The Legend of the "Pudding Guy": How 12,150 Cups of Pudding Earned 1.2 Million Miles

In the world of points and miles, we often talk about credit card sign-up bonuses, transfer partners, and mistake fares. But every once in a while, a story comes along that reminds us that the greatest tool in a traveler’s arsenal isn’t a premium card—it’s a spreadsheet and a little bit of “outside the box” thinking.

Enter David Phillips, a civil engineer from UC Davis who, in 1999, pulled off what remains the most iconic travel hack of all time.

The Loophole: 500 Miles for $2.50

It started at a local grocery store. Phillips noticed a promotion from Healthy Choice: mail in 10 barcodes from their products, and they would reward you with 500 frequent flyer miles.

Most people saw this as a nice way to get a free domestic flight after months of eating frozen dinners. Phillips, however, did the math.

While frozen entrees cost roughly $2.00 each, he discovered individual Healthy Choice pudding cups at a Grocery Outlet in Sacramento for just 25 cents a piece.

The Math: 10 pudding cups = $2.50.
The Reward: 500 miles.
The Kicker: Healthy Choice offered an “early bird” bonus that doubled the reward to 1,000 miles if the barcodes were submitted within the first month.

Suddenly, Phillips realized he could “buy” 1,000 miles for just $2.50. At that rate, a round-trip ticket to Europe (usually 50,000 miles at the time) would cost him just $125.

The Great Pudding Heist

Phillips didn’t just buy a few packs; he cleaned out every Grocery Outlet in the Central Valley. Driving a van with his mother-in-law, he visited ten different stores, eventually purchasing 12,150 individual servings of pudding.

When store clerks asked why he was clearing the shelves, he didn’t want to tip off other hackers. His cover story? He was “stocking up for Y2K.”

The Logistics: A Charitable Pivot

Buying the pudding was the easy part. Peeling 12,150 barcodes before the early bird deadline was a logistical nightmare.

Phillips came up with a brilliant solution: he donated the entirety of the pudding to the Salvation Army and local food banks. In exchange for the massive donation, he asked if their volunteers could help him peel the barcodes.

They agreed, the pudding went to people in need, and Phillips walked away with two things:

A mountain of barcodes.
An $815 tax write-off for the charitable donation, effectively lowering the “cost” of his miles even further.

The Result: Lifetime Status

After mailing off his crates of barcodes, Phillips was credited with 1,253,000 miles. He funneled the majority into his American Airlines AAdvantage account, which instantly pushed him over the million-mile mark, earning him AAdvantage Gold status for life.

He eventually used those miles to take his family on trips to over 43 countries, including flights to Europe, Hawaii, and even a massive family vacation to Mexico where he booked seven free tickets at once.

Why This Matters Today

The “Pudding Guy” story is more than just a quirky piece of history—it’s the North Star for the points and miles community. It inspired the movie Punch-Drunk Love, but more importantly, it proved that the best deals aren’t always handed to you on a silver platter.

Sometimes, the best way to see the world is to look at a 25-cent cup of chocolate pudding and see a plane ticket.

Are you looking for the next “Pudding” deal? Stick around as we dive into the latest shopping portal bonuses and partnership hacks that can help you build your own million-mile empire!