Airline amenities for World Business Class passengers have improved a great deal over the last several years. However, few can match what KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has to offer — The Delft Blue House.
The Delft Blue House is a miniature porcelain sculpture of a real Dutch historic house or building. Each passenger who flies on an intercontinental business flight with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines receives one as a souvenir.
Delftware is a pottery style that has been associated with the Dutch city Delft since the 17th century. It’s all over the Netherlands, from dishware to tiles. Since 1952, KLM has been using it to provide flight passengers with a gorgeous reminder of their time on board.
Each miniature house is modeled after a life-size historic building located in the Netherlands. Over the years, they’ve become a coveted collector’s item — and the way they’re presented to passengers also adds to their appeal.
When they pass out the ceramic houses, passengers pull up an app on their smartphones. They can use this app to cross-reference the numbers on the back of each house to ensure they’re receiving a fresh new model to add to their collection.
In an interview with Travel + Leisure, a representative from KLM explained that the production of the houses was random until 1994.
Before that year, a series of houses had been produced regularly. Then, no new ones were made for several years.
In 1994, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of KLM, 15 new houses were produced, bringing the total number of houses in circulation to 75. Since then, the company has been producing new houses to keep up with the age of the airline.
Some older models of the porcelain houses have been sold online for close to $10,000! If you want to get one of your own but don’t want to spend that kind of money, it might be better to just book a flight with KLM.