Review of Condor flight from Frankfurt to Palma De Mallorca in Business

Introduction

Traveling intra-European in business class is considered to be nothing special, being that the hard product is just an economy class recliner seat, with the middle seat staying vacant. Airlines usually operate narrow body aircraft on these routes. 

There are a few exceptions by the likes of Iberia, TAP Portugal and Finnair, who are using wide body aircraft on select intra-European routes.

In early 2022 German leisure carrier Condor leased a handful of Airbus A330-200 aircraft and deployed them onto short haul routes in order to train and certify crew members for upcoming long-haul operation. 

This presented the chance to test a fully lie-flat seat on the A330, instead of the recliner seats you normally get on the A320 family and B757 aircraft operating this route.

ground experience

Condor is operating from Terminal 1 in Frankfurt Airport. Check-In was a breeze thanks to the dedicated business class counters. Flying business class also gives you access to the security fast lane. Security was therefore cleared in a matter of a few minutes. Time to head to the lounge.

Airport Lounge

Since Condor doesn’t have their own airline lounges, you get complementary access to the Lufthansa Business Class Lounges in Terminal 1 with a business class ticket. I chose to visit the Lounge at Gate A 13, mainly because it used to be a first class lounge with showers, before it was transfomed into a business class lounge.

The entrance of the Lufthansa Business Class Lounge A13:

The lounge consists of one long room with several seating options, a bar and a food area.

The food offering was decent with several hot and cold options to choose from. 

Drinks were also available as expected, although not as diverse and premium compared to other full service airlines.

The lounge was furnished in the typical Lufthansa finish, which I found to be quite elegant and modern.

The lounge provided a view on the tarmac which is always an advantage in my books.

Nevertheless, the lounge became very crowded during my visit.    

Aircraft

Carrier:                         Condor
Type:                              Airbus A330-200
Registration:               D-AIYC
First flight:                   21/11/2008
Cabin configuration: 22J / 234Y

Cabin / Seat

The Condor A330-200 fleet is made out of former Etihad Airways aircraft. The cabin layout has not been changed much, with a total of 256 seats in a two-class layout. The small business class section is located between doors 1 and 2, while the economy class section occupies the rest of the aircraft in two big sections.

Condor Airbus A330-200 business class layout (@aerolopa)

Business class is laid out in a staggered 1-2-1 configuration, which you can also find on other carriers like Iberia, Asiana or Thai Airways. There are six rows in total, while row 1 only has two middle seats, resulting in a total of 22 business class seats. Regardless of where you are sitting, you get direct aisle access. The cabin felt quite airy since the airline decided against installing overhead bins in the middle. 

What are the best seats for couples?
I would recommend to book the ‘honeymoon’ middle seats in the odd numbered rows (1E+F, 3E+F, 5E+F), since they are closest together and furthest away from the aisle.


What are the best seats for solo travelers?
For solo travelers I would say your best bet are the odd numbered window seats (3A, 5A, 3K, 5K), which offer the most privacy of all the seats onboard this aircraft. These seats are closer to the window, having the console between the seat and the aisle. There are no privacy dividers though.   

My seat for todays flight was 3K, an odd numbered window seat. There was a small pillow and a small bag provided for the flight. 

I kept the so called 'shoe bag' as a small bag for travel. Not sure if I would call this an amenity kit.
But I didn't expect one anyway. 

The seat still features a lot of Etihad Airways colors, not that this is a bad thing at all. The head cover has been swapped out and is now bearing the Condor logo. The seat is slowly showing its age though, seen in the antique looking reading light and IFE-controller. The IFE-controller is located on the left side of the seat, just beneath the seat controls.

Seat 3K gave you access to two (and a half) windows, always a plus for a flight crossing over the Alps. The table is stowed to the left of the IFE-screen. The table swivels and allows you to get out of the seat, if it is deployed during meal service.

There is plenty of legroom available to stretch out your legs. The storage space below the footwell would accommodate a small backpack, even though it is labelled as a no stowage space for some reason. I decided to put my shoes (could have used the 'shoe bag' here) into that space, once we were airbourne. Note that there is also ample space on the right side of the footwell, to store blankets which were sadly not provided on this flight. This space decreases due to the curviture of the cabin as you move closer to the nose of the plane, but this wasn't an issue in row 3.

I wanted to show you the even numbered seats, to illustrate how exposed these seats are to the aisle. Since there is no separation between the aisle and the footwell, there is a chance of flight attendants and other passengers nudging you, as they pass by. As you can see, there is also no privacy partition between the upper part of the seat and the aisle whatsoever.

food / beverages

As this was a leisure airline after all, I didn’t expect much from the food service and its presentation on this flight. I booked my meal in advance and there were several meals to choose from. 

The crew offered a welcome drink before pushback. I chose the prosecco, but there was also water and orange juice on offer. The prosecco came in a plastic cup, but was fine otherwise.

The meal service commenced shortly after reaching cruising altitude. I opted for the roast beef with potatoes and beans, which were a little bit oily, but tasted better than anticipated. The meal was accompanied by a small selection of white and red wine, as well as non-alcoholic beverages. As desert Condor served two muffis, which tasted really good. Not bad for a two-hour flight.

Lie-flat bed

The seat converts into a fully lie-flat bed. I am 180cm tall and had plenty of room to stretch out.

I found the bed to be really comfortable. The armrests automatically move down, when putting the seat into bed-mode. There was enough space around the arms and it didn't feel claustrophobic. 

Leg space was also not an issue at all. I would say that foot cubby is spacious enough even for side sleepers. This can't be said about every airline.

service

The crew on this flight were overall friendly. Nothing more, nothing less. But once the meal service was done, I didn’t see them again for quite some time. I then asked if there were blankets available, on which the male flight attendant replied, that he will look for one. I never saw him again.

I knew that I could’t expect the same attentive service like on full service carriers, so I kind of expected that service is going to be just okay. And it was.

IFE

The inflight entertainment had not been fully implemented at the time of the flight. There were no movies or media available (as far as I can remember), so I sticked to the moving map which has also seen better days and felt outdated. This wasn't a huge problem, since the Alps down below provided spectacular views anyway. Furthermore the screen brightness was far from great. I couldn't see anything with the window blinds open. Not a huge issue, but something to be aware of.