When it comes to airline collectibles, there’s no airline quite as cool as KLM. The Dutch carrier offers its long haul business class passengers miniature collectible houses, which are adorable enough to turn anyone into a collector. This might just be even cooler than Lufthansa’s collectible first class ducks .

So, let’s talk about KLM’s miniature houses — what’s their history, what makes them interesting, and how do you get them? Today is even a special day on this front, because October 7 is KLM’s birthday, so we just saw a new miniature house released .

The history of KLM’s houses is probably the single thing that makes them the most intriguing. Prior to the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, the United States’ Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) regulated most aviation policies, including fares, routes, and schedules.

This was intended to create a level playing field between airlines, and one of the regulations prohibited airlines from providing passengers with tangible incentives for booking them over a competitor.

Well, in 1952, KLM found a loophole. As a gift for people choosing to fly with KLM, the airline started passing out little blue-and-white ceramic houses filled with Bols Genever gin. But wait, isn’t that a tangible incentive?

KLM argued that it wasn’t a gift, but rather the airline was just serving to-go drinks. At the time, KLM replied to the critics with “is there a law that tells us drinks have to be served in a glass?” To be clear, I’m not suggesting the US aviation policies were the only reason this was introduced, but instead, that this is how KLM got away with being allowed to offer this, in spite of regulations.

That’s how the KLM miniature house mania started, and the rest is history…

KLM currently has 107 different Delft Blue houses, one for each year that the airline has been in business. That’s another thing that makes this so cool, as the airline releases a new one each year, specifically on October 7, which is KLM’s birthday. So in 2025 we saw the 106th house introduced, and just today (in 2026) we’ve seen the 107th house introduced.