We've all heard about baseball cards and Pokemon cards, but did you know that Delta Air Lines (DAL) has its own line of collectible trading cards? According to the airline, all you need to do to score an airplane trading card is politely ask your pilot the next time you’re boarding a flight.
Delta’s trading card program quietly flew under the radar for more than 20 years — skeptics even questioned whether it was real, but social media users shed light on this free “secret program” in November 2023, and the videos they posted to TikTok and Instagram quickly went viral: One by @sarowarrr amassed over 30 million views alone.
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One delighted commenter summed things up perfectly by saying, “We've been worrying about airline points when the real game has been airline trading cards.”
What are Delta Air Lines' trading cards?
Similar in size to a Topps baseball card, Delta's trading cards are approximately 3.5 inches tall by 2.5 inches wide, but instead of an image of a baseball player, Delta aircraft take center stage.
Each card showcases the name and image of an airplane in Delta’s 991-aircraft fleet (which, by the way, is the largest in the world), along with Delta’s triangular logo.
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The sheer beauty of these cards is what makes them appealing—they’re stylized with bold fonts and eye-popping colors, and the newer series even features holograms.
On the back of each card, you’ll find specs about the size, range, and wingspan of the aircraft, along with other fun facts, like how long it takes the plane to go from 0 to 60 mph (in the case of the Boeing 777, that’s less than 6 seconds) or if it has an exceptionally high thrust-to-weight ratio (which explains why the Boeing 757 is dubbed the “hot rod” of Delta’s fleet).
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In an interview with Fortune, Delta Captain Brian Ferguson said that the airline created the program in 2003 as a way for its aviators to connect with passengers, give them something tangible to enjoy, and, ostensibly, share their love of flying.
Delta has released six series of collectible cards:
- The 2003 series was designed in a landscape format and highlighted aircraft like the Boeing 737 and McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (which was still in service at the time). Delta showcased behind-the-scenes intel about what it takes to paint, wire, and power the fleet.
- The 2004 series celebrated 75 years of Delta service by showcasing the McDonnell Douglas MD-90 and Boeing 757 aircraft, to name a few, along with postage-stamp-sized illustrations of Delta’s top destinations.
- Delta’s 2010 series was more streamlined than previous series, as Delta returned to its roots by using a simple photograph of an aircraft covering the entire front face of the cards with specs formatted in linear format on the card’s back side.
- In 2015, Delta changed things up by displaying its cards in a vertical orientation. It also added a hologram that appeared to magically shift according to the direction the card was viewed from.
- Delta’s 2016 series did not include a hologram; instead, artistic renderings depicted the aircraft in an engaging, pointillist style that also incorporated Delta’s logo. In addition, these cards sported rounded corners.
- With its most recent series, released in 2022, Delta returned to the hologram, this time brandishing it across the entire front side of the trading card. The back features multiple views of the aircraft and utilizes a smaller font, which allowed the cards' visual designers to add in even more fascinating details.
The cards are made by Delta’s “Window Seat” visual design department. Delta pilots vote on their favorites, and the winners go into circulation.
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Captain Ferguson also revealed that, in 2023, Delta pilots handed out more than 1.5 million trading cards, admitting that he gets asked multiple times per flight and often runs out before he can refill them from the chief pilot’s office.
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How can I get Delta trading cards? How much do they cost?
If you get them at the source — as a ticketed passenger aboard a Delta flight — these collectible trading cards are free.
But if you’re looking to round out the set you’ve started collecting or want to give a gift to a collector in your family, you can also find every Delta series of airline cards for sale on online marketplaces like eBay, Etsy, and Mercari. They range in price from $3.99 for a single card to $900 for a 60-card series.
The most common Delta trading cards are the most recent, from the 2022 Series. You’ll find these sell for the lowest prices around — or you could obtain cards in this series for no charge by asking your pilot on board your next flight.
Svitlana Hulko; Getty Images
What is the most valuable Delta trading card?
According to insiders, Delta made several mistakes in its 2016 series — the first being that it designed a card for an aircraft it ultimately never purchased, the Bombardier CS 100. This card, known as #51C, is considered to be the rarest of all of Delta trading cards because it was never officially issued; however, eagle-eye viewers spot it pop up from time to time on online marketplaces like eBay.
The #51 card had several other incarnations — first as the Boeing 767 card, which is considered to be the “original” #51 card; later, as the CS 100 rebranded under the Airbus umbrella and changed its name to the A220, the card was reissued three more times, in vertical and horizontal formats, and once as the A220-100, which is the smaller-sized version of the aircraft.
A complete set of all six series (including all five #51 cards) was recently listed on eBay in June 2024 by seller @matdddd and priced at a whopping $3,000. The seller also provided instructions on how to spot fake Delta trading sets, saying that authentic sets are printed in high-resolution format and often feature adhesive glue along their tops.
Which other airlines have trading cards?
Thanks to social media, Delta may have the most famous trading cards, but they’re not the only airline to give away these pocket-sized collectibles. In fact, the first airline to hand out trading cards was Northwest Airlines, which offered signed “pilot cards” to its passengers back in the 1990s. (Northwest later merged with Delta Air Lines in 2010.)
In 2023, United Airlines gave away limited-edition trading cards to celebrate its million Instagram followers.
Frontier Airlines also hands out trading cards that feature endangered animals that also serve as the company’s mascots: Griz the Bear, Otto the Owl, and Flo the Flamingo. You’ll find these beautiful creatures, among others, painted on the aircraft’s exterior as well.
In addition, Spirit Airlines and Lufthansa offer their passengers digital trading cards.
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And, in an ironic twist, Alaska Airlines once printed trading cards depicting its logo alongside an image of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet.
Those who follow the news will know that in early 2024, a Boeing-built piece of fuselage on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 blew out, sucking clothing and cell phones out of its aircraft, and terrifying passengers around the world. In the aftermath of the incident, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered 171 Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes grounded while it conducted a thorough safety investigation.
We found a set of those cards on sale on eBay for $25 — depending on what happens next, they might become a collector’s item.
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