Pleasantly surprised, BUT..................
So I took my chances and flew Condor last month, returning June 1. We had premium economy both ways. I have to say, I was worried with all the bad reviews, but it was pretty great, other than a few items.
1-Yes the website is crap. I uploaded all my documents when I booked, back in Jan, but I still had to re-do it 24hrs prior, when I checked in online and the app wouldn't let me...I had to use a computer.
2-Boarding groups are a joke. We were in group 2, as we were in premium economy. but it's just a free-for-all at boarding.
3-Frankfurt airport is a joke as well....had to take a bus from the plane to the terminal when we arrived and take one from the terminal to the plane on the return. For the return flight, the Condor counters are wayyyy downstairs, like a red-headed step-child.
4-One of the flight attendants on the outbound was quite stern about using the forward lavatory, as we were in prem econ....but I could use the one behind me...which ended up being better because it's a bigger lav....so that was fine. The prem lav was right behind business class, but she was just rude about it....
So we flew from Arizona, to Seattle, then Condor to Frankfurt. For the return, it was non-stop from Frankfurt to Phoenix....11.5 hrs. LONG flight.
We flew Alaska to Seattle, and when I checked in with AS, it gave me boarding passes for all the flights (more on that in a bit)
Once we got the the gate in SEA, I heard an announcement saying if we had boarding passes issued by another carrier, or printed from online, we needed to go to the counter to show our passports and get a paper boarding pass. THIS IS IMPERATIVE! They will not let you on, if they haven't given you a paper boarding pass. * If you checked in with Condor at the ticket counter, prior to security, you don't need to do anything else.*
I also saw scales at the gate, so don't try to get away with heavy....they will make you check it. I was warried, as I was tad over the weight, but I was also in premium, so they didn't weigh ours. If your carry-ons look massive, they will weigh them....so make sure your stuff doesn't look huge.
The flight over was uneventful. Food was good, seat wasn't too bad. (United Premium Plus seats are better)...in flight entertainment was decent. A couple of new releases, like Oppenheimer and Barbie, were just a couple of the new ones.
We had dinner, then ice cream, then breakfast before arriving in FRA.
The return was long and we checked our bags for this flight. I was way over the carry-on weight and didn't care if my bags got delayed when I got home. I'm happy to say that they arrived with no issues. They did have 'priority' tags on them, but they didn't come out first. no biggie
We had dinner, Ice cream and a hot snack before landing in PHX. I slept maybe an hour....I just could not get comfortable in my seat. Our male flight attendant was lovely. He was nice and precise and friendly.
I will say that at Frankfurt, I had no idea we would have to go thru immigration before getting on the plane to PHX. We flew into FRA from Rome and when we started walking towards our gate for Condor, there was a huge line to show passports to even get to the gate. Luckily the line went super fast and we weren't delayed at all. So keep that in mind. If you're traveling back to the US and have a connection in FRA, you'll need to go thru immigration, so allow time for that.
So out of 10 stars, I'd give Condor a solid 8. Their website is really lame, so they need to work on that. Next time I want to try the business class.....
I'm not sure how the reviews are so awful. I agree with the app and website, but I really didn't have any issues. the seats I paid for when I booked, were all there and never changed.
I did have a schedule change issue that I called them about and was told it would take a couple days to fix.....which is complete BS, as I'm a travel agent and do schedule changes all day long and they take about 3minutes....so once I escalated to a supervisor...it was taken care of right away. I just think their agents aren't trained very well.
So I think it's fine. The price was good, which is why I chose them. Other carriers were way more expensive for premium economy. read more