My family and I recently flew Condor business class from Frankfurt (FRA) to New York (JFK). We booked our tickets via Alaska Atmos Rewards for 55,000 points plus taxex and fees (about $192 per passenger departing Germany). Condor’s seat and seating layout really match my preferences, so I would be glad to have the in-flight experience again. On the contrary, Condor’s ground game was the most disorganized, unintuitive mess of a check-in experience that I’ve ever seen for a business class flight. Combined with Frankfurt exhibiting the polar opposite of my typical experiences with German efficiency, it made for a haphazard airport experience that I wouldn’t love to soon repeat.
Condor Business Class Bottom Line Review
Condor’s fully flat seat is spacious, with one of the widest footwells I’ve seen in this style seat. The thick mattress topper is just what my recent SAS flight was missing, and it made the seat far more comfortable when reclined. Further, the seating layout is great for family travelers since middle rows alternate between seats being separated by their tables or being directly next to each other (which I always prefer when traveling with the kids so that I can easily reach over and help when necessary). The in-flight entertainment selection might have been the broadest I’ve seen of any airline but Emirates, and the in-flight service was on par with what you’d expect.
The ground game in Frankfurt stood in stark contrast and would be enough to prevent me from recommending it to someone who was likely to be flustered by a low-cost-carrier-like check-in experience.
We arrived at Frankfurt airport about 2 hours and 15 minutes before our flight. We had taken an Uber from our hotel, looking to save time. I’m not sure that taking an Uber saved time, as the Uber drop-off point is at the far right side of Terminal 1, and the Condor check-in area is at the far left side, so it was still a bit of a hike across the terminal.
But the length of the hike was no match for the length of the lines once we arrived at the Condor check-in area. I have never in my life seen a business class line so long, and the entire hall was mobbed full of people waiting in lines to check in, with very little organization to any of it. If you’ve ever wondered why they have those rope barriers at check-in areas, it is to avoid this.
They also had some express bag drop stations, but I had difficulty with online check-in. I had booked via Alaska Atmos, and during the booking process, I had inadvertently entered the wrong Alaska frequent flyer number for one son and no frequent flyer number for my mother-in-law. As a result, Condor assigned them both Alaska loyalty accounts under the number 999999999 (I’m not sure the exact number of nines, but you get the idea). The problem was that the system wouldn’t let me finalize check-in for either of them; I got an error saying that two passengers in the booking have the same frequent flyer number. Worse yet, I couldn’t enter a different number in the box. And while there was a drop-down menu to enter another frequent flyer program, it wouldn’t actually let me select another program. So I thought we needed assistance, and we were in the huge line.
Eventually, I got the online check-in system to work. I had to enter check-in and click on each passenger’s name without clicking the continue button at the bottom and select the changes I wanted to make (like choosing “No frequent flyer program”). Even though the drop-down didn’t seem to update to reflect my “No frequent flyer program” choice, if I went back first, it saved the new selection, and then I could go forward (though I still had to enter some phone numbers and email addresses). Suffice it to say that the system was not straightforward, but it might have been if I had simply entered frequent flyer numbers for everyone at the start. Once I got us checked in, it was a gamble: stay in the long line, or hope that we could do self-drop with our bags.
Luckily, baggage self-drop worked, but even that wasn’t intuitive. The first set of machines gave us an error, but then I found a nearby employee who pointed us to the far end of the express baggage drop, where there was a special line just for US departures. That wasn’t intuitive; there was no signage where you enter the check-in area, and we never would have found it otherwise. The entire area seemed like chaos.
The chaos continued at security: We went to the “B” security checkpoint (since we were departing from the B-gates). My family and I separated here as I was picking something up from an airport shop landside before heading through. The line was outrageous, extending far into the terminal. Eventually, they closed the “B” security checkpoint because it was “too full”, sending the huge mass of us in line to the “A” checkpoint. I took off quickly and I was among the first to reach the “A” checkpoint, but that also moved slowly.
After security was passport control. By the time I got through passport control, the flight was 8 minutes from boarding, and it was a long walk to the “B” gates.
Meanwhile, the rest of my family had made it through the “B” checkpoint and passport control less than 10 minutes before departure. We had been counting on breakfast in the Lufthansa business class lounge. My family ran to the lounge to grab some fruit for the kids to eat and then to the gate, arriving after boarding began. I arrived as they were wrapping up boarding group 3. We really had to hustle despite flying in business class and arriving really early.
Once on board, I found the in-flight service to be friendly, but notably different in some subtle ways. For instance, when the starter was served, I was asked whether I would also like the cheese rather than the cheese being automatically served with it (and I was asked whether my son wanted nuts rather than them being automatically served). In theory, I don’t mind that, and it probably cuts down on food waste, but it felt a little more geared toward giving you the opportunity to turn things down than giving you the opportunity to have them. That’s not really a complaint necessarily, just a difference I noticed.
Overall, I’d certainly fly Condor again (and since they often have 4 seats available in business class and are a solid deal booking via Alaska, particularly with a free stopover on a one-way award, I’m sure that I will). And I’d prefer Condor over flying the major US airlines or even some other European airlines. But in some ways, it does feel a bit different from flying other carriers in business class, none so much as the chaotic airport check-in experience. I’d much rather fly them on the way to Europe in the future, though if I include a stopover, I’ll have to leave with plenty of time to get through the process at the airport.
- How we found it: I used Award Tool to search for availability, and Condor was pretty widely available through Alaska.
- How we booked it: We used 55,000 Alaska Atmos Rewards (what were Mileage Plan miles at the time) + ~$192 per passenger in taxes & fees (Germany departure taxes are higher than most in Europe; this route costs far less in the opposite direction).
- Cash Price: From $1,500 to $2,000+ per person one-way most of the time, with round-trip fares departing Europe starting at $2,500 to $3,000 per person. Any way you slice it, business class is a great deal with miles.
- Route: Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) to New York, NY (JFK)
- Ground Service:
- Check-in: Abysmal. Condor had the longest lines and most disorganized check-in experience I’ve seen in a while. This part of the experience felt very much like flying a low-cost carrier.
- Departure Lounges: Condor passengers have access to Lufthansa Business Class lounges (not Senator lounges). Unfortunately, between the disorganized check-in experience and the long security lines, I didn’t get a chance to visit the lounge prior to departure.
- Business Class Seat:
- Comfort: Good. The seat itself is spacious and feels premium. It does lack some padding; thankfully, Condor provides a mattress pad that makes it far more comfortable.
- Storage Space: Limited at the seat. There weren’t many places to stash things apart from the side table (which, in fairness, was pretty wide). While the footwell is very large, the space underneath it only seemed to accommodate one shoe (and I don’t have big feet).
- In-flight Entertainment (IFE): Excellent. Condor had an impressively wide array of movie options, from classics (Casablanca, Gone with the Wind) to more obscure cult hits (Best in Show, Magnolia) to full movie series (all the Harry Potter films, all the Ocean’s 11 films) to behind-the-scenes documentary-style shorts about airline operations.
- Food and Beverage: Pleasantly surprising. The smoked duck breast with beetroot salad from the starter was the highlight for me, but the smoked trout with crème fraiche, trout caviar, and blini was also tasty (despite the fact that I don’t particularly care for fish). Main course options included goose breast, cod fillet, or Italian goat cheese tortelli. Snack options before landing included a German-style cheesy noodles, which I enjoyed as much as some I had in the Christmas markets.
- Service: Fine. The purser was particularly animated and friendly. One slightly odd thing: when starters were served, we were each asked whether we wanted the cheese plate meant to accompany the starter (it wasn’t put on our tray until we confirmed that we wanted it). I’m all for reducing waste, but it felt more like a cost-savings measure to serve fewer plates of cheese (which probably wasn’t the goal, it just felt, well, cheesy).
- Cabin Ambiance/Temperature Control: Warmer than I’d like, but others on the plane didn’t seem to mind. I also would have preferred the lights kept on during the daytime flight, but I can understand how some folks might want rest, so after meals were served, lights were turned down and windows were shut.
- Internet: Terrible. I paid 20 Eur for full-flight access and it worked very poorly. I had trouble staying connected and difficulty doing anything while connected. I thought it was odd when I noticed in the in-flight entertainment system that they provided an email address for Wi-Fi refund requests….until I paid for the WiFi and tried to use it. It did work for flashes, but I wouldn’t count on a productive 8 hours.
- Amenity Kit: The kit itself is presented in a bag that says it is produced of recycled polyester, though it felt more like a thick paper bag. It contained the usual stuff. Alongside the amenity kit, Condor provides a travel bag. It looks like there are 3 different styles of that bag distributed; on our flight, it was a “beach bag” (the thick plastic type you put stuff in and roll down and clip to keep water out of the bag). I think it’ll be useful.
- Would I choose to fly it again? Yes, I would. The price is right, the food is good, and the seat was comfortable with the mattress pad. I particularly liked the seating layout for family travel. This isn’t among the flashiest business class experiences, but I would be happy to fly this, particularly in the opposite direction, where I’d appreciate the time to sleep.
Condor A330neo Business Class Pros and Cons
Pros
- Comfortable seat (with the mattress pad)
- Large footwell
- Great price via Alaska from the East Coast
- Tasty catering
- Great in-flight entertainment
- Nice seating layout for those traveling with young kids since every other middle row in business class features seats that put you very close to your seatmate. Note that this might be a “con” for a solo traveler who gets stuck in a middle seat as there would be little privacy.
Cons
- Totally disorganized check-in experience in Frankfurt
- Service felt a little less polished
Condor A330neo Business Class Image Gallery
Condor Business Class Middle Seat
Condor Business Class Window Seat
Business Class Inflight Entertainment System
Business Class Food and Beverage Menu
Business Class Food
Business Class Amenity Kit
Wifi Pricing
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I flew Condor business from BER-FRA-LAX in July. I couldn’t agree more with your review. Ground game/IT/logistics for Condor is a mess, but the service in the air is great. BER-FRA was a separate ticket, paid with cash. FRA-LAX with AS miles. I couldn’t check in online to my FRA-LAX flight because of how the system assigned a fictional FF number to me, my wife, and child. Condor just wouldn’t allow it. In Berlin I tried to get them to check me in for the FRA flight but they couldn’t do it and assured me there would be an airside connection in FRA, which, of course, wasn’t true. The bus from the plane to terminal at FRA took ages, giving us barely any time for a connection which required going landside to the check-in area then going back through security.
I wouldn’t hesitate to fly them on a nonstop to/from Frankfurt in the future or on a single ticket somewhere, as the in flight experience, both on the short hop and long haul, was quite pleasant.
In the past 6 months I have flown 3 long haul segments and 1 short haul segment on Condor. All 3 long hauls were AS redemptions. The short was on an economy paid ticket credited to AS.
I agree with most of what was said here. Onboard everything is good. Checkin can be messy but I did not have as bad of a time as you.
Long haul I flew: FRA-JFK, MIA-FRA, FRA-MLE.
Shorthaul: CFU-FRA
The shorthaul flight was definitely more akin to low cost with pay for everything. It was short so that did not bother me and the only direct option on my date for CFU-FRA. Would do again.
All 3 long hauls I did in business on the A330-900neo and I too like the seat, service, and food. Seat comfort is on the higher end in my book and the service/food in line with expectations for Europe-based carrier in business class. I do like the Lufthansa Business lounges as they are well done. Condor business flyers get access automatically.
Would definitely fly again. Just set your expectations for a mid-cost carrier.
I found it to be even cheaper (45k) miles per ticket when connecting through Frankfurt from another Condor-served city like Vienna. I think it is because the Vienna to FRA route is in economy (FRA to JFK in business) so it reduces the price somehow. I booked this for my family for next fall.
Thanks for the review. But, um, I think I would rather fly another carrier.
Good to know, John. I’m in NYC, so I’d be willing to try them out in J at some point if the partner redemption was good value. Lie-flat and a big pretzel seems nice to me.
When connecting, it’s just 45k Atmos. Glad I’m doing that instead of direct FRA-JFK route. It’s a disaster.
I’ve never had a good experience Frankfurt. Their English goes from excellent if they want something to nonexistent if I want something. I’ll never forget the Condor flight where my wife and I were the only two in our business class section and they woke me up because my mask wasn’t on properly. If possible I avoid. (My wife is full German and she agrees).
One can understand the mask issue if it was at the height of Covid. But the rest of your observations are spot on.
Did your kids get the “childrens meal” on this flight? If so, what were they served? We are flying JFK to frankfurt 8 hour layover and then Frankfurt to BKK with our 10 year old, who isn’t super picky, but also likes “kid” food so I’m wondering if its worth ordering him a childrens meal.
They didn’t. My 7yr-old eats almost everything, so he usually just gets the adult meal. My 5yr-old eats almost nothing (he’s almost fruititarian basically), so the children’s meal won’t help. I have still tried ordering the children’s meal on some airlines mostly to see what it is, but I don’t always think about it because he doesn’t eat the things one would find in a children’s meal anyway.
Be aware that if you ever do this with a stopover, your second Condor leg will not be in Business since Condor does not allow Alaska points bookings in business class on Inter-European flights.
This doesn’t seem like a big deal, except for the fact that Condor is extremely punitive with their baggage fees on their short haul flights.
For example, my wife and I flew SEA-FRA in business and were each given 1x 16kg Carry-on and 2x 32kg Checked baggage. However, after our stopover in FRA, for our next leg to PMI we only received 1x 8kg Carry-on and 1x 20kg Checked Bag each. Condor does not carry over your baggage allowance from your first leg to the second after a stopover, even if it is on the same itinerary.
I had to pay €150 euro (that’s the advance rate!) to book an extra 20kg bag for the 90 minute flight from FRA-PMI. English customer service first claimed that adding extra baggage in advance was not possible, and I would instead need to take care of any excess baggage at the airport (From the Condor Website: Costs for excess baggage: €12.00 / US$14.00 PER Kg payable at airport only)
It was not until I was able to get a German-speaking family member to talk to their customer service on the phone and explain the situation for them to offer the €150 advance pay option. Multiple calls and chats with the WhatsApp English support never gave me this option. Otherwise I would have had to pay over $240 at the airport. If my wife and I had brought the full allowance of 2x 32kg bags each, we would have been 88kg over the weight limit and had to pay $1,400 at the airport. They thankfully did not weigh our carry-ons but I would not put that past them either since I saw them doing this with other customers checking in.
Condor is truly a low-cost carrier first, and while I would not hesitate to fly their Transatlantic business class product again, I’ll be wary of trying to do another stop over itinerary.
Thanks for noting this. My family is flying PRG-FRA-BOS in June with the first leg in economy. We will be sure to make everyone’s baggage less than 8kg / 20kg. Even with small kids, I don’t think that should be much of an issue.
I think the issue may be due to fact that previous poster had a stopover and it was not just a connecting flight. On a connecting flight, your baggage should go to the final destination once you check it in.
Good info! I have it booked next year for a stopover en route to Bangkok, so that wouldn’t be an issue in that case, but definitely good to know.
I have a JFK-FRA-MUC flight coming up. JFK-FRA on business and FRA-MUC on economy. I called and asked about bag policy and they told me that the first leg policy will apply. In any case, I will try to limit myself to 20kg check bag.
I’ve flown Condor SEA-FRA in either direction at least 6 times recently, but always connecting to/from another destination in Europe, and never checking any bags (thus avoiding most of the checkin mess you described). Once, my connecting flight to FRA was late, giving me just an hour for the connection. I was informed that that should be plenty to connect in FRA and go through passport control; i ended up running through the airport, and then cooling my heels as the 1st in the passport control line as the passport control officers’ shift changed, and the boarding was 15 minutes from closing. They took exactly 10 minutes for the shift change, and i made it to the gate with a minute to spare before boarding was to close — and ran directly into the tail end of a long line for boarding. So the chaos at the gate indirectly saved me from being late for my flight, i guess. One moral of the story: 1 hr is not enough for connecting in FRA if you’re going through passport control, unless you like sprinting with weights.
All in all, did you think it was worth the expense to fly business class back to the States on a day time flight? Presumably, you have status with an airline that allows you to select extra leg room seats, so that could have been a more affordable option for a short-ish day time flight back to America.
Live a little.
To each his or her own on that.
When I first started collecting miles and points, I just wanted to travel as much as possible. Redeeming for a higher cabin class wasn’t even on my radar as I’d only ever flown economy — I hadn’t even considered that paying anything more would be worth it in any situation, daytime or night time, short haul or long.
More than a decade into this world, the extra space and comfort of business and first class is why I dedicate the brain space to engaging in this hobby. I enjoy being comfortable and productive in the sky. I’d gladly pay 55K over the 25-35K that most airlines charge in economy class. That said, if you’re comparing against paying like 19K with Air France, and obviously within the confines of whatever one’s points budget may be, I could see taking the economy class seats on a daytime flight. Personally, I’m still happy to redeem for business class.
In my case, the primary reason is the superior comfort (the fact that we’re not bumping into each other and fighting for armrest space for 7+ hours is certainly nice, particularly the kids — none of the usual kid stuff with one poking the other just to be annoying, etc), but then I also want business class because it makes it easy to get work done. I spent most of the flight working on this post, which is easier when I know I’ll have plenty of room and be able to be comfortable and focus without distractions, etc. Our kids are the type that would be constantly sprawling out all in our space if they could, and then it becomes a lot harder to get stuff done.
If it were just my wife and me, and if we didn’t tend to earn more points each year than we use, then I’d probably seek out premium economy to save some points. And I’m certainly open to flying premium economy in general on these daytime long-haul flights. If I could get a redemption like Greg’s Virgin Atlantic for 14K + two hundred something bucks for premium economy back to the US, I’d probably take that. But when that isn’t available, it’s often a comparison that’s more like 40K vs 55K — and at that point, I’m OK with paying an additional 15K each for business. I wouldn’t argue that you’re wrong to save the 15K per person though, either. There are many ways to engage with this hobby, so one isn’t “right”. But no, I’m not really interested in an extra legroom seat for a 7+ hour flight, and I’m even less interested in flying AA in general (which is the airline with which I’d have status and then only because I’ve earned it through CC spend).
Our family of 3 has taken Condor , Lufthansa etc in biz class and it was perfectly fine and spacious. We’ve also taken other carriers on an a380, 787, etc in economy and found the 3 across seating also perfectly fine and comfortable. If we had to share a row with strangers our opinion might differ.
Sounds like a self inflicted wound to me. And it was so wordy I never got to the review.
Is there a dislike button for comments?
I wish, so that I could dislike your comments, Scott.
That was my take as well, why blame the airline?
I flew Condor out of FRA in October and had no check-in issues. We were the third group waiting for J check-in. This was a flight departing for SEA at 2pm, though – so maybe we missed the rush.
Being DEN-based, the 70k to SEA was great because we were able to easily add SEA-DEN on Alaska for no additional points. Loved not having to position on a separate ticket.
We did the Frankfurt to Boston flight in August (also taking an Uber from the Steigenberger) and had a similar take on the airport checkin. Given the long walk from Uber and the mess in the terminal I would arrive very early. We were also directed to a second line to verify our passports, but it looked like we could have skipped that line and verified our passports at the gate.
The onboard experience was very nice, so no complaints there. The food and service were both excellent. We flew them both ways and the bed was comfy for the overnight flight. One fun bit was that our flight attendant was one of the women in the splash screen photo on the entertainment system, so the photo is of real flight attendants.
When I flew them RT from JFK to FRA a couple of months aga, the FRA checkin situation was just as you described. Overall if they want premium pax to fly their airline they need to fix that mess quickly. LH is not great but their ground experience is so much better than the stress of flying Condor via FRA.
Have flown Condor bus from SEA – FRA and MIA-FRA (no checked luggage either time) and boarding was a bit hectic both times but not terrible. Flights both times were great and the mattress pads do make a big difference. Found 5 bus seats on Alaska for next May from SFO-FRA for my tennis buddies and me to get to the French Open and was thrilled to get that many award seats. Since I live in the SW I look to Condor as being a good option to get to Europe for a reasonable rate.