Condor and JetBlue have announced an expanded partnership today. Part of that development involves the ability to book Condor flights with JetBlue TrueBlue points.
That’s opened up some new sweet spots including the ability to fly across the Atlantic in business class from only 54,000 TrueBlue points.
This could be a great new way to get from North America to Europe. Condor offers nonstop flights to Frankfurt from the following cities in the US:
- New York JFK
- Boston BOS (Seasonal)
- Miami MIA
- Los Angeles LAX
- San Francisco SFO (Seasonal)
- Seattle SEA
- Las Vegas LAS (Seasonal)
- Portland PDX (Seasonal)
- Anchorage ANC (Seasonal)
That’s not all though in terms of North America. Condor also has nonstop flights to Frankfurt from Toronto year round, as well as Calgary and Vancouver seasonally.
We’re currently seeing several dates bookable in business class for 54,000 TrueBlue points from the east coast. For example, here’s availability in the next couple of from JFK to Frankfurt we found on Seats.aero:
Meanwhile, here’s what’s bookable from Boston to Frankfurt:
As you can see, there’s not a ton of availability in business class, but anything is better than nothing. Award availability is plentiful if you’re happy to cross the Atlantic in economy or premium economy though.
From the east coast, you’re looking at 19,000 points in economy and 34,000 points in premium economy. From the west coast, it’s significantly more pricey at 39,000 for economy and 59,900 for premium economy. Somewhat strangely, if you can find the very limited amount of business class availability from the west coast, it appears to sometimes cost 59,900 JetBlue TrueBlue points, while some other dates are 99,900 points.
As a reminder, Condor also has a partnership with Alaska Airlines, so if you’re flush with Atmos Rewards, you might prefer to book that way. Having said that, JetBlue does seem to work out a little cheaper; not only in terms of mileage requirements, but with taxes and fees too.
For example, let’s say you want to fly from Boston to Frankfurt on October 20. JetBlue is charging 19,000 points for economy, 34,000 for premium economy and 54,000 for business class. Alaska meanwhile is charging 22,500, 35,000 and 55,000 points respectively. That’s not a significant amount more, but there is a difference, particularly with the economy pricing.
JetBlue’s taxes and fees are also lower. Those are showing as $14.40 regardless of which cabin you fly in, while Alaska is charging $49.80. Again, that’s not a massive difference, but if you were booking flights for a family of four, that’s almost $150 extra, as well as a few thousand points on top if booking via Alaska.
If Nick and his family manage to complete JetBlue’s current 25 For 25 challenge, the 350,000 bonus points they’ll each receive will now give them even more options when traveling to Europe.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
What are the rules with JetBlue and booking infants on an award booking?
Alaska requires to book a full fare award seat in that case for partner airlines, which sucks .
I know AMEX isn’t the best rate for JetBlue transfers.
Which transfer partner is best to transfer to JetBlue?
99k from LAX. Yuck.
Flew their business class last summer with kids. It was great would gladly do it again. Better seat than Swiss Air or Lufthansa business any day of the week.
Off-topic, but i just flew Edelweiss business class (whose relationship to Swiss is what i thought Condor used to have to Lufthansa previously?), and i much prefer Condor (w/r/t lay-out, seat set-up and food). I would fly Edelweiss again only if ZRH were my final destination, or if the timing of the route to wherever I was going in Europe worked significantly better than w/ Condor. (To be fair, Edelweiss had amazing after-dinner chocolates — not dessert, but the chocolates they bring around after dinner — but there are easier ways of getting those than flying Edelweiss business class).
CON-DOOOOOOOOOR!!!!!!!
Are routings available all the way to Condor’s Asia destinations?
I understand that Condor’s “premium economy” seats are just like their regular economy seats (I.e., width of only 17 inches. Condor calls it “premium economy” only because there is a few inches of extra legroom. That arrangement is a far cry from the premium economy seats on the long haul flights of other carriers. I’ll give Condor premium economy a hard pass.
Yes, the width of Condor’s “PE” seats is such that even I (a 5’6″ female) would have trouble fitting my shoulders within the confines of the seat.That said, there is a use for Condor’s “PE”, and that is not actually flying in it, but using it to get cheap(er) check-in time paid ($) upgrades to Business class; if you can’t get a Business award at booking time, this could be an alternative.
This is great information. Can you provide details about the at-check-in upgrade system for Condor, or is there a good article to read about it somewhere?
Condor allows 1-class upgrades, afaik. From my experience, regardless of whether Condor PE is booked via the Condor website (for $) or Alaska for miles, if there’s space available, at check-in on Condor’s site you get an “offer to upgrade” to Business. I’ve seen them be ~$450 on the FRA-SEA route (in either direction); you just pay it at that time and continue your check-in for Business class. I also once didn’t get the offer during check-in, actually boarded the flight and sat in my PE seat (hence how i know about the shoulder width issue), and overheard the flight attendant talking about the possible upgrades to a couple in the row in front of me — they were offered $500 upgrades and didn’t take them, and so i just flagged down the flight attendant and moved before the flight took off. Overall, i consider 45K Alaska points + $500 a very reasonable price between US West Coast and Europe; and it may be cheaper in $ from NYC.
They may also have some sort of “upgrade bid system’ that i’ve never used.
Great info, thanks! Even if the cash cost is not lower from the east coast the price in miles is.
Do you know if “availability at check-in” means last seat availability or is it limited to certain fare classes? And, do you know if the same system operates on the FRA to Asia flights?
I don’t know for sure, but i think it’s last seat availability: i remember looking at the $ price and availability of the business class seats maybe a week before the flight and the price was ~$3.5k (which makes me think it’s not the cheapest fare class), but i still got the upgrade offer at check-in.
I also don’t know how this plays w/ the “upgrade bid system”, ie when those bids actually start clearing.
And i tend to check-in as early as possible, and so don’t know how the $ check-in upgrade price changes as the departure gets closer.
(I also remembered that at least once, i got the upgrade offer for tickets bought via Expedia — i had to take an emergency trip, and Condor’s website wouldn’t sell me a next-day ticket with the routing i needed, but Expedia would.)
Being on the West Coast, i generally fly to Asia over the Pacific, so i don’t know about their Asia flights. (And have never flown them to Africa).
We flew Condor business class Boston to Frankfurt recently for two weeks of rock climbing in the “Franconian Switzerland” area northeast of Nuremberg. It was absolutely beautiful with lush green mountains and winding river valleys dotted with picturesque villages. Most of the tourists we ran into were German and it did not remotely have the overtouristed feel of some other places in Europe. We had a large two bedroom vacation rental with a balcony overlooking the hills for $125 per night including taxes and fees at peak season. (And the hosts regularly dropped off freshly baked goodies during our visit.) I want to go back for a longer visit.
Condor was a solid product. Maybe not Singapore Airlines, but good food, good service, and a comfortable bed. Probably the lowest spot related to Condor was the Frankfurt Lufthansa business class lounge, which was pretty average. But I would definitely fly them again.
Good info, thanks Jimmy!
Might want to put Condor’s “business class” in air quotes there…
Is it not good? Ben at OMAAT reviewed Condors longhaul quite favorably a year or two ago
I’ve flown it multiple times in the last 3 years. It’s fine, lie-flat bed, decent food and service (not spectacular). In fact, i prefer it to Lufhansa’s business class.
Similar experience here. Better seats than Lufthansa and I think they are actually cheaper, too.
I flew it to Frankfurt recently and it was quite good. Nice lie flat seats, good food, excellent service.
Have you seen the new-ish Airbus business class? I have a feeling you may be thinking of the old and retired 767s.
Will mixed JetBlue/Condor awards be bookable? Can you book from your home airport to JFK and onward to FRA? If so, does it price the same, as the sum of the two legs, or in between?
Danka, Herr Pepper