KLM Royal Dutch airlines

Sweepstakes from Delta/T-Mobile & Southwest. Plus: KLM’s newest miniature Delftware house

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T-Mobile Customer? Enter this Delta Air Lines contest

Are you a T-Mobile customer who doesn’t pay much attention to T-Mobile Tuesdays?

That’s the day customers can score discounts and prizes on a special T-Mobile app.

And whether or not you take advantage of the offers, October 10 will be a good day to check it out.

On October 10, T-Mobile and Delta Air Lines will give away more than $300,000 in airline gift cards in a T-Mobile Tuesday campaign.

Enter for a chance to win $500, $10,000, or even $25,000 in Delta gift cards. And use your prize on Delta flights, Delta Vacation packages, upgrades, in-flight meals, Delta merch, etc.

Good luck!

Southwest Airlines Trolls-themed plane + sweepstakes

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 Enschedé and 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.

Learn more about KLM’s Delftware miniatures here.

KLM unveils mini Delft House #102

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Photo Harriet Baskas

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.

KLM Turns 100

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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 turns 100 on Oct 7

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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.

Airplane of the future? It may be the “Flying-V”

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The airplane of the future may be shaped like a big V.

And it may be super sustainable.

On the heels of its announcement of an investment in a biofuel plant set to open in 2022, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has announced it will partner with Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) to fund the development of an innovative flying machine known as the “Flying-V.”

The new-fangled, aerodynamic aircraft design incorporates the passenger cabin, cargo hold and fuel tanks into the wings of a V-shaped aircraft.

As designed, the unusual shape would reduce an aircraft’s weight and use 20% less fuel than current airplanes. But it would allow the plane to easily land at airports and pull up to gates designed to welcome Airbus A350s.

Designers say the Flying-V will be able to carry the same number of passengers – 314 – and the same volume of cargo as an Airbus A350. But this new plane will be smaller than an A350 and more aerodynamic.

Although the Flying-V will initially fly on kerosene, it is designed make use of innovations in the propulsion system, such as electrically boosted turbofan engines.  

Designers say not only will the Flying-V look different and be energy-efficient, it could offer a better passenger experience, with seating in the wings and with a unique new design for seating and lavatories.

A flying scale model and full-size section of the interior of the “Flying-V” is set to be unveiled in October, during KLM Experience Days at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, as a potential aircraft design of the future.

I plan to be there!

(Images/video courtesy TU Delft)