March 22, 2006
Aadvantage member: Pudding Guy, David Phillips
Pudding Guy, David Phillips, a civil engineer at UC-Davis, says he spent just over 3,000 dollars in purchases (most of which he donated to charity and wrote off on his taxes) and added 1,037,000 miles to his American Airlines account.
Surpassing the million-mile mark, gave Pudding Guy Aadvantage Gold status for life. Aadvantage Gold members get a special reservations number, priority boarding, upgrades and bonus miles. He had already gotten enough to fly to Europe 31 times, but a few extra miles never hurt anyone. Here's what pudding guy had to say:
For the record, counting the soup and other miscellaneous products I bought and ate, I received 1,253,000 miles from the Healthy Choice promotion. Does pulling off this venture get me into the frequent flyer hall of fame?I haven't checked myself, but any skeptics are welcome to check out some newspaper articles that I'm told covered the story:Isn't it strange to think that the million-miler sitting next to you in first class got there solely by buying chocolate pudding?
Bone, James. "Pudding Buyer Can Fly Free for a Lifetime."
The [London] Times. 26 January 2000.
Costello, Jane. "Shopper Turns Lots of Pudding Into Free Miles."
The Wall Street Journal. 24 January 2000 (p. B1).
McManis, Sam. "Pudding Cups Win Engineer Creamy Miles."
The San Francisco Chronicle. 14 April 2000 (p. 1).
Robertson, Blair Anthony. "Road to $25,000 Worth of Air Travel Was Paved with Pudding Purchases."
The Fresno Bee. 26 January 2000 (p. A13).
