Having read above, being a Dutchman, spending years and years abroad and working for a French multinational for quite some years now….

Dutch are indeed direct / honest. Some like it, some don’t.
To my humble opinion, Dutch culture is ‘against’ hierarchy’, especially when compared to French.
There is even a Dutch saying ‘doe maar gewoon, dan doe je al gek genoeg’; act normal, that’s crazy enough already. In other words; Dutch do not like to give or recognize ‘special treatments’. Act normal.
I think this is one of the rout-causes on the failing program. They just don’t give a ….. and they do not want to stand out.

French are perfectly OK to have different classes and treat them accordingly (not only related to Ulti). French companies are much more hierarchical… they ‘accept’ a higher rank / position etc.
Not stating right or wrong, just my long years observations.

I think there is a natural resistance to ‘upper class’ in NL. Again; act normal…
I even had once a purser on a KL flight coming to me and making a joke ‘oehhhh you are an ulti… well well… that’s special’ and rolling his eyes…. No joke.
He saw me looking a bit puzzled and came back afterwards to apologize ‘it was only a joke’… I don’t think so; its in the culture.

Having said this, it does not explain the big attitude difference KL vs KLC! 90% of the time I am served very well at KLC by Dutch staff. And lets not forget, the AF staff is also not flawless.