Delta Air Lines became a social media and news sensation in recent years for their long-standing program offering aircraft trading cards that pilots can carry to give away to passengers. The program flew under the radar for decades but has become far more well known over the past few years as passengers go viral asking for them on TikTok and Instagram.
Pilot yesterday was excited when I asked about the trading cards
byu/RyanLoco indelta
Passengers absolutely love getting these cards!
@sarowarrr Got my first trading card!!! Ask your pilot for one before or after your flight! #delta #tradingcards #collectibles ♬ original sound – Sarowar
While Delta gets all the attention, did you know that United Airlines has these cards too?
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inunitedairlines
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A flight attendant offers this advice for picking up trading cards,
Flight attendant here- always ask the flight attendants at the boarding door while boarding; we can check if it’s a good time for you to pop your head in and ask. Usually during deplaning the pilots may have another flight to work or a commuting flight they are running home to and may not be on the plane when you leave. Most of us are happy to let you talk to the pilots as long as they aren’t running any of their pre-flight checklists. Additionally, always ask to check out the flight deck if you are truly interested, most enjoy seeing visitors of all ages!!!
While both Delta and United have these cards that pilots can give to passengers, American Airlines does not. As American’s CEO says, ‘never spend a dollar you don’t have to’.
Gary Leff,
May I submit on this fine Saturday evening that the content of this post is germane and wholesome and unlike your past posts in which you have exploited the mentally ill or baited your most bigoted readership into politically charged incivility. I prefer to see more content of the type in this post as opposed to those posts. My best wishes,
Dick
Dick,
What a thoughtful letter. However, you know that you are being disingenuous. I’ve witnessed and responded to some of your hateful comments on here (on other posts). This is Gary’s website, and he hosts it from the USA, which is still a ‘free country,’ unless you have news for us, so he so as he wishes with VFTW. Politics is people, money, and power, and all that is very much intertwined in modern life and travel too. If you disagree with something someone said, you can ignore or engage. And if you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen!
Respectfully,
1990
Ok grandpa “dick” time for bed.
This article needs to have a heart icon so I can click “love!”
I don’t always agree with 1990, kudos for your last post. Dick is a nasty trouble maker.
Premium revenue means a premium on their trading cards. My son has 63 of them and polishes them every night before bed. While all the other kids were out socializing, my son was obsessing over the 4th printing of the NWA A320 card. Bless his little heart. He finally got it after stalking cousin Ed so much that he threatened a restraining order!
@Gary – great article, but no mention of Frontier? They also have trading cards; however, due to only operating a single family of aircraft (A32X), theirs focus more on each of the animals on the tails (they reference the individual AC #s on them, with a few aircraft data tidbits).
Out of all of them, I actually like Frontier’s the best – although the DL cards are classics (inherited from NW, I believe), and I honestly wasn’t aware UA had them.
@Ege — You’re welcome. Thank you.
There are a lot of smart people on here with vast experience in the industry and ample creativity. Banter and healthy debate is usually good fun and often quite informative. Whereas, pointless hate and threats of violence are not. Some have forgotten the difference.
That said, this is Gary’s travel blog, not the most serious place, but not a joke, though he did say recently that it started as a ‘lark,’ and clearly has grown into something more.
Nevertheless, VFTW is a private entity, not the government, so speech here is a ‘privilege,’ not necessarily a ‘right,’ and for the most part Gary doesn’t micro-manage the comments. He’s also often very responsive if you ask a direct question. He’s a good host.
All which leads me to believe that Gary supports actual ‘free speech,’ within reason, as-in, say what you want, others may disagree, then they can engage or ignore. We should be grateful that Gary embodies such balanced and responsible leadership.
Unfortunately, some of fellow commenters repeatedly seek to ‘mute’ others because they disagree with them. So far, those fellas have not succeeded. They know who they are. I know who they are. I won’t name any further names for now. Let’s go!
As for the substance of the actual post here, and sorry for my delay, yes, I too look forward to collecting some more trading cards, be it Delta, United, or anybody. If you actually fly frequently or have worked in the industry, keepsakes and collectibles like this ‘make my day.’ When Amex had those limited edition 747 Delta Reserve cards, you’d better believe I pounced on that—don’t tell ‘em, but I probably will never willingly close or downgrade that account because of the uniqueness of the physical card. But, yes, please, dear airlines, keep safety first, then reliability, then comfort, and after all that, more cool, fun stuff like this. Yippie!