I’m so excited, I just have to share my pre-flight excitement. Last spring I first wrote about what I called the most random transatlantic route.
Specifically, German leisure airline Condor flies once weekly seasonally between Frankfurt and Whitehorse, located in Canada’s Yukon territory.
This just seems like such an awesome and random route, and I’ve been wanting to fly it ever since I’ve heard about it. Well, that’s finally happening today, and it’s on the last flight of the season. Andrew and I booked this a while back — the one-way business class fare was under $1,000, and we’ll be earning a lot of Alaska Airlines miles for it.
There’s so much about this flight that interests me:
- Do the crews actually spend an entire week in Whitehorse for their layovers? Since this is the last flight of the season, how long does the crew spend in Whitehorse, and how do they fly back (maybe they deadhead back via Vancouver on Air Canada and Lufthansa, but who knows)?
- How does immigration for this flight work? Do they have local immigration officers, do they fly out immigration officers once a week from another international airport, do they station people there seasonally, or what, since I believe this is the airport’s only international flight?
- What will the ratio of passengers to fanny packs be (not that there’s anything wrong with fanny packs!)?
Anyway, I’m so excited, and I also can’t wait to see the views on this flight, since this is by far the Northernmost transatlantic crossing I’ve ever had. Here’s the Flightradar24 for last week’s flight:
If you want to follow along, here’s the Flightradar24 for our flight.
Also, it looks like our plane has registration D-ABUP, which is a former Transaero 767. Ugh, so sad I didn’t fly it in the Transaero days!
This will be good. I think I have seen Whitehorse on the tv show about the Buffalo Airways nutters who fly old Convairs and Electras around the icebound north or maybe it was on Ice Road Truckers who are also nuts.
Roll on the review. After Transaero, I hope the now Condor branded plane still has all its essential parts.
Wow, your flight went much further north than you expected! What did northern Greenland and Nunavut look like?
I live in Juneau, and I'm pretty confident Alaska Seaplanes has flights from Juneau to Whitehorse during the summer. Granted, those aren't huge planes, but they'd still necessitate a customs officer at the airport. Was just in Whitehorse last weekend and it's a lovely, funky little town, with a very unique character. The aurora has been out in force the last week or so; hopefully you'll get a good show!
@glennt www.wheretocredit.com/condor-flugdienst/j
@AJO: You're right. The aircraft is D-ABUC, not D-ABUP.
How many Alaska miles does this flight/cabin net you?
*questions*
Now I want to know the answers to the question posed by Lucky!
I have been to Whitehorse a few times but a look ways drove there. There are flights from Juneau and Vancouver I believe. A nice town. Very cold in the winter. Lots of French Canadians there. Tough people.
Checked loads... Only 6 open seats on that flight. That's crazy it fills up!
When I flew from Juneau to Whitehorse back in the 90's on a turboprop with only 3 passengers there was indeed an immigration officer waiting who quickly and courteously cleared us through. At the time I believe the 3 weekly flights from Juneau were the only international service into Whitehorse.
I'll be interested to read your review, since I'm flying Condor business class from Frankfurt to Halifax next month. This will be my first time on Condor. My ticket, which cost about 700 euros, includes an Aegean flight from Athens to Frankfurt and use of Lufthansa's business class lounge.
It’s a wonderful warm day in Whitehorse . Enjoy your flight and enjoy Whitehorse
That is a picture of Condor's first flight to New Orleans (MSY) which was last year. I recently tried their product from New Orleans to Frankfurt - in Economy - and the post will be on my blog soon. Overall, I was confused by their product in whether they were trying to be low-cost or full-service airline. Free luggage and basic meals plus drink/coffee/tea/water are included in the price, but you have to pay for...
That is a picture of Condor's first flight to New Orleans (MSY) which was last year. I recently tried their product from New Orleans to Frankfurt - in Economy - and the post will be on my blog soon. Overall, I was confused by their product in whether they were trying to be low-cost or full-service airline. Free luggage and basic meals plus drink/coffee/tea/water are included in the price, but you have to pay for seat assignments and for entertainment. It was an odd mix. Also, they don't seem to fly the newest planes in the fleet.
When I first read the caption “White Horse” I thought it said “White House.” Oops!!!!!
I would love to see the current home of the world leader us president Don Trump.
@Mitch - There is also a Frontier, American, Southwest, and United plane in the background. So unless everyone and their mother has recently started flying to Whitehorse, the photo Lucky used is most definitely a different airport.
@ Chubb, I believe it is. It looks like a picture that recently was posted on Airliners in a thread about MSY.
That Flightradar24 flightpath view is pretty cool. Does anyone know if there is a flightpath view on a globe view? Like being able to move the globe around like Google Earth would be very cool.
Lucky, I think You booked it a while back not a whole back
D-ABUC operates today’s flight, and it’ll arrive about two hours late in YXY...
YXY doesn't even open the security until an hour or so before a flight. It's definitely a "when needed" type of airport. You can literally walk into town.
There is a JetBlue plane in the photo, directly behind the Condor flight. When did they start flying to Whitehorse?
Random question, is that MSY airport on the cover picture for this article?
Hope you have a good flight. Condor is better than you would expect. We fly FRA YYC on Friday also the last flight of the season.
Whitehorse is an international airport so will be properly staffed.