Review: Condor A321 Business Class (DUS-ATH)

That livery reminds me of Fruit Stripe Gum, if anyone remembers that.

I had a flight from Düsseldorf within days of your flight and they were absolutely no crowds. I guess it just depends on what time you go

Yes the livery is definitely different, but I wonder how long Ben will continue to think it's great. I expect it to become old and tiresome very quickly.

It’s very rare that I hate an airline redesign. But Condor is that one airline which has violated just about everything that makes a good design to me. Nothing against the striped livery as such. The worst thing of all, however, is that the titles are below the windows, a huge blunder that Asiana, BA, Norwegian, etc. have made. That’s a huge wastage of space. Moreover, the titles are barely visible at all against those coloured stripes.

Also, I’m completely opposed to the overwhelming usage of Helvetica Black. I wished those days had stopped with LH’s rebrand in 2018. EK and S7 give us enough Helvetica already, and I most definitely did not need Condor to give more. Not that I hate Helvetica, but Condor makes it look aggressive and alpha-male, a far cry from the previous friendly Gilroy font.

I know I shouldn’t be speaking as violently as I am about an airline rebrand, and many people (myself included) like the bold, colourful stripes on the plane, but there’s too much that puts me off. No, I’ll never come to terms with Condor’s rebrand.

This livery doesn't work for an aircraft. The old concept of a cheatline worked so beautifully because that horizontal line implied graceful forward movement. Vertical lines imply the opposite. It just doesn't work, nor does it look like they're running a serious airline. More like a Spirit-style play airline.

Oh, and, as mangoMan said below, Condor's jets now look like refugees from a pack of Fruit Stripe gum.

"Beautiful" and "graceful" are clearly not the goal with this. It's a leisure airline going for something fun and different. Yes, it looks like a pack of gum and it stands out. It has clearly worked so far in that it has people paying attention and talking about the airline. If that's not successful marketing, then I don't know what is. Eventually people will become used to it, but for now it's working.

So, it's a throwaway livery then? Because I don't see this mess gracing their a/c for the next 10-15 years. It will get very old. You're right in that it generates publicity and I'll give you that. But much of my comment was in response to Ben's fawning at the "stunning" livery.

Stunning only in it's silliness.

Flew them earlier this week from Palma/Mallorca to Hamburg, four tickets in Business Class for just under 500 EUR total (booked in June). Found the crew really friendly and attentive and enjoyed the entire experience, including the opportunity to skip the massive queues at the airport in Palma.

Well now you're just debating the aesthetics and beauty of it, which is completely subjective. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean everyone hates it. In fact if you read comments on other sites, it seems that tons of people love it. I'm pretty indifferent on it other than thinking it's fun and it's nice to see something different, considering every legacy carrier nowadays seems to go with the standard script.

I never said it's a throwaway/temporary thing. I'm willing to bet you thought Spirits bright yellow wouldn't stick around either.

While the livery seems to be a hot topic here, I will say that I have flown multiple flights in/out of Athens recently and Aegean by far had the best service of any of them. Their coach legroom was better than you had in business and their flight attendants were fast and efficient, even if not as personal in coach but they were up front. Their coach food was not as good as in your picture but I'm sure it was better than Condor in coach.

European domestic travel overall is is closer to US ultra discount carriers while US legacy and low cost carriers offer more - esp. space- than domestic flights in Europe.

Add in that a growing number of US airlines have seatback entertainment and the value proposition for US domestic travel is better than in Europe - not something you hear many people say.

I think that Condor's new livery is great. It certainly catches the eye. The colorful stripes remind me of Braniff Airlines "flying colors" in that there are different colored aircraft. Clever livery!

What a biased review. Four stars even though the legroom sucks. Condor business class ist worse than Lufthansa and does not even include Lounge assess.
That just proves once again how you love bashing Lufthansa you biased reviewer

Condor does offer lounge access in C, eg. the business lounges at FRA.

I don't know, airline liveries are becoming increasingly formulaic. The Lufthansa/Icelandair/Aer Lingus/SAS/Qanats (to be fair they've had it for a lot longer) formula of "white fuselage with solid color beginning at the rear underside working it's way up through the tail with a logo on it" is becoming increasingly ubiquitous and frankly, dull. Condor's livery is gaudy and eclectic but I think it's also kind of fun and well represents their leisure rather than business focus. Do I want every airline to start copying this formula? Absolutely not, but on a single airline it makes them stand out and is memorable.

"The boarding process was a bit chaotic, as the flight attendant had to ask just about every other passenger to put on a mask. Germany requires masks on planes but not at airports. Even though there were several announcements about needing masks during boarding, so many passengers boarded without them on."

To be fair, that is a nonsensical and stupid policy.

You can use either Hugo Junkers Lounge or Open Sky Lounge in Duesseldorf:
https://www.condor.com/us/fly-enjoy/classes-rates/business-class/business-lounges.jsp
https://www.condor.com/eu/fly-enjoy/travel-classes/business/short-and-mediumhaul.jsp

So because "you"... whoever you happen to be... disagree with it, it's therefore biased?

#NotHowThingsWork

I honestly think its the coolest scheme in the world right now

Runner up if the Azerbaijan Airways blue scheme. Its gorgeous too

Adam

"Condor had the only nonstop flight between Dusseldorf and Athens on our date."

Wait, what? Aegean Airlines had no direct flight on June 19th?? They run a daily service and even "upgraded" the aircraft type on some of those busier dates to an A321 to cope with high demand, they'd be crazy not to have flown on the 19th.
Perhaps it was available, but was more expensive, so you opted for Condor? That was a nice price you paid there and I am extremely surprised to see nobody else in business class, which on my flight was full and with a much higher price-tag.

As someone who does a roundtrip in Condor Business Class to Greece about once a year I agree with everything you said, except for the bulkhead: If you have long legs these seats are miserable because all the space under the seat before you goes away and there is no way to stretch at all. I was really pissed when the moved us there last year despite specifically booking the second row (we only had one other Business Class passenger besides us).

Note that this is not specific to Condor, but true for most European bulkhead seats. The important exception are those planes without an actual bulkhead where you can stretch your feed over the doors (e.g. Easyjet A319).

Presumably Economy Best is their name for Premium Economy?As it's not much more expensive than Economy I'm guessing it's probably not worth it except if you get a speedier check-in and looking at Dusseldorf Airport (so much for Germany 's famed organization!) you'll need it.Mind you can't really knock Dusseldorf as the problem is everywhere at the moment.

Are these inflight conversations taking place in German or English? Just curious.

To be fair, that is the policy and people most likely knew about it before boarding.

Still not convinced about the livery. Personally I think the stripes should have stopped just forward of the wing.

Regardless, nice to hear about the great service.

And any review that involves Greece makes me smile. Dang, I love the country, and Athens is so underrated…it’s stunning.

I was also curious about that. Quite surprised that Aegean would not have had any flight on that day.

Well, according to flightaware and as I was expecting, Aegean's flight had a couple of minutes delay but definitely took place on that (as well as every other) day. Can't understand why this wasn't a possibility for @Ben and I certainly don't think Aegean Airlines isn't known to him (and even if someone had never heard of an airline, flying into a certain country, you'd assume they'd check for any airlines originating in that country).

Interesting…the comments about the livery. I’ve never noticed, and sitting in guard, could not care less. I am wondering though, when the promised Condor Cologne-Orlando route will start. We were told Condor was starting it right after AirBerlin ceased flying it. Love to try Condor. (Lufthansa’s 747 queens are rather inviting too though.)

The Condor scheme is supposed to represent beach towels. Once you know that it makes more sense though may still not appeal. I find it difficult to look at as the vertical stripes seem to fight the natural horizontal-ness of airliners.

Agreed!