azepine00

It's a rather funny topic so why not... And i don't think toddlers can be spoiled by airline status perks (although this may become a concern 5-10 years later)

My 3 yo twins became *G last year just as i briefly dropped from 1K to nothing and held higher status than me and my wife for several months.
The highlight of this plan is that for the next couple years they will guest us in UA lounges as A3 *G while we continue collecting UA miles...

big V

I took my 10 week old on a WAS-LAX mileage run so I could hit 1K back in 2009. She flew enough in 2010 to make Silver, but was a lap child so didn't accrue the miles. I was Gold in 2010, and wasn't working full time so picked the flights that tended to be more upgradable. I think her first two years she maybe flew in coach 3 times. Then I fell to Silver, and she'd stop in First and say "Why aren't we sitting here?"

Happily, I start a new job next month where I'll be traveling to Asia regularly, so I'll be able to regain 1K status quickly. Then she can continue to travel in the style to which she is accustomed....

mlh1

This is kind of a fun topic, and the only place we can discuss this as none of my friends care how many miles anyone has flown.

Baby mlh1 would have made silver on UA this year had she had her own seat, and since my maternity leave was extended, we flew mainly upgradeable flights. Since dropping to platinum last year we noticed it isn't worth much on popular flights I'm guessing gold this year, combined with a larger child, will result in having to buy that extra seat.

Lemoncino

My daughter ask why we don't get to sit in the top bit of the double decker aeroplane anymore, referring to the A-380. "Well it is because you have two brothers now." It sucks at any age to go back to cattle class.

flsunshineflyer

My daughter started flying at 9 weeks old. She earned status on DL before she turned one and on UA at 13 months old. We have been lucky that they are all in J class. We always buy a seat for her. Safety is the main reason. Second is my sanity. I cannot imagine holding a child for hours on end. Mine would have never allowed it. Plus, she sleeps in her car seat. That first flight we ever took, she slept the entire 15 hour day. We had been so stressed about her crying and disturbing the J cabin and getting the evil eye. She was so great we haven't hesitated to fly anywhere and everywhere since. And thankfully she has been terrific each time.

basske

My daughter took her first flight at 6 weeks old and hasn't looked back since.

We've done 31 sectors since and have 6 more remaining before she starts travelling on her own ticket, 2 days after her 2nd birthday.

At the moment my VA status show's on her boarding passes, I think when she starts earning SC's I may snaffle them away and push for Platinum :P

intrepid720

My son was Gold at 8 months and 1K at 19 months.
My daughter was 1K by 18 months.

I think it's important for people to know that it *is* possible to travel with kids, have fun, learn a lot. I've had a couple friends have kids and mope about how "life is ending." Life is what you make of it. Showing your kids the world is fun and awesome if that's your think and you have the means to do it. You don't have to wait until your kids go off to college to take awesome (and frequent) trips. Spread the word!

PWMTrav

Definitely. We just took our 20 month old to Florence for 8 days. Coworkers and friends thought we were nuts to spend 18 hrs traveling each way (long layover at CDG) and bringing a kid to a foreign country. Mind you, Italy isn't that foreign to us, my family is from there. But not only was it doable, it was great. My kid is still talking about it (she asked me in Italian this evening to go to the Merry Go Round - she loved the one in Piazza Della Repubblica - and this is my daughter who isn't too interested in conversing with me in Italian).

We never traveled as kids, my folks didn't really have the money to do it. We get around a little bit more and I'm really happy to be showing my daughter some of the things I didn't see until I was way too much of an adult.

rjque

^^