Hello from Seattle, as I’m currently on a review trip! I just flew Condor’s impressive business class from Frankfurt to Seattle. This is found on the carrier’s A330-900neos, which will eventually become the backbone of Condor’s long haul fleet.
Condor is a well established leisure airline in Germany. Back in the day the airline was known for its unique route network of vacation destinations and good pricing, but Condor’s 767 business class left a lot to be desired in terms of passenger experience. Now the airline is totally reinventing itself, and I couldn’t be happier about it.
So, what’s my takeaway? This is a competitive and generally lovely business class product, and I can’t wait for the fleet to grow, as it has fantastic implications for transatlantic business class pricing. I wanted to share some initial thoughts in this post, and then soon I’ll have a full review.
In this post:
Condor’s incredible business class pricing
Value is obviously an important thing to consider when it comes to an airline experience. The reality is that across the Atlantic, you’ll almost never find reasonable point-to-point one-way business class fares. The major airlines belonging to transatlantic joint ventures consistently try to charge many thousands of dollars for business class tickets.
Condor now offers the best value business class product across the Atlantic. For example, it’s totally normal to see Condor have fares of ~$1,100 or so across the Atlantic (and that includes Germany’s departure taxes, which are ~$150). That’s significantly under a quarter the cost of what Lufthansa charges for the same route.
If you ask me, Condor has the chance to disrupt premium pricing across the Atlantic the way that JetBlue has done within the United States with its Mint business class product. Admittedly the catch is that Condor’s route network is limited, but if Condor serves a market you’re looking at traveling in, the value can’t be beat.
In the past I considered Condor to be a pretty good deal, given that the airline had attractive pricing but a very subpar business class. Now the airline has a solid business class, with that same attractive pricing… for now.
Condor’s A330-900neo business class is solid
Before we even talk about the interior of the aircraft, can we just acknowledge that Condor’s new livery is the greatest thing ever? When it was first introduced, I wasn’t sure what to think. Having now seen it in person several times, I absolutely love it. It’s so bold and interesting and fun, and I love how planes are all painted in different colors.
Fortunately it’s not just the outside of Condor planes that’s impressive — the new interiors are pretty awesome as well. Condor’s A330-900neo has staggered seats in business class. It’s exciting to see Condor now offering fully flat beds with direct aisle access from every business class seat. I love how the striped pattern continues in the cabin.
When you consider the pace at which Condor is taking delivery of A330-900neos, the airline will soon overtake Lufthansa when it comes to business class hard product quality, given how slowly Lufthansa’s new “Allegris” business class is expected to be rolled out.
Condor’s Prime Seats are pretty awesome
Condor’s first row business class seats are known as Prime Seats, and this is a special business class plus product. As you can probably tell, this seat is way more spacious than the other business class seats.
The seat itself is no different than any of the other business class seats.
What makes this totally different is the massive ottoman you get, which can even be used as a buddy seat so that you can dine with someone else. This was extremely spacious, comparable to some first class products out there.
Condor’s Prime Seats even come with extra amenities, including complimentary pajamas, a special snack basket, and free inflight messaging.
Now, I will say that I think the pricing is on the steep side. On my flight, assigning one of these seats cost $360 (best I can tell, that’s consistently the price on transatlantic flights). That seems like a high upgrade cost, especially given Condor’s reasonable business class fares to begin with. I think pricing in the $250-300 range would be the upper end of what’s appropriate.
Then again, I actually feel like I didn’t get a half bad deal. I booked my ticket using Alaska Mileage Plan miles, and in the end my “out of pocket” was significantly less than I would have paid in fuel surcharges if booking an award on an airline like British Airways.
Condor’s soft product at least matches Lufthansa’s
Not only does Condor now have an excellent hard product, but the carrier’s soft product is quite good as well, and in my opinion beats what’s offered by Lufthansa. There were a lot of cute touches to the Condor experience.
For example, in addition to an amenity kit, there were also slippers, which you won’t find in business class on most transatlantic Lufthansa flights.
Pre-departure drinks were served with packaged nuts, which I also found to be a thoughtful touch.
After takeoff, drinks were served with nuts in a ramekin.
For lunch service, each passenger was served two different appetizers (smoked beef with a chicken couscous praline, plus salmon with beetroot cream), in addition to a salad and bread.
There were three main courses, and I selected the cod with a bread mustard crust, mashed potatoes, cabbage, and carrots.
Then there was a cheese trolley, with montagnoso, matured sheep’s cheese, and gouda with pesto.
Lastly for dessert, there was a cheesecake with wild berry sauce.
Condor also has espresso onboard, in addition to filtered coffee.
There was even a hot midflight snack, which you also won’t find on Lufthansa, and then a pre-arrival meal.
I was extremely impressed by the soft product, with a couple of caveats.
First of all, Condor’s Wi-Fi offering is disappointing, and I’m not sure what the airline was thinking, given that these are newly delivered planes. The Wi-Fi speeds were among the slowest I’ve had in quite some time. Not only that, but the pricing, was uncompetitively high — it cost 20 Euro for every four hours. That’s way too high, especially given the quality.
Next, the meal service was very slow, with the first service taking around 3.5 hours. That’s not a big issue on a daytime flight where most people are awake, though I’m just confused by why the service flow was so slow, as I hope it’s faster on overnight flights.
Bottom line
I’m so thrilled I had the chance to fly Condor’s new Airbus A330-900neo, and I’m extremely impressed by how the airline is evolving. Condor holds a special place in my heart — I started flying with Condor when I was a little kid, as we’d fly with the airline from Tampa to Frankfurt to visit family every summer. This was back in the day when Condor even had a smoking section onboard.
Suffice it to say that this is no longer the Condor of my childhood, in all the best way possible. Condor now has a legitimately good business class product that can easily compete with what Lufthansa is offering, all at a fraction of the cost. Even if you don’t plan on flying Condor, I’m sure everyone can agree that Lufthansa could use some competition.
I’d say Condor now offers the best value business class product across the Atlantic. Assuming the price is right, I can’t recommend the carrier’s A330-900neo enough.
What do you make of this new era of Condor?
I was able to upgrade from Premium to Business for SEA>FRA and FRA>SEA precisely 24 hours before (the moment online check-in was available) for only $200 to FRA and $250 from FRA. The initial cost for Business was $3k each way, but I paid around $1100 total. Worth it, even if Air Belgium was substituted both ways. See my comment to Christian below about my basic experience.
Thank you for this constructive review.
I am bout to book a flight from FRA to SEA and back, and the Condor website says that Air Belgium will operate those flights.
Do you have any insights into this cooperation and the quality of their business class?
Thanks!
Ben has a review of Air Belgium's A340 Business Class, if you're curious.
https://onemileatatime.com/air-belgium-business-class-review/
I just flew the Air Belgian operated flights for Condor from SEA to FRA and FRA to SEA in Business Class. The seats in Business were definitely different than what I saw in the review of AB mentioned in this comment thread. That said, the seats were similar to what appears in the new Condor product but not quite as nice. There were a lot of issues with the crew (not their fault), as there...
I just flew the Air Belgian operated flights for Condor from SEA to FRA and FRA to SEA in Business Class. The seats in Business were definitely different than what I saw in the review of AB mentioned in this comment thread. That said, the seats were similar to what appears in the new Condor product but not quite as nice. There were a lot of issues with the crew (not their fault), as there was a considerable amount of confusion about how they were to operate as a representative of Condor. The food was identical to what I saw in the Condor review here. Both to FRA AND leaving FRA the flights were delayed by more than 30 minutes, due to the communications issues and struggles I just mentioned.
I did have a relaxing flight nonetheless and will continue to book and fly Condor. I typically go to FRA twice a year and this is my preferred airline for flights out of SEA.
Sounds enticing,however we booked earlier a condor economy premium for April 2023,so I would have liked to see a review there also,but looking forward to our trip anyway
Can’t wait to read the full review. I’m particularly interested in whether the prime seat is comparable to first class and if it is worth the steep upgrade (given how accessible business class is on Alaska miles). Doesn’t seem like it, but very excited about the new product.
How many of these planes has condor actually taken delivery on?
Flew DE a couple of weeks ago SEA-FRA and FRA-JFK. Aggressive upsells online and at the airport (esp. FRA). Paid $500 (+$29 tax) to upgrade to biz from Premium economy to FRA. Seems like price is same no matter of PE or regular economy. Same price on offer FRA-JFK, but decided to rough it PE. Both solid products and would fly them again.
Forgot to mention…originally assigned prime seat online, then was moved on check-in because they wanted the upgrade fee.
On board I asked to move to an open window seat…and got the prime seat anyway :)
'That’s significantly under a quarter the cost of what Lufthansa charges for the same route.'
Come on. That's just silliness to make that claim.
You can get a return on that route with LH for about 2400 EUR. So surely someone would just book that and only use the one way rather than pay 5000 for one way...
The only difference is that Condor doesn't discount returns, while the other airlines do. So...
'That’s significantly under a quarter the cost of what Lufthansa charges for the same route.'
Come on. That's just silliness to make that claim.
You can get a return on that route with LH for about 2400 EUR. So surely someone would just book that and only use the one way rather than pay 5000 for one way...
The only difference is that Condor doesn't discount returns, while the other airlines do. So if you are going only one way, and insist upon a nonstop flight, yes, Condor might be the best option, but if you are willing to make one stop, there are cheaper airlines available. And if you are flying return, as many are, even if you insist upon direct, Condor is similarly priced to Delta and Singapore and Lufthansa. Personally I always prefer flying Singapore between NYC and FRA, but to each their own.
sounds like this is paid and sponsored by Condor. I’m looking for the „ad“ I’m front of your words
It's a flight review Pete. What exactly should he be talking about instead of the soft & hard product, service levels and costs?!
Gonna be a pretty useless and bare bones flight review without all of that. He called them out where he felt they didn't measure up so you can't exactly accuse him of being some paid for gushing simp like a certain ex banker from HKG.
FYI At the top of each...
It's a flight review Pete. What exactly should he be talking about instead of the soft & hard product, service levels and costs?!
Gonna be a pretty useless and bare bones flight review without all of that. He called them out where he felt they didn't measure up so you can't exactly accuse him of being some paid for gushing simp like a certain ex banker from HKG.
FYI At the top of each article there's a standard advertiser notice and when you press "view all comments" you'll see OMAAT's review disclosure statement so technically that "ad" accusation you made was covered anyway and your then made fully aware of stated review policy in a transparent way. I can attest from numerous times over the years that on the rare occasions am airline, hotel or some other entity does pay for/ towards something that it's made abundantly clear how, what and who & the standard disclaimer is ammended.
With only a smattering of sarcasm but also with genuine desire. I'd love to see you write up a flight review sometime that avoids covering the things written about here AND isn't totally pointless and of no use to anyone as it didn't talk about the flight ( and all its elements) in the slightest.
If this annoyed you then I'd have to refuse to divulge some bloggers/ vloggers I know for fear you reading or watching them would give you a stroke
It's like WW1 era JG1. I understand that it's not a popular reference but can't really help it with the color scheme. It's definitely bold and eye-catching.
I'm with ya Bob. You wouldn't wanna take your grandfather on one out of fear several took off at once and he got flashbacks to D-Day from the livery.
Yes it's playful I guess but tbh idk why it makes so many people go giddy over it. That said: each to their own and if it makes you happy then all the better
Stunning hard product. Why can't AA, DL and UA offer something at the same level? Why is it so hard? The premium product of our carriers in the US is simply shameful. We invented flying, richest, most powerful nation in the world, yet we can't even come close to a discount european carrier. Something is wrong with us.
Regis,
with all due respect, every one of the big 3 offer a hard product business class seat (not Condor's Prime) that is comparable to or better than Condor's. They also offer soft product services that matches Condor's. Let's not forget that the Condor Prime seat occupies a significant portion of attention in the article; that seat is comparable to Virgin Atlantic's premium business class seats - of which there are just a few...
Regis,
with all due respect, every one of the big 3 offer a hard product business class seat (not Condor's Prime) that is comparable to or better than Condor's. They also offer soft product services that matches Condor's. Let's not forget that the Condor Prime seat occupies a significant portion of attention in the article; that seat is comparable to Virgin Atlantic's premium business class seats - of which there are just a few on every aircraft. Also, the big 3 cut services dramatically during the pandemic and are still reinstating them. Comparing pandemic-cut services to Condor's launch services for a new aircraft is apples to oranges.
That said, competition is good and the biggest advantage that Condor brings to the market is a product that is just about as good as other airlines but at a whole lot less cost. Given that their primary competition is Lufthansa and the German market is one of the most protected, the fact that Condor is making as big of an impact as they are is reason to celebrate.
The US didn’t “invent” flying. You’ll find birds did. Joking aside, it was Santos Dumont. And stop with all this cr— about richest, most powerful, best blah blah.
Indeed DL UA AA have good premium products.
AA's business class product for longhaul flights is better than Condor's.
Well I'd argue that both UA and DL have a better *flagship* premium product. That's to say that UA's Polaris and DL's Vantage XL is considerably better than Condor's J, but those two lack consistency across their fleet and you're very likely to sit in UA's 2-2-2 or DL's narrow staggered seats.
AA is probably the only one with the more consistent (and imo better than Condor's) hard product.
United has pretty well converted their entire long haul fleet to the Polaris 1-2-1 product by now. I’m pretty sure the High-J is 1-1-1. I don’t think you are very likely to find any planes in their long haul fleet that are 2-2-2 any longer. Perhaps they’re still working on converting just the 767-400
Given that the Lufthansa Group airlines have some of the highest market share in their home markets and also some of the highest average fares in Europe, Condor has enormous opportunity to grow. The A330-900 is a highly efficient aircraft that is well suited for the routes that Condor flies and there is more than ample availability for them to acquire more if they choose to.
Having flown Condor many times, they are indeed...
Given that the Lufthansa Group airlines have some of the highest market share in their home markets and also some of the highest average fares in Europe, Condor has enormous opportunity to grow. The A330-900 is a highly efficient aircraft that is well suited for the routes that Condor flies and there is more than ample availability for them to acquire more if they choose to.
Having flown Condor many times, they are indeed moving from their leisure base to being one of the few low fare transatlantic airlines after a rash of failures over the last few years including of Norwegian. Given that they are using widebodies, their impact will be far larger than those that try to use the A321XLR.
I am not quite sure about the aggressive pricing. From SFO I see round trip fares to Germany in business of $4300+. This seems to be very comparable to the legacy carriers.
Agree
flying ex US the difference is smaller their network is much smaller (so good for point to point but beyond FRA you’ll have to add in another fare) and sone more restrictions on most fare basis
Having said that, hard product better than LH on these planes which is I guess the point of the article
The striped livery on the outside somehow evokes reading "Condom" as the airline name.
Business class: condor a330 + economy connections flight?
Or a330 eurowings discover + Lufthansa business(Eu) connections flight?
I flew with them in Jan - best transatlantic flight imo! You can't beat that price for business class seats.
So long Luft!
"As you can probably tell, this seat is way more spacious than the other business class seats."
"The seat itself is no different than any of the other business class seats."
I get what you are trying to say, but it just reads awkwardly.
As nice as the space is, it really does look like parts of 2 different seats thrown together.
Won't be long before their prices go up to match the other carriers. They were cheap because they didn't have the product to demand higher prices.
I hope Condor starts flying to Canada, to disrupt the insane pricing there.
They already fly to YEG, YHZ, YYZ, YVR, and YXY. I know, not a huge presence, but they've already started flying to Canada.
Excluding 767, Condor has 7 A330 so of course it won’t take long to refurbish the fleet.
If I remember correctly, they do not have refundable fares, even with higher prices. Given their small footprint, it might be difficult to use the flight credits offered instead.
Good to see the soft product measuring up by keeping a sense of occasion and choice even if it is a longer flow. They have done their homework on what premium leisure wants.
How many planes do they get each month? Because the existing Business class is crap.
@ Parnel -- Last I heard, Condor should have all these jets by mid-2024, and at that point all 767s should be retired. So that's a pretty quick fleet renewal.
Condor is a small airline so can’t compare a fleet renewal to that one of major airlines like Lufthansa, BA…