- Delta released a new series of “centennial-themed” trading cards to celebrate becoming the first American airline to hit 100 years old. The cards include a new design featuring the company’s Boeing and Airbus planes and will be handed out by pilots to passengers who request them.
Delta is officially the first U.S. airline to turn 100, and it’s revamping its semi-secret trading card program to celebrate the occasion.
The airline revealed Tuesday a special centennial design with unique colors and branding highlighting Delta’s fleet of Boeing and Airbus planes. The new cards will feature pictures of models like the A220-300, the 717, the 737-800, the A321NEO, the 757-200, the 767-300, the A330-900, and the A350.
On the back, each card includes details about a plane's speed, range, engine type, wingspan, tail height and number of seats, as well as a “fun fact” about the plane pictured on the card.
Pilots will typically get cards that match up with the type of planes they fly (although they can also hand out cards from other planes), and they are free to give them away to any customer who asks. Starting in April, customers can also receive a set of two limited-edition centennial cards when they buy a physical Delta gift card online.
Although the cards have been around for two decades, they’ve seen a resurgence in recent years after several TikTok videos of passengers asking their pilots for the cards went viral. In one such video with 2 million likes, the passenger asks the pilot for a card and then asks her to sign it, much to the pilot’s surprise.
Still, pilots are usually eager to give out the cards and interact with passengers, Delta pilot Captain Brian Ferguson previously told Fortune.
“About 30% of them are people in their twenties and thirties that will come up and ask for a card,” Ferguson said. “About half of those will come up and kind of look over their shoulder like it’s a secret and go, ‘Hey, is this trading card thing real?’”
The trading card program began in 2003 with a limited-edition card featuring the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 model, which was retired in 2004. Delta has since expanded its trading card program to include seven series and 68 different cards.
Yet, it’s not just Delta that offers trading cards to passengers. Frontier pilots also hand out cards to passengers which feature the endangered animals that decorate the tails of its planes.
Thanks in part to the recent resurgence of Delta’s trading card program, pilots handed out 3 million cards in 2024, said Ryan Gumm, Delta senior vice president of flight operations. As such, this year, the airline printed 5 million of the special, centennial cards to be handed out, just in case.
“This simple, yet impactful interaction between our pilots and customers elevates and enriches the flight experience – and has created meaningful connections and memorable moments along the way,” Gumm said in a statement.
