KLM's New Seats Break Down Language Barriers to Bring People Together for Xmas

In this season of togetherness, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines gave travellers on Amsterdam Airport Schiphol an opportunity never seen before: to talk to every person in their own language.

Together with advertising agency DDB & Tribal Amsterdam, KLM created ‘KLM’s Connecting Seats’: two seats that translate every language in real time.

The seats were equipped with built-in speakers, a directional microphone and hardware connected to Google Cloud's Speech API, Translation API and Web Speech API. Just sit down, the seat recognises your language, and you’re ready to go! 

Bringing people together for Christmas 

Airports can be lonely places. Especially when you are travelling around Christmas time; a time for sharing, unity and togetherness.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is in the business of bringing people together. It unites families, friends and other relations all over the world.

After the massively successful ‘Bonding Buffet’ event at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol last year, KLM once again set out to create a memorable experience that unites travellers on the road. 

The Connecting Seats did not only entice travellers to share personal anecdotes and Christmas wishes. Their curiosity yielded some warm and emotional chats in which participants exchanged their views on the world. Ultimately, travellers from over 30 different nationalities put their phones or books aside and opened up to each other.