Passengers traveling with German leisure airline Condor on a recent transatlantic flight had quite the journey, as they stopped on two different Atlantic islands, neither of which was their intended destination. This is a rough situation, though seems like it was handled well by the airline (thanks to Klaus for flagging this).
In this post:
Condor 767 diverts to Azores due to fighting passengers
On Sunday, June 18, 2023, Condor flight DE2208 was scheduled to fly from Frankfurt, Germany (FRA), to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (PUJ). The 4,603-mile flight was blocked at 10hr10min, and was operated by a 30-year-old Boeing 767-300 with the registration code D-ABUD.
The flight started out okay, and began its transatlantic crossing, flying at 33,000 feet. Unfortunately several hours into the flight, a brawl erupted between two passengers, and it became physical. The situation got so bad that the decision was made to divert.
As you’d expect, there aren’t many diversion points over the Atlantic, especially for a southerly routing like this. So the decision was made to divert to Ponta Delgada, Azores (PDL), which required a bit of backtracking. The plane landed there just under 6hr20min after it departed.
Here’s what a Condor spokesperson had to say about the diversion:
“We can confirm that there was a physical altercation between guests on board flight DE2208. Our crews are trained for such cases. However, because no lasting de-escalation could be brought about, the captain decided, as planned in such a scenario, for an unscheduled stopover in the Azores in Ponta Delgada.”
Condor 767 crew times out, so the plane flies to Tenerife
As you might expect, it takes some time to remove rowdy passengers, refuel a jet, etc. There was then a new problem — the crew couldn’t legally fly all the way to the Dominican Republic, as they’d time out. Okay, you’d think the plane would just spend the night in the Azores so that everyone could rest, right?
Well, there was one additional problem — there weren’t enough hotel rooms in the Azores for all passengers and crew to be accommodated, so they made a new plan. The airline made the decision to fly to the nearest major airport with hotel rooms, which was… Tenerife, Spain (TFS).
So after about two hours on the ground, the jet finally took off for Tenerife, a journey that took just under two hours. Once there, passengers and crew were accommodated in hotels for the night.
Here’s what a Condor spokesperson had to say about the second diversion:
“After there was not enough hotel capacity in Ponta Delgada, the plane flew to Tenerife in order to be able to observe the appropriate crew rest time there, while all guests could be accommodated and fed in hotels,”
Condor 767 flies from Tenerife to Punta Cana
On Monday, June 19, 2023, after a night of rest, the flight finally continued to its intended destination. The aircraft flew from Tenerife to Punta Cana in a flight time of around 6hr40min. The plane landed there at 8:45PM on Monday, roughly 25 hours behind the scheduled arrival time of 7:45PM on Sunday.
Bottom line
Passenger on Sunday’s Condor flight from Frankfurt to Punta Cana had quite the adventure. A fight escalated between passengers over the Atlantic, requiring a diversion. The only practical diversion point was Ponta Delgada, where the passengers were taken into custody by police.
At that point the crew would have timed out and couldn’t fly to Punta Cana anymore. Unfortunately there also weren’t enough hotel rooms on the island, so the airline decided to send passengers to Tenerife, where they’d spend the night. Then the following day, the airline flew from Tenerife to Punta Cana, arriving around 25 hours behind schedule.
While this was no doubt a pain for all involved (including the airline — this was costly), it sounds like Condor handled the situation as well as it possibly could have. I could also see plenty of airlines just saying “well, the crew timed out, tough luck on the lack of hotel rooms.”
What do you make of this Condor diversion?
I'm sure the airline will ensure that the rowdy pax are held accountable for all costs if the diversions. Could be interesting....
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!
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).....
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.
I'm no expert on ETOPS requirements, but one has to wonder what the diversion points are between Tenerife and the Dominican Republic.
The Azores, actually. Along with some of the Caribbean islands that are further east.
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.
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.
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.
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
EU261 does not apply here.
Well, duty of care does apply.
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).
So what were the two passengers fighting about? Inquiring minds want to know.
It was a very impassioned dispute over which island makes for the optimal intra-Atlantic diversion point.
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.
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 ?
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.
@ 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.
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.
@ 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.
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 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.
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.
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.
(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...
(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".