Sure, the full-flat seats, privacy screens, personal storage space, designer amenity kits, wine list and meals prepared by top Dutch chefs make KLM’s World Business Class cabin desirable. But for many KLM business class passengers on intercontinental flights, the best amenity is handed out at the end of the trip: a complimentary blue and white Delftware miniature of a notable Dutch building.
To celebrate its heritage, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines began gifting passengers these now highly coveted — and Dutch-gin filled — collectibles in 1952. The carrier introduces a new mini-house each year on Oct. 7, the carrier’s anniversary.
KLM’s 97th Deltware Miniature House features Rotterdam’s Hotel New York. (Photo: KLM)Thanks to a 15-house “catch-up” batch issued in 1994, the numbered miniatures now align with the airline’s age. And so, with a popular Dutch crooner on hand singing a very Sinatra-like “New York, New York,” KLM had a party this past Friday (Oct. 7) to reveal its 97th Delftware miniature house, which portrays Rotterdam’s Hotel New York.
The hotel occupies the grand structure built in 1901 to house the headquarters of the Holland America line. For many years, beginning in 1872, the company’s ships sailed between Rotterdam and New York and several other U.S. cities.
“The Holland-America Line maintained the most important connection between Europe and America,” said KLM CEO Pieter Elbers.
