A package arrived in the post the other day from Singapore Airlines, addressed to my daughter (8 years-old). She is always excited to receive mail and on this occasion even more gleeful when she read the contents, advising that she had attained Kris Flyer Elite Gold Member status.

My first reaction was to quickly check my own status – a lowly miserable Kris Flyer Silver. How can this be? My 8 year-old daughter higher ranked frequent flyer tier than her intrepid, ‘wandering’ dad!

“Don’t worry daddy” she said, “It says here I can bring one guest into the lounge, so you can come with me”.

‘Great’ … so I now have to be super-nice to my daughter when at the airport, so we can get into the Airline lounges – go figure. She is already a master of negotiation (if you need a salary increase, she can help) so I can just imagine the bargaining that will now take place between gate lounges.

Then my mind starts contemplating how different the youth of today is.

I had not even left the country (New Zealand) until I was 19 and it wasn’t no holiday I can tell you moreover, the first plane I was ever in, I jumped out of (parachuting). Would you believe I once applied for an airline steward position with Air New Zealand back in the mid-80s, because they asked me to, but then knocked me back.

I wonder if it had something to do with my answer to one of the questions in the application form, ‘What flying experience do I have?” To which I replied “I’m pretty good at jumping out of them”. But that’s another story…

So, here we are; the next generation already on her third passport, her second running out of pages for visa stamps and now – a Kris Flyer Gold Member. And yes, it’s not often she turns to the right when embarking.

All I can say, whoever she marries will need a Trust inheritance or at the minimum be a pilot.