Stocking Up at an Airline’s Garage Sale

They come in search of economy-class seats, bottles of cocktail syrup, silverware, slippers and casserole dishes bearing the distinctive triangle-like shape of the fourth letter in the Greek alphabet, the inspiration behind the logo for Delta Air Lines.

Every month on the second Friday, the line forms outside a modest support building next to the Delta Flight Museum, near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta. It’s filled with buyers looking to stock up on items decommissioned by Delta, the world’s second-largest airline in terms of passengers carried, which has its headquarters here.

Launched in 1995 as a quarterly clearinghouse of office furniture from Delta’s corporate headquarters, the surplus sale, which benefits the nonprofit flight museum, has emerged as a go-to for a certain type of connoisseur: The Delta superfan.

Given all the pain points that make up plane travel — from delayed flights to cramped seats to what seems like an endless parade of new fees — it may be hard to believe that there are still customers passionate enough about an airline to want to eat off plates bearing its logo, or display its memorabilia around their homes.

At December’s sale, Mark Caldwell was one of the earliest to arrive. Mr. Caldwell, a retired entrepreneur, flies so often on Delta that he has achieved two-million-miler status, a level of loyalty that confers special benefits and recognition, like free upgrades and the occasional shout-out over the flight intercom. Even when he’s not flying, he can sit in first-class seats he bought at an earlier sale that now live in his barn.

“Chances are I sat in them when they were on the plane,” he said.

Delta’s primary hub is Atlanta, and most repeat customers live nearby and are frequent fliers with the airline. For some, supporting a hometown company becomes like cheering on a local sports team, including getting decked out in its gear. Many of the shoppers have an even closer connection to the airline, which was founded in 1924 as a crop-dusting company to fight the boll weevil infestation of cotton crops in the Mississippi Delta: They are current employees.

Brandon Gilbert, who has worked in technical operations for two and half years, was among the first in line. His basket held a coffee cup, hard hat, shirt — all Delta-branded to some extent — and a book called “Exploring Transportation.” An aviation aficionado, he comes most months and also attends airline trade shows and expos. He said his favorite items are galley carts he bought to use at home, a good conversation starter at parties.

“You don’t expect to see it in a home,” Mr. Gilbert said.

Perry De Vlugt, a Delta flight attendant based in Salt Lake City, has a basement full of Delta memorabilia; his collection was profiled in The Salt Lake Tribune, and he has a website dedicated to his hobby. He doesn’t know how many items he has, but he’s out of room in the 1,000-square-foot space dedicated to his collection.

“There are times where I wish I lived in Atlanta to take better advantage of the sales,” Mr. De Vlugt said. “But then I’d probably have a whole aircraft in my house.”

Over the years, the sale has expanded to include decommissioned plane parts, service items and promotional material. Pieces as varied as pre-9/11 steak knives, coasters, an aircraft lavatory, old menus and timetables have been snapped up by collectors. The priciest item sold has been a $500 pressurized door from a DC-9 plane, and the sales contribute between $70,000 and $100,00 to the flight museum each year.

When Delta updates its branding, changes technology or over-orders or retires parts, those items are offered up to the sale.

“They suffer my wrath if they throw out anything before we get to take a look at it,” said Judy Bean, the sale’s manager and a Delta employee for 48 years.

No other U.S.-based airline holds similar regular sales, but there are various industry collectible shows like Airliners International. Other airlines occasionally do one-off sales, as in 2017, when United put parts from a retiring fleet of Boeing 747s on eBay for purchase exclusively with frequent-flier miles. TWA fans will be able to stay in the company’s former terminal at Kennedy Airport, which is being converted into a hotel featuring TWA red carpet in the halls and logoed notepads and pencils in each room.

The Delta sale starts at 9 a.m., as volunteers hand out wicker baskets and a price list (noting that the baskets are also available for $2 apiece). Half the space in the support building is devoted to the event, with shelves and racks filled with new items and a few things that didn’t sell the previous month.

On sale were small flashing airplane magnets, four for $1. Glass carafes, martini shakers and aprons designed for service on Asia-bound flights were priced at $5 each. Dessert stands and packs of 24 napkins were $2. Earbuds were two for $1. A general-purpose oscilloscope was $25.

Mr. Caldwell was at the December sale with April Gilbert, who’d accompanied him from Woodstock, Ga., an Atlanta suburb. Ms. Gilbert (no relation to Brandon Gilbert) was on the hunt for office decorations for her employer, Black Airplane, a web design company. She didn’t buy anything this trip, but previously had purchased things like posters and galley carts.

Tate Coghlan, who lives almost two hours outside Atlanta and travels weekly on Delta for his job as a sales and marketing executive, tries to plan his trips so he gets home in time to browse the inventory. His biggest purchase, made a couple of years ago, was an unused crew rest quarters, a small room with bunk beds made for long-haul planes. He’s building a house that will include the crew quarters, which had to be lowered into place by crane.

“It’s going to be a guest room,” he said in a phone interview.

Jessica Keesee and Christian Pierce were outfitting a retirement party for Ms. Keesee’s father, who was a Delta pilot for 31 years. They got a hard hat, T-shirts, aprons and buttons for guests to wear.

“I wish there was more female pilot gear,” Ms. Keesee said.

Others were looking for a deal. Dave Lishness, who runs an Atlanta event company called Legendary Events, said he has come regularly over the past few years to buy plates, chairs from the corporate office, beverage carts and memorabilia.

“We’ve tried to use all sorts of things,” he said.

At the December sale, he ended up with 1,300 plates that have discreet branding on the bottom, which he said are perfect for his events.

“People go ‘I recognize this,’” Mr. Lishness said.

Buyers streamed in throughout the day, with a bump at lunchtime. Fifteen minutes before closing at 2 p.m., a few still lingered, looking over nearly barren shelves. The first-class seats sold for $300 for a set of two, but economy and economy-comfort seats were still available at $250 and $200. Half of the dozen galley carts sold, too. The day brought in almost $8,000 for the museum. And many of the same shoppers will be back in future months.

“It’s never the same sale twice,” Ms. Bean said.

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