1995

Simultaneously for AAdvantage and SR Qualiflyer.

TWA in 1996. Despite flying them I don't think I figured out the logistics of actually earning the miles for the tickets. First program I actually benefited from earning miles on would be US Airways in 2000. I still have the yellowed membership card. Things have changed greatly since then.

Wholeheartedly agree and I did the same with my kids; my kids were infants when I enrolled them and were at the highest elite level at that time (Platinum) with our multiple trips to India and Australia each year. They maintained the highest elite level during the entire time Pan Am was operational. In addition Pan Am gave bonus miles if one did not redeem miles during certain peak travel periods.

I also had a lifetime Clipper Club membership which was eventually converted to a lifetime Delta Crown Club membership with the transfer of the Pan Am European routes to Delta.

I was Platinum with PAA as well but I don't recall what the lower tiers were and what was required to reach them. Unfortunately the PAA website is down at the moment.

First joined AAdvantage in 2004 and been a FF addict ever since.

Eastern 1984. And racked up miles going back and forth to college. My first FF CC was Amex Delta in 1991 when I moved to ATL.

American on March 17, 1992. I was six years old and my dad signed me up for it.

The first accounts I joined on my own accord were Northwest and Continental in 2001 because of summer travel that year and United in 2002 due to upcoming travel. I still have some of my original FF cards at home.

Would request help with a couple of memory snippets. The first rewards program I remember participating in was AA's coupons in full page display ads in the SF Chronicle. And for some reason it mattered that the shortest flights for credit were SFO-OAK on a re-positioning 737. Short-lived because of the ease of buying up many newspapers by precursors to today's FTers. Hopefully, you know who you are ;).* Can anyone corroborate? Thank you. :)

My first program enrollments were Pan Am's and TWA's, at their inception, but I can't remember when that was.

Moving from San Francisco to Boston, it had to be UA with its minimum four flights back and forth per day, "just in case". And family "just in case" instances surely have come around over the years. Bless UA for the miracles they've worked. But I earned them. That was then. Alas.

Also then, upon joining an organization of extreme business travelers in '82, one of them said, "Join every program that's free. You never know when a freebie will come through." Sure enough, here came a voucher from NWA about every three months for all the BOS-DCA runs.

Hotels: Sheraton Gold ('83? '84?). Then Westin Crimson or somesuch, which became Mr. Ferris's short-lived UA/Westin/Hertz quest. Then I hugged Hyatt's top rung from the start and everytime they added one.

Thanks, OP. :)

* One of the first instances of The Pogo Effect.

American Airlines in 1986, I was a sophomore in high school (my sister's first job out of college was working at American in a call center and she signed me up). My membership number begins with 2 letters and then 5 numbers

I was in the BOAC junior jet club from the early seventies if that counts. No rewards though. The highlight of the flights was the pilot signing the log book. Got a 100,000 mile certificate somewhere never got me any status though

1991 - United Mileage Plus. It was my first time traveling for business. Living in DC I was able to fly non-stop to almost anywhere from IAD. After than trip my admin enrolled me in ALL airline, hotel and car rental loyalty programs.

Ah - those were the days...you could go from curbside to the gate in less than 10 min.

And on the plane a free meal.

United in about September 1983, then American a few months later.

Joined Delta in '88 as a consequence of the "year of triple miles" that they (IIRC) started. Of course all the other majors quickly matched the lunacy, and I primarily focused earnings from then on with United where I was already mid-tier elite. So I got at least quadruple miles from United the majority of 1986.

2000 with Hawaiian. I was in high school and my dad had me sign up.

I was a proud member of Delta´s Air lion 1989. I was 12 at the time. Been hooked on FF ever since.