Originally Posted by
ctsgoblue
I signed my kids up for SkyMiles last year and it got me wondering what others' strategies are.
- Do your kids have their own SkyMiles account?
- Do you try to use the miles or do you accrue them (and let them devalue over time)?
- Are you saving them up to turn them over when they're 18?
- Do you have other FF programs for them with other airlines?
- Any other strategies/thoughts?
- Any of you have little ones with status already?
I asked a couple people recently and one friend said his oldest child (13-14yo) has close to 250,000 miles and his other kids have slightly less. For me, we weren't really traveling during COVID but are now starting to do more leisure travel as a family. I doubt we'll earn much (maybe 5,000-15,000 miles most years, and a lot of flights will be zero because of companion tickets, etc.) but I figured I'd probably just accrue them and turn them over at age 18. Even though the miles will devalue over time, at least it's a head start on MM status
But maybe I should be doing something differently?
Earned Miles (RDMs) are not tied to MM status on the earning side and whether you use the miles now or hand the miles over when they turn 18 has no bearing/impact or leads to a head start on MM status. Having them signed up as kids and flying on any ticket that earns MQMs is what will give them a "head start" towards MM status versus having just forgone any Skymiles account for them and "not worrying about" the miles until they were perhaps otherwise old enough to care, if this is what you otherwise meant. A side note: now with Award flights earning MQMs, using Skymiles for an award ticket now (as long as it's on DL metal) would earn them MQMs that will count towards MM status.
Whether you use them now or "transfer" ("save") the miles to your kids when they turn 18 to then allow them to use versus use them now for tickets you would otherwise pay for is really a preference on your end though. As you note, the miles will only devalue over time but it depends on whether you want to use the miles in their account to
save you money for tickets you are booking while they are still a kid (since I'm guessing you are buying all/most of their plane tickets) or if you want to view the miles
as saving them money as they enter adulthood when they use them. I didn't sign-up for Skymiles until I was around 15 or 16 years old but I earned enough miles over the next few years after signing up to be able to then "afford" a Skymiles Award Ticket while in college to attend a family wedding that had I had to pay cash for the ticket, I probably wouldn't have been able to attend as a college student with minimal income coming in.