This Man Earned 1.25 Million Airline Miles By Buying 12,000 Chocolate Pudding Packets

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Collecting airline points to figure out how to travel around the world for cheap and/or free is a very, very addicting hobby. There are entire media empires and sub-Reddits dedicated to it. The idea of the manufactured spend is hardly a new one to those who dabble in racking up airline points. But the story of David Phillips is the stuff of legend in the travel miles churning community. Business Insider tells that tale in the video above.

In 1999 Healthy Choice ran a promotion with American Airlines where grocery shoppers could earn 1,000 AAdavantage miles for every 10 UPCs from Healthy Choice products. Seizing an opportunity to accumulate a lot of airline miles without spending a lot of money, a civil engineer from California named David Phillips figured out how to hit the proverbial churning jackpot. Over the course of a few days, he drove around Northern California to purchase over 12,000 cups of Healthy Choice pudding cups. He ended up accumulating around 1.25 million airline miles from the scheme, worth about $25,000 in free travel that he spent over the next six years. So they didn’t go to waste, the Salvation Army took the pudding packets to feed the hungry minus the UPC codes.

Phillips total net cost? $2,500. He was also able to earn lifetime Platinum status with American thanks to the promotion.

Not too shabby.

Brandon Wenerd is BroBible's publisher, writing on this site since 2009. He writes about sports, music, men's fashion, outdoor gear, traveling, skiing, and epic adventures. Based in Los Angeles, he also enjoys interviewing athletes and entertainers. Proud Penn State alum, former New Yorker. Email: brandon@brobible.com