American Airlines has joined the trend of offering trading cards, though the airline is only doing this in celebration of its 100th birthday. While I first covered this back when the airline made the announcement, there’s now an update, as these should be available on a pretty widespread basis.
American launches centennial themed trading cards
American has rolled out centennial themed trading cards. These are given to pilots of mainline aircraft, who can then hand them out to passengers, on a first-come, first-served basis (admittedly not all pilots may have these).
While these started to roll out as of May 2026, they should be available on a more widespread basis now. American expects to print more than seven million trading cards this summer alone.
The trading cards showcase four fleet types currently flown by American — the A321neo, the 737-800, the 777-300ER, and the 787-9P. While minor, I find it noteworthy how the 737-800 is being featured, and not the 737 MAX 8, which is the newer generation aircraft. Meanwhile for Airbus equivalents, the A321neo is featured, and not the A321. I guess it’s the curse of the 737 MAX?
In addition, to commemorate the company’s centennial anniversary, three special edition trading cards are available of the DC-3, 707-123, and MD-80, representing three aircraft that played a big part in American’s history.
Every trading card includes an image of the aircraft, aircraft specifications, diagrams, and facts about the aircraft. The cards also include specific aircraft registrations that provide more context and historical facts about past and present aircraft.
Here’s how Captain Alan Johnson, American’s VP of Flight Operations, describes this:
“These trading cards are a culmination of 100 years of special moments shared between pilots, planes and passengers. Whether flying for the first time or the 100th, these cards give everyone the opportunity to connect with pilots, commemorate meaningful trips and reflect on the progress of flight.”
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This is a positive (but late) initiative from American
It’s nice to see American finally officially introducing trading cards, since the airline is late to the game. This is something that many other airlines, including Delta, have been doing for a very long time.
In the case of American, I find it interesting how the airline highlights both current and past planes, rather than just the exact planes that passengers may be flying on. I’m curious if all pilots can distribute all cards, or if the intent is that if you’re on one of the four featured “current” aircraft, the pilots hand out those cards?
What makes this all very interesting is that American announced plans to roll out these trading cards just days after the union representing American pilots, the Allied Pilots Association (APA), rolled out its own trading cards.
APA described the initiative as being intended to “enhance the experience of our passengers,” given that the airline didn’t step up to make these cards. These cards do have union branding rather than airline branding, as you’d expect.
Given the timing here, I have to imagine that American’s decision to roll out trading cards is because of the embarrassment of pilots basically having to fund this up until now. That’s further supported by the fact that the cards only rolled out after American’s official 100th anniversary.
But hey, better late than never, and I look forward to collecting these!
Bottom line
American has finally introduced official trading cards, coinciding with the carrier’s 100th anniversary. There are seven different trading cards, including four for current aircraft and three for former aircraft. It’s good to see American finally introducing these trading cards, and I imagine that a “nudge” from pilots ultimately caused the airline to take action.
What do you make of American rolling out trading cards?