA flight within Europe has now given me another 3 years.Welcome to FlyerTalk, flyingbee!

For more ideas on earning AA points, see the AA forum. Credit cards, hotels, BA flights -- as you have learned from experience with your "miles legacy," once every three years isn't too much. And who knows, maybe in ten or twenty years (if circumstances don't change), you'll have a useable flight!

But I suspect you'll figure out how to top off and use up the account well before then. ;)

Thanks, Jerry.

Any idea how long it takes for the miles to post?

My sons are away on vacation, so I think I'll play the game for them. They would have liked it.


I'm not absolutely positive it pays miles. I just passed on what someone else in another forum said so if you read that fatwallet link you know everything I do. I just referred to it instead of posting a link to it origonally because of the lack of proof.

This is indeed considered child abuse in 46 states across America. :td:

nah, that would only be true if you were a NY fan. We have no beef with SF Giants!

;)MM

Hi, this thread is very interesting because I'm in a similar, but reversed situation (if you get what I mean).

When I was a kid my father enroled me in the TWA program and I earned fair few miles. Some were redeemed to get me cheap/free flights. Now I'm an adult and Daddy no longer taking me with him on business trips to the US I am now left with an AAdvantage account with a enough miles not to want to loose them, but not quite enough to do anything with them. I've never flown with AA, and in my current lifestyle unlikely too in the near future (I live in the UK).

I have managed to keep the account live with transferring Priority Club points from hotel stays, and last week my BA flight within Europe has now given me another 3 years.

Best way to redeem my AA miles is a topic for another thread......

flyingbee

welcome!

how many AA miles have you got? They are considered by manay here to be the best for redemption and you can earn them thru many promos and other means found in this site. Tell us your needs and numbers and we may be able to at least stear you in the right direction...
:)MM

I enrolled my son on his first paid flight when he was two. He is now 11 an has upgraded a few times and had several freebies (the only way to go when you have only one income). His last paid flight was probably when he was 4. He gets all of our grocery miles. Even though our Dominicks Card has our names on them, when I signed up I used his Mileage Plus number. No problem, all the miles go to him. I also use his Mileage Plus Number whenever I get a chance and that includes the Mileage Plus Mall. Christmas alone gets him several thousand miles (love those 20 miles per dollar spent stores)! I also sign him up for the extra freebies like the Sprint E-mail offer, United Cruise email offer etc. All these add up quickly. Right now he actually has more miles than me.

I try to focus miles into the kids accounts rather than the parents whenever there is a choice believing they will reach million mile status and benefit from it longer than us.

I enrolled my son on his first paid flight when he was two. He is now 11 an has upgraded a few times and had several freebies (the only way to go when you have only one income). His last paid flight was probably when he was 4. He gets all of our grocery miles. Even though our Dominicks Card has our names on them, when I signed up I used his Mileage Plus number. No problem, all the miles go to him. I also use his Mileage Plus Number whenever I get a chance and that includes the Mileage Plus Mall. Christmas alone gets him several thousand miles (love those 20 miles per dollar spent stores)! I also sign him up for the extra freebies like the Sprint E-mail offer, United Cruise email offer etc. All these add up quickly. Right now he actually has more miles than me.


...that's if you (A) don't mind waiting for the often lengthy post waiting time for MALL miles from United and (B) that they actually DO post with out error!

I have never had a good experience with their mall, until I have had to make sereval inquiries on my missing miles and wait more than double the time. If you are getting them, I consider you lucky! Keep it up.
:)MM

I've never had a problem with Mileage Mall Miles. As a matter of fact, they usually post within 30 days. Some other promotions for freebie miles I;ve waited for up to 90 days. But I figure the wait is worth it since they are free. The only time I've really had problems is when I switched to Sprint Long Distance. It took over 8 months to get everything straightened out. But again, 15,000 miles were worth the wait.

I've never had a problem with Mileage Mall Miles. As a matter of fact, they usually post within 30 days. Some other promotions for freebie miles I;ve waited for up to 90 days. But I figure the wait is worth it since they are free. The only time I've really had problems is when I switched to Sprint Long Distance. It took over 8 months to get everything straightened out. But again, 15,000 miles were worth the wait.

free is fine... you are correct on that one. BUT I have waited way too long on nearly everything I ever got from the mall miles-wise and sprint was one of the worst. No, wait, I recently PLANNED to get miles for printer ink purchases made and I needed about 300 miles within 3 months in order to get them in time to later call up 331 days in advance to get a certain award ticket. Turns out that they took 4 months to come and yes, I did miss the boat on my ticket! It sucked. I had GIVEN IT TIME well beyond the 8 weeks it promisses and it STILL screwed me up.

When you are in NEED of those miles and you try to plan for them, that's when you will remember this post. I would now only rely on idine posts to come in when promissed, but never their mall. And good luck with trying to find the person who makes decisions about posting those miles. You get into a department battle where you are stuck in the middle and still have no miles while they figure out who owes who and when.

no good! Avoid the MP mall!

:(MM

The kids were eating the cerail and the waffles, so I sent the 500 miles to each kid about once every six months. That way I figure I have 3 years. Also, when the kids are under 2 I always buy tickets for them so that they start the account but it costs us very little (only 50 % of the regular price)