KLM’s Bonding Buffet Brings People Even Closer Together for Christmas

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is in the business of bringing people together. For Christmas, it took their task even more seriously. At Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, KLM installed the Bonding Buffet Christmas table, that seduced random lonely travellers to enjoy a Christmas dinner together.

Airports can be an impersonal place, crowded with people, minding their own business. Christmas time is the time for sharing. KLM wondered: wouldn’t it be great if to persuade lonely travellers in this special time of the year to connect and share some happy moments, instead of them spending their time on their mobile phones or books? That’s why KLM, together with DDB & Tribal Amsterdam, started a social experiment during the holidays.

They installed a table for twenty at the airport, but it was lifted so high that people could not reach the Christmas dinner served on it. Twenty stools surrounding the 4.5 metres high table were equipped with a pressure sensor. With every traveller that sat down on a stool, it lowered a little.

Travellers were excited and started to work together to lower the table. Ultimately 60 travellers from 20 different nationalities put their phones or books aside and enjoyed a very special Christmas dinner together.