Experienced Condor A330-9neo biz class yet?
Jul 26, 23, 11:56 pm
#31
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Seattle
Programs: AAdvantage Plat+, FoundersCard, Amex Plat, TR Diamond, Marriott Gold, Wyndham Dia, HH Gold, Hertz 5*
Posts: 779
Just booked a flight on Condor in August from JFK to FRA and return in Business Class on the new A330-900neo. Price too good to pass up. Unfortunately, on my flight to FRA every single window seat (of all types) is booked, and ALL of the middle seats are empty (except for me). It looks like NONE of the center seats have a privacy divider OF ANY KIND with the exception off the extra cost row 1 seats. Can someone confirm this?
If this is true booking one of the "honeymoon" seats for a solo traveler would be annoying.
If this is true booking one of the "honeymoon" seats for a solo traveler would be annoying.
Jul 27, 23, 12:01 am
#32
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Seattle
Programs: AAdvantage Plat+, FoundersCard, Amex Plat, TR Diamond, Marriott Gold, Wyndham Dia, HH Gold, Hertz 5*
Posts: 779
Is there any way to pre-select a meal in Condor Biz Class? I'm looking at the site where I selected seats and can't see anything about meals. Not too worried about it, but thought I'd check
Aug 22, 23, 1:55 pm
#33
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 681
tobikosan
Last time I bought a Condor upgrade from Premium to Biz, it was $699, IIRC. I think I've seen that figure cited at a number of DE stations. And it doesn't seem to matter if you're upgrading from coach or premium :/
Last time I bought a Condor upgrade from Premium to Biz, it was $699, IIRC. I think I've seen that figure cited at a number of DE stations. And it doesn't seem to matter if you're upgrading from coach or premium :/
Last edited by Potreroflyr; Aug 22, 23 at 1:58 pm Reason: refer to poster
Aug 26, 23, 6:51 pm
#34
Join Date: May 2001
Location: San Francisco/Bangkok
Programs: Alaska 75K United 1K
Posts: 1,385
Aug 27, 23, 8:31 am
#35
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: NJ
Programs: UA LTG, AA LTG, Bonvoy LTP, IHG Plat, Accor Gold, Hyatt Disc, LHW Sterling
Posts: 2,362
Just booked a flight on Condor in August from JFK to FRA and return in Business Class on the new A330-900neo. Price too good to pass up. Unfortunately, on my flight to FRA every single window seat (of all types) is booked, and ALL of the middle seats are empty (except for me). It looks like NONE of the center seats have a privacy divider OF ANY KIND with the exception off the extra cost row 1 seats. Can someone confirm this?
If this is true booking one of the "honeymoon" seats for a solo traveler would be annoying.
If this is true booking one of the "honeymoon" seats for a solo traveler would be annoying.
Aug 27, 23, 9:22 am
#36
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: NJ
Programs: UA LTG, AA LTG, Bonvoy LTP, IHG Plat, Accor Gold, Hyatt Disc, LHW Sterling
Posts: 2,362
Flew Business class on the new A330-900neo RT to FRA from JFK in August 2023. The flight from JFK to FRA was mostly good. Terminal 7 Lounge at JFK rather dated and without windows, but not overly crowded and good enough, I guess. The early departure time to Europe also meant there were no TSA lines. Cabin on the plane was pleasant. Flight crew very pleasant also. Service was very good. The food was also plentiful and for an airplane very good. The only real negative was the boarding process was something of a zoo... Arrival into FRA was good. Customs and boarder formalities probably took less than a minute. Summary: enjoyed the flight and considering purchase price thought it was great value and came away with a very positive feeling. Worth noting that business class is 1-2-1 (but due to staggered forward facing design, this really equates to 2-4-2 a far as seat width... the same as coach. So, these seats although attractive are not especially spacious and have no storage space.
The return flight was unfortunately not so great. Some things were beyond the control of Condor... but the overall experience was not good. First, online check-in did not allow me to print a boarding pass. Since I stayed overnight at the FRA Sheraton, I stopped over at Condor to check in the night before. I guess only people with massive issues try this and it was so tedious and annoying, I just gave up and decided to check in as usual in the morning. The next morning the Business class line was the longest of the three classes! Everyone checking in always had some unknown problem requiring phone calls and disappearing agents. Each check-in counter for all classes appeared to have its own line. Business class passengers themselves enforced turning the two lines into one for business class. I timed my check in... 1 minute exactly. What on earth is so complicated about checking in? ... why was the couple being checked-in at the first business class counter there for the entire 20 minutes I was in line?
Business Class security, although not controllable by Condor, was about the only thing that went easily. Coach line was rather long, but just a few minutes for Business class. Passport control was also just a few minutes. Condor uses the Lufthansa Business Lounge, so this was a good experience. It was not overly crowded and had decent food and beverage offerings. I am Star Gold, but as expected that would not get me into the Senator Lounge as Condor is not Star Alliance.
Although apparently out of the control of Condor... my flight was one of the bussing gates (I think the bus ride was almost as long as the flight). Just one massive, long, long, long line at gate 60... no special handling for Business Class at all... except for me... as I got an SSSS on my boarding pass (supposedly random) In this case probably a blessing in disguise as I checked my bag (which I rarely do) so it was minimal issue and I got to bypass the line. Not that it did much good as I had to wait on the bus until it was packed full. Finally got on the plane and discovered that my seat 6K was broken. When I sat down it went completely lie flat without any resistance at all. That was a bit of a shock! The control panel did not work. I tried to push it back and try again a few times, but just went flat. Finally pushed it back up and with the back on my legs gave it a swift bump and "bang" it went into upright position and stayed there. Unfortunately, it now stayed upright only. After take-off I informed crew who tried to fix it to no avail. They basically accused me of breaking the seat. In-flight entertainment system also was not working properly and was rebooted 3 times. The movie I started to watch disappeared on the 3rd re boot... and those passengers that had no entertainment still had no entertainment as the reboot did not work. Food and service was still good. But unfortunately, back to negatives... a couple in the non-honeymoon seats in the middle next to me (I had broken window seat) had the complete hots for each other and were contorting in ridiculous ways to access each other from both aisles. both amusing and annoying... until after take-off the girl came over and layed on top of the guy in the aisle next to me and started to make out (not sex). Sorry, but to me this is just not the time or place and is simply very difficult to just "ignore"... cabin crew walked by this a number of times and said or did nothing.
Arrival was the worst of all. First part not Condor's fault, but immigration was ultra tedious and long. took about 45 minutes which is my longest wait in a long, long, long time. The poor folks in the back of the plane probably had closer to 90 min. BUT turns out this was of no consequence as the "Priority" business class luggage was offloaded dead last and it took well over an hour... and finally came off on a different carousel.
Outbound flight... good
return flight ... ugh.
oh, forgot to mention they made an announcement that someone had been smoking in the rear lavatory. Got long lecture on the stupidity of doing this and that Condor would take legal action if they found out who did it… and mentioned fines in the USA very high. Interestingly this announcement was made in English first, then in German. About 10 minutes later they made another announcement to mention the cigarette had been put in the waste with all the “papers” and well we then informed what this might lead to.
As others have mentioned, in the air the new Condor A330-900neo is a very nice experience if your seat works (and the cabin is full of paying guests... not last-minute upgraders). Some aspects of the service and food were nicer than my Singapore Airlines flight last year from JFK to FRA . Unfortunately, I will agree with others that have posted ground handling is horrible. Seriously it is like 2 completely different airlines. I imagine a flight cancelation would be pure hell. I think this fear alone will be enough to prevent me from flying Condor again (every time I walled by the service center for Condor at FRA there was a long line out the door).
The return flight was unfortunately not so great. Some things were beyond the control of Condor... but the overall experience was not good. First, online check-in did not allow me to print a boarding pass. Since I stayed overnight at the FRA Sheraton, I stopped over at Condor to check in the night before. I guess only people with massive issues try this and it was so tedious and annoying, I just gave up and decided to check in as usual in the morning. The next morning the Business class line was the longest of the three classes! Everyone checking in always had some unknown problem requiring phone calls and disappearing agents. Each check-in counter for all classes appeared to have its own line. Business class passengers themselves enforced turning the two lines into one for business class. I timed my check in... 1 minute exactly. What on earth is so complicated about checking in? ... why was the couple being checked-in at the first business class counter there for the entire 20 minutes I was in line?
Business Class security, although not controllable by Condor, was about the only thing that went easily. Coach line was rather long, but just a few minutes for Business class. Passport control was also just a few minutes. Condor uses the Lufthansa Business Lounge, so this was a good experience. It was not overly crowded and had decent food and beverage offerings. I am Star Gold, but as expected that would not get me into the Senator Lounge as Condor is not Star Alliance.
Although apparently out of the control of Condor... my flight was one of the bussing gates (I think the bus ride was almost as long as the flight). Just one massive, long, long, long line at gate 60... no special handling for Business Class at all... except for me... as I got an SSSS on my boarding pass (supposedly random) In this case probably a blessing in disguise as I checked my bag (which I rarely do) so it was minimal issue and I got to bypass the line. Not that it did much good as I had to wait on the bus until it was packed full. Finally got on the plane and discovered that my seat 6K was broken. When I sat down it went completely lie flat without any resistance at all. That was a bit of a shock! The control panel did not work. I tried to push it back and try again a few times, but just went flat. Finally pushed it back up and with the back on my legs gave it a swift bump and "bang" it went into upright position and stayed there. Unfortunately, it now stayed upright only. After take-off I informed crew who tried to fix it to no avail. They basically accused me of breaking the seat. In-flight entertainment system also was not working properly and was rebooted 3 times. The movie I started to watch disappeared on the 3rd re boot... and those passengers that had no entertainment still had no entertainment as the reboot did not work. Food and service was still good. But unfortunately, back to negatives... a couple in the non-honeymoon seats in the middle next to me (I had broken window seat) had the complete hots for each other and were contorting in ridiculous ways to access each other from both aisles. both amusing and annoying... until after take-off the girl came over and layed on top of the guy in the aisle next to me and started to make out (not sex). Sorry, but to me this is just not the time or place and is simply very difficult to just "ignore"... cabin crew walked by this a number of times and said or did nothing.
Arrival was the worst of all. First part not Condor's fault, but immigration was ultra tedious and long. took about 45 minutes which is my longest wait in a long, long, long time. The poor folks in the back of the plane probably had closer to 90 min. BUT turns out this was of no consequence as the "Priority" business class luggage was offloaded dead last and it took well over an hour... and finally came off on a different carousel.
Outbound flight... good
return flight ... ugh.
oh, forgot to mention they made an announcement that someone had been smoking in the rear lavatory. Got long lecture on the stupidity of doing this and that Condor would take legal action if they found out who did it… and mentioned fines in the USA very high. Interestingly this announcement was made in English first, then in German. About 10 minutes later they made another announcement to mention the cigarette had been put in the waste with all the “papers” and well we then informed what this might lead to.
As others have mentioned, in the air the new Condor A330-900neo is a very nice experience if your seat works (and the cabin is full of paying guests... not last-minute upgraders). Some aspects of the service and food were nicer than my Singapore Airlines flight last year from JFK to FRA . Unfortunately, I will agree with others that have posted ground handling is horrible. Seriously it is like 2 completely different airlines. I imagine a flight cancelation would be pure hell. I think this fear alone will be enough to prevent me from flying Condor again (every time I walled by the service center for Condor at FRA there was a long line out the door).
Last edited by schriste; Sep 21, 23 at 10:10 am
