Dorri Partain
Contributor

If your bags are packed and you’re ready to go, you might be leaving on a jet plane… for Hawaii!

For a more personalized tag than the airlines use to mark baggage, you may want a decorative, durable tag that denotes where you’ve traveled. The plastic tag will hold a business card, or the user can fill out their name and address on the provided card. This American Airlines luggage tag acquired during the 1980’s promotes flights to that beautiful island destination with a graphic of the prominent landmark, Diamond Head.

Named by British sailors that arrived on the beaches of Oahu in 1825, the Diamond Head formation is the remnant of a volcanic tuff cone. The sailors found calcite crystals in the vicinity and mistakenly thought they were diamonds, but the name stuck even once that was proved incorrect.

Islanders have long called Diamond Head “L’ahi,” which means “brow of the tuna.” To them, the prominent peak resembled the dorsal fin of a tuna. In addition to recreation, Diamond Head has been used as a military base as early as 1906 (Fort Rutger) and again during World War II. A few relics of its military use remain, as the site was added as a Natural National Landmark in 1968.

American Airlines was founded in 1930 as a union of 80 smaller airlines joined together to increase service. While the logo has always featured an eagle with raised wings and two capital letter A’s, the logo that appears on this tag was designed by Italian artist and designer Massimo Vignelli (1931-2014). The logo was used from 1967 through 2013, when it was updated to the current logo in use.

In the past 20 years, American Airlines has grown to be the largest airline company, providing flights around the world after merging with US Airways in 2011, and taking over all operations of Trans World Airlines (TWA) in 2001.