Delta sells surplus items to benefit

ATLANTA (FOX 5 Atlanta) - From plane parts to clothing and cutlery, aviation super-fans are flocking to a monthly garage sale, featuring retired and surplus items from Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines.

It's a tradition that dates back to 1995. But in recent months, officials say they're seeing unprecedented numbers, shoppers visiting from across the country to get their share of the deals.

Shoppers left with an array of items from zero-dollars, like this bag given out for free, to $225 airplane seats. But what's really amazing about this sale is the creativity from the shoppers, many repurposing parts of planes into something practical and useful in homes. In fact, one of our own executive producers at FOX 5 News transformed a drink cart into a mobile bar.

Fan also have been snagging decommissioned items from $3 T-shirts to $5 Sam Adams cut-outs.

Among the most loyal shoppers, Delta retiree Norbert Raith.

"I think I've probably missed one sale since they started," Raith said.

Over the years, he's acquired, thousands of photographs, entire table settings and piles of T-shirts.

"Every time I see a different one with a different logo, I have to have it. It's just a habit, I've always been a collector," said Raith.

What started as a biannual sale, attracting no more than 200 shoppers, has since taken off. Now a monthly event bringing in more than 700 people per sale.

Ryan and Lori Richardson visiting from Minnesota with their sights locked in on coach seats.

"We flew in last night and we'll be going back home this afternoon," said Richardson.

Rayleen Weatherly and her fiancé are shopping for their wedding with a travel theme: love is in the air.

"From the get-go from when we got engaged I knew that we're going to have a theme that encapsulates the travel and the adventure of life," said Weatherly.

Profits from the monthly event go towards the Delta Flight Museum.

Last year, the sale brought in more than $100,000.