Condor Airlines

I flew in Business Class from Portland to Frankfurt in June 2015. I often fly across the Atlantic for business and have a status with Lufthansa so I am used to Business Class cabins on the 'big' carriers. I didn't know what to expect when I had to fly to Frankfurt from Portland on Condor but I must say that I was positively surprised by the service received on board the aircraft. It's not comparable to Business Class on the big airlines but it's definitely worth the money. Still get your lie-flat (though not horizontal), great meal service, IFE and so on.

Booked to go from Portland, Oregon to Tel Aviv, Israel for a 2 week trip. Outbound Alaska Air from Portland to Vegas, Condor Vegas to Frankfurt, El Al Frankfurt to Tel Aviv. Only learned after booking the flight that I could not check-in online, but instead had to check-in with each carrier at Portland, Vegas and Frankfurt airports. This meant arriving in Vegas, exiting security, collecting bags, waiting in line to check in and re-check bags, and then re-entering security. Bags were booked through Frankfurt to our final destination, but in Frankfurt we had to go through customs/passport clearance to exit the terminal in order to be able to check in for the next flight. Return Tel Aviv - Frankfurt - Portland we had 1 hr 50 mins between flights and only just made the connection - we were the last people to board. To top it off, when the bus brought us around to board the plane on the tarmac, I noticed my bag sitting on a baggage cart. Only when I spoke to a supervisor did he go over and tell a handler to put the bag on the plane. After getting to Portland, my bag arrived but my wife's and two sons' three bags did not. We filed lost bag reports with a "Condor rep" who was at baggage claim. Now it's been 48 hrs and after waiting 30 minutes on hold on the phone, Condor is claiming that they aren't responsible for the lost bags and we need to talk with Portland Airport lost and found.

Condor had changed our flight times without us knowing it. We showed up at the airport 2.5 hours before the original flight flew. We were told that we are not on the list. After hours of phone calls all they could tell us was "There's nothing we can do". Didn't attempt to book us on a different flight, no money back, absolutely nothing. The worst customer service I've seen.

My wife and I arrived at the Fresno airport to board our flight (Alaska airlines) to Portland. Alaska personnel had no itinerary listed for us. Called Condor who did all of the booking and was told that we cancelled our flight 7 months earlier. What? Called Alaska airlines who explained that Condor cancelled the flight and failed to let us know. Condor customer service agent later admitted that the mistake was on their end. Told me the best they could do is reschedule the flight for the next day. She told me that they would try to re-route us on another airline. OK. I just need to be in Frankfurt. Came back on the line and told me the request was denied by her supervisor. I asked to speak to the supervisor (5 times) and was never allowed to do so. My wife and I had to settle for a departure the next day. Now at home, changing hotel reservations, rental car information, etc. The whole process took 3 hours of my fixing Condor's error.

Worst experience. Booked well in advance and when we went to check in, we found out that we were not next to each other - we were told that we should have paid to reserve our seat. Isn't that why we pay over $600 when we book? This made us end up with the middle seat with 6 rows in between us.

We were supposed to leave Vancouver to Frankfurt on May 3 at 6.20 pm and after sitting on the runway and back at the gate for 3 hours while they said they had technical problems we were told the flight was cancelled. We got on the bus supplied to the Hilton hotel and got there at midnight no food onboard and nothing at the hotel. Next day we were told the flight would not go until the following day - 2 days late. We flew on same plane same seat 2 days late. They gave us a voucher for 600 euros to fly Condor but it has to be activated by phone and we have had 3 different people who speak German call and after waiting on hold for up to 40 minutes as soon as they say voucher they hang up. I doubt if we will ever get to use our voucher. It has been a very frustrating experience.

When one orders Premium Economy class tickets one would expect to get free drinks onboard the flight throughout the entire flight and not only when the flight attendant come around with the cart. Also when one pushes the call button for the attendant to come to my seat one would expect the attendant to come within 30 minutes and just not ignore the call light. I was in the rear of the plan and I saw 5 customer call lights on in the rear of the plane on the ceiling and 4 flight attendants sat under then ignoring them as if they did not exist? I looked throughout the cabin and there were 5 lights on at various locations but not one single attendant answered the calls. They continued to sit in the back of the plane discussing their issues with each other as if the passengers never existed. Another issue 4 bathrooms for over 250 passengers? Located in the rear of the plane only. I will not fly Condor again. Cheaper is not always better and in this case poor service bad equipment on the plane food that was upgraded for $20.00 per person both outbound and inbound was a joke. Next time I'll book with Lufthansa.

6 May 2015 DE 3049. Return was 25 May 2015 DE 1048. We booked with Condor and it was our first experience with the airline. My wife is handicapped and we chose to use our own scooter on a three week trip to Germany and area. Nothing could have gone smoother on this trip as far as the airline is concerned. They did everything to make the airport transition smooth and we do appreciate that. We will not hesitate to go with Condor again. Also the cabin staff did a great job as well.

DR2264 DE4265 Business Class. Just arrived in Frankfurt from a return trip to Mombasa. Condor Business Class on the 767 is second to none! Fabulous food service and all round high quality. Highly recommended!

Condor could not communicate to the connection flight company that we were flying with our baby. This made very difficult to check-in. The check-in was finally successful thanks to the personnel of the airport which understood the situation and bent the rules (always within safety and security limits) to allow us enough time to have Condor making a last minute correction. This "last minute correction" involved us calling the call center 5 times with the regular few minutes waiting time having to explain the problem from the beginning to 5 different people. We were timely (2h00 before departure) at the airport for the check-in if we would have been only few minutes later we would have lost the flight. The problem happened both ways. Remembering our experience on the way in the day before departure we called and asked to check the situation. The problem was indeed still present. Therefore we kindly asked them to correct it. Although we received a positive answer on the day of departure the same problem happened again. The inflight entertainment is an additional fee per person. This was not clear on the ticket. Experienced people were having their personal tablet loaded with entertainment.