Condor 767 Diverts To Two Atlantic Islands

(My Opinion) No sane human being should ever fly Condor unless it's business class transatlantic for under 500 USD. Anything that costs more or is in a lower class of service is contributing to the delinquency of Condor. I've been in Condor's wrath before. We had an Emergency landing in Greenland.They flew in the most disgustingly rude customer service "director" I've ever encountered. They Randomly reassigned passengers to different seats to continue the flight. They Refused to follow EU regulations on rebooking to other airlines if they cannot accommodate (Air Greenland was there and available). I have never received the promised "refund".

> I could also see plenty of airlines just saying “well, the crew timed out, tough luck on the lack of hotel rooms.”

Yep, that would be a typical Lufthansa response I guess. Actually I think the majority of airlines would simply leave the passengers in the terminal. This was a pretty good solution from Condor.

This is just insane. I hardly believe at this time of the year there weren't enough rooms to acomodate all the people at PDL, let alone if you include the whole island. Been there a lot of times and they have plenty of hotels.
Unbelievable, but let's believe it's true (which isn't). Then why they flew to TFS and not to FNC which is closer? Certainly at FNC they have rooms available for a dozen of 767's.
Would love to see that bill and who will pay it.

So what were the two passengers fighting about? Inquiring minds want to know.

I imagine the EU compensation and/or German regulations factored into this decision.

I'm curious whether the plane was catered in Tenerife with food for the onward journey.

Remember hotels give special rates to airlines for their crew. Airlines use an online booking site for displaced passengers although I'm not sure if the airline would have been responsible. Likely the airline had to go somewhere that was accepting the rates.

It was a very impassioned dispute over which island makes for the optimal intra-Atlantic diversion point.

They don’t factor in eu comp. They just look at the options available dependent on crew hours.

The situation was a knock on affect of the disruptive passengers who should be sued for damages. They would also have been stranded in the Azores lol

And you know there were rooms available to the airline from your armchair as you’re an expert. Sure Jan. Why else divert to Tenerife ?

it will be costly . . . . for those WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE for such diversions!
Those two will have to pay a lot for that trouble . . . NOT like most US airlines would handle such cases if not close by a US home-base.
Kudos to Condor, that Pilot in command and the Crew . . . THAT was a good decision for all involved.

Eh, June in the Azores is high season. There might have been single rooms here and there, but the logistics of getting a whole aircraft full of people to so many different hotels and then back to the plane the next day could be impossible.

I'm no expert on ETOPS requirements, but one has to wonder what the diversion points are between Tenerife and the Dominican Republic.

Hi Nelson, I disagree with your comment and your commenting style: Calling it "just insane" shows a lack of operational and logistical understanding.
You should consider the route map of Condor and then it will become clear that Condor has some experience and presumably representatives on the Canary islands.

EU261 does not apply here.

Well, duty of care does apply.

They can't leave the passengers. Regardless of whether EU261 compensation rules apply, the duty of care does apply and the airline needs to cover food and lodging.

The Azores, actually. Along with some of the Caribbean islands that are further east.

@ Chris,
There's nothing called "High Season" in the Azores. JUL and AUG certainly have a few more people but certainly not enough to fill in all the rooms.
The logistics and costs of what they did certainly are far above that cost. Been there several times every month of the year and can't tell you which one was more crowded.

@ Klaus,
Agree with you that Condor certainly have better logistics in the Canaries than on the Azores as the Azores I believe is not a Condor destination, certainly not as to the Canaries. However, I stick to my case that I don't believe they didn't had enough rooms left on São Miguel Island.

Did the lodgings in Dominican Republic retain the rooms since everyone was a no show or was this some package and Condor handled late notifications, etc.

What we should be talking about here is how (yet again) the appalling behaviour of a few individuals has caused enormous disruption to many and huge cost to all (beyond the airline as well).....

I think Condor did a very logical thing in this situation although there is probably a lot of morons out there with the me me me mentality who are always thinking about their 'precious schedule' and will blame the airline for anything they can to claim 'compensation'. I have seen people slip and fall in the airport and blame it on the airline not the airport!

Absolute nonsence. For 14 years my job was to source hotel accomodation for flight disruptions throughout the UK. I can guarantee you that on many occasions it was impossible to find a large number of rooms at the last minute. Hotels are regularly fully booked, they do not sit empty waiting for a random flight delay.

I'm sure the airline will ensure that the rowdy pax are held accountable for all costs if the diversions. Could be interesting....

Yes the CREWS time out. I have been in that situation as inflight crew. Yes the Island could have been short of rooms. Were you expecting to hear the brawl on this flight just to have rooms available?
I would not be surprise if the 2 rude customers were Dominicans. I have seen SOME of them in the most outrageous insults even to me working their flights to DR.

Why wouldn't EU261 apply? It applies to any flight that departs from the EU, which this one did (departing from Frankfurt, Germany). For that matter, both the diversion points were in the EU, too (Portugal and Germany).