Article content Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. AMSTERDAM — They’re one of the best-kept secrets in aviation.
In honour of the airline’s 105th year, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines have unveiled their newest Delft Blue House — a traditional Dutch keepsake given to passengers who fly intercontinental routes in their World Business Class. The houses, a collection of 105 gin-filled miniatures, represent real Dutch houses found throughout Amsterdam, the Netherlands and its overseas territories. Enter any KLM Crown Lounge around the world and you’ll see them displayed prominently.
If you ride the escalator to KLM’s lounge at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, you’ll see hundreds of them mounted along mirrored walls. The history of the homes is an interesting tale of brand loyalty and clever loopholes around international regulations. “In the early 1950s, KLM sought to give a souvenir to their first-class passengers,” said Mark Zegeling, a Dutch journalist who quite literally wrote the book on KLM’s Delft Blue Houses — Little Kingdom by the Sea .
“Over time, it became so popular that they decided to adopt this souvenir as their masterpiece of gifts.” The airline opted to make the miniature porcelain houses a complementary hand-out to their top-tier passengers, but the I nternational Air Transport Association (IATA) saw things di.