Delta fans line up to buy vintage airline merch at this monthly event
In the early morning hours of the second Friday of every month, a collection of Delta Air Lines employees, aviation aficionados and curious locals converge outside a low-slung warehouse near the Delta Flight Museum for the chance to shop.
This is “the world’s largest airline garage sale,” said RD Dewberry — a self-proclaimed “av geek,” former airline employee and a frequent “Surplus Sale” shopper.
“You will find anything and everything in here. It’s really amazing.”
Old airport gate seats. Galley carts. Scrap airplane parts. Delta T-shirts. Vintage flight timetables. Old passenger stationery kits. Airplane trading cards.
If you’re lucky? Engine blades. Those are a hot commodity right now.
Delta is the only airline to do anything like this regularly, he said.
Dewberry showed up around 7 a.m. before the 9 a.m. start to lock in his place near the front of the line. The gates to the museum don’t even open to the public until 7:30 a.m.
The museum has been hosting versions of its “Surplus Sale” since it opened about 30 years ago. They serve both as a fundraiser and a way to pass along the infinite volume of donations the nonprofit receives for its archives.
After sifting through donations for anything worth keeping, the archivist turns it over to the surplus sale organizers.
That’s where Judy Bean comes in. She’s a 55-year veteran Delta employee and manager of the surplus sale and volunteers. Her social media promo videos for the sale are somewhat legendary among its fan base.
On a sale day, Bean arrives at 5:30 a.m. She gives out “boarding cards” to the lucky first 26 to arrive, guaranteeing them their place in line.
No. 1 for the October sale was Jack McCormack, a Delta pilot who arrived at 6 a.m. thanks to his employee card privileges. He’s a frequent surplus sale attendee who already has several galley carts and tons of Delta gear.
“Anything you can think of that’s got Delta’s name on it, you can get it here,” he said. “You never know what you’re going to find.”
It’s kind of like an aviation industry Black Friday, said Carrie McCarthy, who also comes regularly. She arrived at 7 a.m. and was No. 6. She doesn’t know exactly what she’s after this time — maybe some seats.
Meg and Mike Stitt came from Newnan. Their prized find from a past sale was an old aircraft engine cowling they turned into a deck table.
It was Jay Agrawal’s first time at the sale — and first time in Atlanta — but he was prepared. He stood in line with a huge, handmade, rectangular cardboard box balanced on a moving dolly.
He is after an airplane drink/galley cart.
“I am going to check this as a bag, and I am bringing it to my dorm in New York,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution with a laugh.
He flew in the night before and stayed in an airport hotel, where he built the box based on measurements he found online.
Lee Atley also flew in for the sale from Salt Lake City. His grandmother works for Delta, and this is his third visit. Last time, he scored a set of actual first-class airplane seats.
“I study on them,” he said. “Sometimes I just pretend I’m on a plane. I have some Biscoff.”
The museum constantly receives donations from former Delta employees and their families, which allows it to change up the stock monthly.
Bean said while she never turns any donations away, she does end up sending a lot out to Goodwill after sifting for what she thinks will sell.
“Everybody loves a good deal,” she said.
One man comes from Seoul frequently with empty suitcases to fill up, she said.
Some of her best customers are the 20 volunteers who staff the sale, she said. They get early shopping access in exchange for their work.
But Bean doesn’t just rely on donations to stock the sale. “I have a vast contact network” across Delta, she said. “I don’t burn any bridges!”
“Everything is an opportunity,” said Gail Grimmett, president and CEO of the Delta Flight Museum.
She, too, regularly checks in with Delta’s supply chain and maintenance teams to see what they might be getting rid of.
“Don’t think when I’m over at Tech Ops, I don’t walk by the dumpsters looking at what’s in the dumpsters for spare aircraft parts!”
She found one aircraft part — she isn’t even sure what it is — that she thinks will make for some marketable napkin rings, she said.
Once the clock strikes 9 a.m., the doors open, and shoppers wind their way through the serpentine layout. There’s a lot to take in.
Airplane slippers for $2. Airplane pillows for $5. $10 international country flags from a Delta event gone by. An old Eastern Airlines aisle chair for $75.
And yes, several dozen of those sought-after galley carts for $250.
Agrawal manages to score one. And it does fit in his custom-made box.
Many lucky folks rolled out with carts they plan to use for bar carts, kitchen storage or even one rolling toolbox.
The sale’s existence reflects Delta’s culture, Grimmett said.
The very fact that the donations exist roots from former Delta employees’ interest in collecting “artifacts” from their years at the airline or at Delta’s precursor airlines.
“There’s a sense of pride to our heritage,” she said.
Scott Robin, an 11-year Delta employee and shop volunteer, agreed the sale is a way to “continue to preserve our legacy for the future culture keepers to eventually pass on to other culture keepers” for the next 100 years, he said.
The next surplus sale is set for Nov. 14 from 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
“As long as we don’t lose money on this, if this is something that makes our customers happy and that people are interested in, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have this,” Grimmett said.
THE CONCOURSE
This column has been adapted from the October edition of The Concourse, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s LinkedIn newsletter about all things Atlanta airport.
Keep up with the latest insider news about the world’s busiest airport by subscribing on the AJC’s LinkedIn page, linkedin.com/company/atlanta-journal-constitution.
About the Author
As a business reporter, Emma Hurt leads coverage of the Atlanta airport, Delta Air Lines, UPS, Norfolk Southern and other travel and logistics companies. Prior to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution she worked as an editor and Atlanta reporter for Axios, a politics reporter for WABE News and a business reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
