Want a free house? KLM, the Netherlands’ flag carrier, gives them away for free.
There are strings, of course. And more to the story.
You need to be flying in business class on an intercontinental flight. And the houses are just 4 inches high.
But they are filled with Dutch gin and are part of a series of Delft Blue miniatures in the shape of a notable historic or landmark building in the Netherlands or abroad.
KLM began the tradition of gifting a miniature Delft Blue house filled with gin to first and business-class passengers back in the 1950s.
It was a way to get around rules about tax restrictions that once limited the value of the gifts that airlines could give to passengers. A cocktail that just happened to be served in a keepsake miniature house was within the rules.
The houses became so popular that in 1994, on the carrier’s 75th birthday, KLM issued a catch-up batch of houses so that the number of houses would line up with the airline’s age.
Now a new miniature Delft Blue house is released to great fanfare each year on October 7, KLM’s birthday.
The 105th KLM Delft Blue House
This year’s house – the 105th in the series – honors a 17th-century house in Amsterdam known as the House on Three Canals.
Built in the Dutch Renaissance style and renovated several times since 1687, this Dutch national monument has a different canal on three sides of the building.
“It’s one of the most photographed monuments in the city,” said historian Marz Zegeling. “This building – which was originally two buildings – has three different façades, or faces and is still revealing secrets,” such as a hidden hatch leading to a secret hiding spot, he added.
Zegeling is the author of “Little Kingdom by the Sea,” a regularly updated 2-book set with detailed descriptions and histories of each building in the KLM Delft Blue house series.
On October 7, Marjan Rintel, the President and CEO of KLM, presented the first copy of the Delft Blue miniature of the House on Three Canals to Arthur van Dijk, the King’s Commissioner in the province of North Holland.
KLM’s birthday and the new Delft Blue miniature house reveal comes at a “challenging time” for the carrier, Rintel acknowledged in a pre-event press conference. While the airline is investing billions in new, more efficient aircraft is also embarking on a campaign aimed at reducing costs, increasing productivity and increasing network capacity, especially on long-haul flights.
For now, though, KLM’s Delft Blue miniature house program is safe from cuts.
“We will look at everything but not the Delft Blue houses,” Rintel said, “We’re well known for it and it will stay as part of our brand.”
Some of the other buildings featured in KLM’s Delft Blue miniature house series include #104, the Valkenburg Station – the oldest existing train station in the Netherlands – and miniature #102, the Tuschinski Theater.
You can get a KLM miniature house as a complimentary amenity when flying business class on an intercontinental KLM flight, on eBay and in antique shops throughout Amsterdam.
And you can track your collection using the KLM Houses app.
