UALCASTRO

Does Condor offer upgrades to PE or Business at gate? What do they typically cost (PDX-FRA)?

Philodemus

jkr66stang

I booked a Seattle-Frankfurt-Vienna RT on Condor.com. I missed my connection in Frankfurt - took me 80 minutes to get from arrival gate to connecting flight - and that was with a lot of running, plus waiting for shuttle busses, passport control, security check, etc. Condor refused to rebook me to finish my trip to Vienna because they said after one hour it's not their problem.

I had to purchase an entirely new ticket on KLM from Frankfurt-Vienna to complete my trip.

I would never fly Condor again.

oreocookies

Since I am back from my trip and it seems people found this thread after-the-fact, I'll offer an update. Condor was fine. There is no wifi on the plane, which sucks for a flight that long - I went from PDX to Frankfurt. But I knew that would the case. Neither of my flights were delayed or had any noteworthy occurrences.

On my way to Germany, I had premium economy, which gave us slightly more legroom and a little amenities pack with a blanket, pillow, socks, eye mask, toothbrush, toothpaste and ear plugs. I special ordered the vegetarian meal and it was terrible. The "entree" was a chunks of potato on a bed of rice. It made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Then for breakfast, the vegetarian meal included both a bagel and a croissant. They must think vegetarians just carbo load. So the meals were bad, and then when I tried to buy some of the over-priced snacks because I was starving, they were out of most of them. So the food situation was bad, but otherwise the flight was fine.

On the way home, I just had regular economy and it was definitely much more snug but I am short so it didn't matter. The meals on the way home were better - dinner was vegetable korma with basmati rice that I enjoyed. Breakfast was some kind of gross tofu brick that I did not eat. The entertainment center was lacking - they offered one free movie and you had to pay for the rest. I just watched episodes of Shark Tank on my laptop and played with my Nintendo Switch.

All of the flight attendants spoke fluent English and fluent German, and were generally helpful. It was kind of impressive listening to the pilot announce something for five minutes in German, and then do the same thing all over again in English. I enjoyed some of the quirks, like when they would come around offering German magazines to read. The safety video on the back of the seats felt very German as it included a Native American stereotype that would probably not be considered acceptable in the U.S.

I honestly can't remember how the seating situation worked. I think I just ended up with an aisle seat on my way there and a window seat on my way back. I think I may have asked the ticketing agent to get an aisle seat and either I already had one, or they moved me. This trip happened in June and July, so I am fuzzy on the details now, sorry.

The most annoying part was probably not Condor's fault. From Frankfurt back to PDX, my gate was some sort of annex gate that wasn't part of the rest of the airport. There wasn't real food around it, and you had to board a bus, drive on the tarmac for like 10 minutes, and the stand around jammed onto a bus until they let you out to board the plane. Apparently that's something that happens in Europe. I don't think I can blame Condor for that, but I dunno.

notquiteaff

Like the fake Charlie Chaplin, the two characters are clones of movie stars. In this case, they are resembling Pierre Brice and Lex Barker, in the roles of Winnetou and Old Shatterhand. Famous German movies from the 60s based on books by author Karl May. Google will tell you more if interested.

It seemed kind of strange that Condor spent money on producing an “entertaining” safety video.

Hard stands (remote bus gates) are very common in Frankfurt. I have had the pleasure of many free bus tours of the airport upon arrival or departure when flying United or Lufthansa.

That said, I think I experienced the same odd Condor gate last year when flying back to PDX. Felt very weird, as if they had repurposed some part of the airport originally built for something else, or added as a temporary addition. But that’s Frankfurt - it’s always changing and the maze of walkways appears to constantly getting reconfigured.

Concerto

I wonder how Condor will make out if Thomas Cook go bankrupt by Monday. It all looks extremely delicate over at Thomas Cook.

MSPeconomist

My understanding is that Condor is basically profitable and is a very well-known and well-respected brand in Germany (and some other places) with good future prospects (partly because Germany and other places where Condor operates are societies in which it's common for people to book package vacation tours and use the sort of airline defined by Condor). So over the intermediate or long term, Condor should be able to survive and even do well as a stand-alone company/airline. It won't need to worry about implicitly subsidizing Thomas Cook.

However, the short term problem is likely to be that Thomas Cook has gone into bankruptcy at the end of high season. This means that their cash reserves would have been high if they had been operating as an independent company, but we can only assume that the cash has gone down the drain in an involuntary hopeless attempt to save Thomas Cook. So now Condor doesn't have cash reserves to carry them through the lean winter season (low season in most of their markets).

Here's where the financing (loan or guarantee, apparently) enters. It's a good investment to keep an essentially profitable established business afloat for a half year or so until shoulder season arrives and bookings/revenues perk up again. If everyone is sensible, the demise of Thomas Cook doesn't need to casue the demise of Condor and, in fact, it would be better for Germany and the EC if Condor were to be able to continue its operations.

I'm not going to comment on potential future merger prospects.

UAPremierExec

Just flew Condor roundtrip longhaul and Im a fan. The 767 was in significantly better condition than I've had on AA, DL, UA, HA, or Lan. Was in Premium Economy and was impressed with the food & IFE. Flights were all on time. Flight out Sunday was during the TC fiasco and crew made a small mention, mostly happy to have a plane and fuel to fly home. 2nd flight yesterday the purser thanked everyone for flying and not cancelling, the breakup with TC is hard & causing difficulties but hope everyone continues to chose DE.