Originally Posted by
stupidzbu
Hotel wise, maybe book a room under the kids name to get them stay credit at my expense?
I figure what better gift than lifetime status at 18, right?
Neat idea, but you should check the hotel's terms & conditions to be sure the program won't invalidate the stay credit if minors are not allowed to rent hotel rooms.
However as soon as they turn 18, you can make the a card holder on an AMEX account for a bit to establish their credit line date.
As for airlines, lifetime status means million miler I think, and it would take about 97 years to get there at 12k miles per year. However if you teach them about good credit and how to play the miles game, they will get lifetime status early in their life.
Good luck!