If you fly on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines as a Business Class passenger on an intercontinental flight, you’ll get to choose a tiny Delft Blue house from a cart rolled down the aisle towards the end of the flight.
Don’t pass up the offer.
KLM has been gifting these miniature gin-filled houses representing special buildings in the Netherlands and beyond to business class passengers since the 1950s. And the small buildings have become treasured and collectible souvenirs.
Many travelers are determined to collect them all. Of course, there’s an app to help with that. And some of the very early houses and limited edition issues can fetch quite a lot of money.
Since 1994, the number of houses matches KLM’s age. And each year on October 7, KLM’s birthday, a new house is added to the collection.
This year is KLM’s 106th birthday, and the newest KLM miniature Delft Blue house portrays the former sexton’s residence, Villa Reameau, located next to Lieden’s Pieterskerk church. The Pilgrims stayed here for twelve years before they set sail on the Mayflower to America in 1620. And the building is now the home of the Pilgrim Museum.
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To celebrate the new “Trolls Band Together” film from DreamWorks Animation, Southwest Airlines is flying a Boeing 737-700 aircraft covered in Troll characters.
And it’s not just on the outside of the plane. The design continues inside the plane too, with Trolls-themed images on some of the cabin window shades.
Ahead of the film’s release on November 17, Southwest’s inflight entertainment system is showing chapters of the blockbuster musical franchise, “Trolls” and “Trolls World Tour.”
Keep an eye out, too, for pop-ups at airports and onboard flights for Trolls-themed merchandise giveaways and other surprises.
In the meantime, Trolls fans should enter a Southwest Airlines sweepstakes for a Trolls-theme LA Getaway to Los Angeles.
The prize includes round-trip tickets on Southwest to LAX for the winner and three guests. The package also includes a hotel room for 2 nights, two $500 Visa gift cards, movie tickets and swag bags. Enter the Southwest Airlines Trolls sweepstakes here by October 19, 2023.
KLM unveils its newest Delft blue miniature house
Each year on its birthday – October 7 – KLM Royal Dutch Airlines unveils a new Delftware miniature in the shape of a Dutch house or building with a special meaning or place in history.
The tradition began in the 1950s. Each little house is filled with Bols Jenever (a Dutch gin) and gifted to passengers traveling in KLM’s business class cabins on intercontinental flights.
This year, in honor of KLM’s 104 birthday, the featured building is the train station in Valkenburg, about a three-hour train ride from Amsterdam.
Fully restored in 2005, this castle-like building was designed by architect Jacob Enschedéand began operation in 1853. KLM says it chose to add the station to its collection partly to celebrate the role railways play in the accessibility of the Netherlands.
Past homes and buildings in KLM’s Delftware miniatures series have depicted everything from the home of Dutch exotic dancer and spy Mata Hari to the Anne Frank House and the Heineken Brewery.
Each year on its anniversary – October 7 – KLM, Royal Dutch Airlines, unveils a new miniature Delft House.
This year’s house – #102 – arrived on time and is a tribute to the glamorous, historic Tuschinski Theatre in Amsterdam, which is about to celebrate its centenary.
We will be back soon with more details about the houses and the event, but running to catch a flight back to the U.S.
In the meantime here are some snaps from the ‘reveal’ celebration, courtesy of KLM.
Do you have a collection of KLM’s miniature Delft houses? Let us know about your favorites in the comments section below.
Dutch flag carrier KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is one of the world’s oldest airlines and the oldest airline still flying under its original name.
The airline celebrated its centenary on Monday, October 7 with more than 3500 friends, frequent flyers and supporters at a party inside an airplane hangar at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.
At the birthday party, there was cake, of course. And speeches.
But everyone in attendance was anxious to find out which historical or architecturally significant Dutch building was being portrayed in KLM’s 100th miniature Delft blue house.
These small porcelain houses are filled with Bols Genever (a Dutch gin) and are highly collectible. They are gifted to passengers flying on intercontinental flights in KLM’s World Business Class cabins.
KLM Then and Now
Courtesy KLM
While KLM was officially established on October 7, 1919, the airline’s first flight took place on May 17, 1920, on a leased De Havilland DH-16 flown from London to Amsterdam.
The airline started buying its own airplanes in 1921; transported its first large animal (a stud bull named Nico V) in 1924 and began flying with designated cabin crew to attend to passenger comfort and safety in 1935.
Courtesy KLM
The
airline’s inflight magazine – the Holland Herald – was first published in 1966
and is now the oldest inflight magazine in the world
After a 2004 merger, KLM became part of the Air France – KLM Group and today KLM flies to 162 destinations, employs 33,000 people worldwide and has a fleet of more than 214 aircraft.
The airline carries more than 34 million passengers and more than 620,000 tons of cargo a year.
“Airlines operate in an incredibly competitive environment,” said Pieter Elbers, KLM President & CEO “Fuel prices, geopolitical issues, and exchange rates are among the many outside issues that affect our business and can make it tough to operate the airline.”
While other airlines
have come and gone, KLM’s longevity, said Elbers, has a lot to do with
innovative and pioneering with its operations and its ability to respond to
trends in a timely manner.
For example, KLM was
an early adopter of social media to serve and engage customers.
Today the airline has
a social media team of about 350, one of the largest in the world. Agents are
on duty daily, tackling about 35,000 customer service cases a week, in 10
different languages, via WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook, Twitter, WeChat and
other platforms. Artificial intelligence systems help as well.
KLM and sustainability
KLM flew the first biofuel flight, to Paris, in June 2011. And in March
2013, the airline operated the first intercontinental flight with biofuel, to
New York.
The airline now has wide-ranging sustainability programs, including the unusual “Fly Responsibly” program which encourages people not to fly – or to fly less often.
Videos and ads ask customers, “Do you always need to meet face-to-face? Could you take the train instead? Could you contribute by compensating your CO2 emissions, or packing light.?”
“It may seem radical for an airline to ask people to consider other options than flying, but we see it as a pioneering approach to creating a more sustainable future in aviation for all of us,” said Boet Kreiken, Executive Vice President Customer Experience, KLM.
As part of the campaign, KLM recently announced that starting March 29, 2020, it will be replacing one of its daily flights between Brussels and Amsterdam with seats on the Thalys high-speed train.
KLM is also supporting the Delft University of Technology efforts to develop the Flying-V, a highly energy-efficient long-distance airplane design that puts the passenger cabin, the cargo holds and the fuel tanks in the wings of an unusual v-shaped aircraft.
The 100th KLM Miniature Delft house
Courtesy KLM
Each year KLM marks its October 7 anniversary by
revealing a new Delftware miniature house.
Past miniature houses have depicted everything from the Anne Frank House and the Rembrandt House to the Palace on Dam Square.
For its 100th anniversary, KLM chose a replica of Huis ten Bosch Palace in The Hague, the home of the Netherland’s King Willem-Alexander and his family.
The new miniature house is being given to passengers business class passengers flying intercontinental flights, but we’ve already spotted it on eBay for about $65.
KLM, Royal Dutch Airways, turns 100 on October 7 and celebrations marking the milestone event are already underway.
A great exhibit drawing from KLM’s extensive collection of more the 250,000 images has been on view at the Amsterdam City Archives.
And on October 7, a hoopla event will take place in a KLM hangar at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. During that party, the much-awaited ‘reveal’ of the 100th tiny Delft house filled with Bols Genever (a Dutch gin) will take place.
The small houses are a given out as complimentary gifts to travelers flying World Business Class and there’s always a wave of excitement in the cabin when the cart with the houses start being rolled down the aisle.
Stuck at the Airport will on hand for this year’s big reveal and we’ll share details on that as soon as we’re able.
Stuck at The Airport was honored to be on site for the reveal of KLM’s 97th miniature Delft House, which was made in the likeness of the Hotel New York in Rotterdam.
The hotel is on the site of the former headquarters of the Holland American Line and for many years, beginning in 1872, the company’s ships sailed between Rotterdam and New York and several other U.S. cities.
Stuck at the Airport was also onsite for the reveal of KLM’s miniature Delft house #98 – which depicts the family home of aviation pioneer Antony Fokker.
In advance of its birthday, KLM has been busy with events, promotions and announcements celebrating the company’s past – and looking to the future.
Take a look at these two short videos, especially the “Fly Responsibly” video that actually encourages travelers not to fly.
