European airline gives passengers free gifts that are worth up to £10,000

EUROPEAN airline KLM gives passengers free gifts that are being resold up to the value of £10,000.

The Dutch airline honours its country's history in the form of a unique type of pottery known as Delftware.

Easily identifiable by its signature blue-and-white glaze, Delftware is a style of pottery that's associated with the Dutch city of Delft.

Since the mid-17th century, Delftware has been used for everything from tiling, beer mugs, dishware, ornaments, and even tulip-lined vases.

Since 1952, KLM has commissioned the porcelain into a series of miniature houses, which are gifted to passengers on the airline's intercontinental routes.

But you have to be sitting in the posh seats though - they freebies are only handed out to those sitting in business class.

Each miniature house is based on a life-size historic building that can be found somewhere across the Netherlands.

: "Production was random until 1994.

"Back then a number of houses were produced one after another, then none for several years.

"An extra 15 houses were produced in 1994 in honour of

"This brought the number to exactly 75 and the number of houses in the series has kept pace with KLM's age ever since."

Although the unique items aren't up for sale, they can often be found on the secondary market where older models can fetch upward of £10,000 at auctions.

The Delftware houses contains locally sourced liquor with 35 millilitres of genever hidden inside.

It is estimated that 800,000 of the houses are loaded onto KLM aircraft each year, with a further 79,000 of the ashtray version.