Interested in receiving a free miniature house? KLM, the national airline of the Netherlands, gives them out as gifts!
However, there is a catch, and the story gets even better.
To receive one, you must be traveling in business class on an intercontinental flight. And these ‘houses’ are only 4 inches tall.
Each house is filled with delicious Dutch gin and is part of a delightful series of Delft Blue miniatures representing significant historical or landmark buildings from the Netherlands or beyond.
KLM started the tradition of gifting these miniature Delft Blue houses filled with gin to first-class and business-class passengers in the 1950s.
This creative workaround circumvented tax regulations that previously restricted the value of gifts airlines could provide to passengers. By serving gin in a collectible miniature house, the gifts fell within the guidelines.
The miniature houses became immensely popular, leading KLM to produce a special batch in 1994 to match the airline’s age on its 75th anniversary.
Today, a new miniature Delft Blue house is celebrated with excitement each year on October 7, marking KLM’s birthday.
The 105th KLM Delft Blue House
This year’s edition—the 105th in this cherished collection—celebrates a 17th-century building in Amsterdam known as the House on Three Canals.
Constructed in the Dutch Renaissance style and renovated several times since 1687, this building is a national monument with canals on three sides.
“It’s among the most photographed monuments in the city,” says historian Marz Zegeling. “This building—originally two separate structures—features three different façades and continues to unveil its secrets,” including a hidden hatch leading to a concealed space, he explained.
Zegeling is the author of “Little Kingdom by the Sea,” an updated two-book series detailing each building in the KLM Delft Blue house series.
On October 7, Marjan Rintel, the President and CEO of KLM, presented the inaugural miniature of the House on Three Canals to Arthur van Dijk, the King’s Commissioner for North Holland.
KLM’s birthday and the unveiling of the new Delft Blue miniature house come at a “challenging time” for the airline, Rintel acknowledged during a pre-event press conference. While KLM is investing billions in new, more efficient planes, the airline is also working on a campaign to reduce costs, boost productivity, and expand capacity, particularly for long-haul flights.
For now, though, the KLM Delft Blue miniature house program remains untouched by these cost-cutting measures.
“We will review everything, but the Delft Blue houses are safe,” Rintel stated. “They are a key aspect of our brand, and that will continue.”
Other buildings in KLM’s Delft Blue miniature house series include #104, Valkenburg Station—the oldest railway station in the Netherlands—and miniature #102, the Tuschinski Theater.
You can receive a KLM miniature house as a complimentary gift when flying business class on an intercontinental KLM flight. They are also available on eBay and in antique shops around Amsterdam.
For collectors, KLM offers an app to help track your collection of these miniature houses.
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