Review of Condor flight from Sanya to Bangkok in Business

Hi everyone, Happy new year! I hope everyone is having the very best of times with friends and family, and hopefully some flying too! Welcome back to another flight review. As promised, today I’m sharing one of the strangest fifth-freedom routes offered, or as the lady in the seat ahead of me said to the crew upon boarding, “this is such a weird route for you guys to fly”, from Sanya over to Bangkok or Condor! Some bad news is that the original Garuda Indonesia F experience has been delated due to some plans shifting, but there are still some exciting trips coming up soon, stay tuned!

Like the route, this was a very strange experience. Of course, you fully can’t judge Condor as an airline on a short flight like this. But considering the hefty price tag, one I would never consider paying again, still left areas of disappointment. The stars aligned that the conclusion of my Sanya trip coincided with the need to travel to Bangkok, I knew I needed to share this experience with everyone.

Interestingly, almost as much weirdness occurred off the plane as on. Our trip started with an unexpected twist. The girlfriend was heading on a domestic trip, but her flight was delayed for two hours, meaning it would now take off essentially at the same time as mine. The domestic and international terminals at Sanya are adjacent to one another, and directly across, and I mean literally a 20 second walk, from a pretty big mall, which was nice for have one last meal together. Here is what the domestic terminal looks like 

I did find that the international one looked far cooler, especially with the Thailand/resort like architectural feel. 

Originally we planned both to check in first, but I was informed that for international departures, even checking in at the desks meant you needed to pass a gate which doesn’t allow exit and re-entry, so I saved that for later. I did check in on my Condor app, but still needed to approach the gate. Having taken far too many flights, I was sure I had plenty of time. Considering my flight takes off at 20:50, we finished dinner, I dropped her off, and headed back over to the international terminal at around 19:50. I was initially quite relieved since when I was here earlier, there was a massive gathering at the check-in gate (more on that later), which I thought was surprising considering how peculiar and empty this route usually is, now no one was here. The agent immediately asked me, when I was still a good distance away, whether I was going to Bangkok. I said yes, and he rushed me over and spoke at 2x speed saying they were “taking off soon”. Huh? I had nearly an hour until take off, and he said if I arrived 2 minutes later they would have closed check-in. Interesting, that’s a first for me. At security, which had only a total of 4 passengers in front of me, took nearly 15 minutes. The agent checking documentations spent nearly 2 minutes for each passenger, thank goodness the actual security process was quick.

Then at immigration, whilst simultaneously hearing the PA saying LAST CALL for my flight which still had 40 minutes until take off, 4 officers came around to check my Chinese documents. Despite repeatedly telling them that I had just stayed at a hotel the same day with no problem, they insisted on doing their due diligence. I did inquire if I was going to miss my flight, but he reassured me that no plane takes off without their green light, which was comforting. A good 10 minutes later, I was allowed to pass through, and immediately ran over to the gate. (sorry, no lounge review today!). 

Remember the ‘massive group’ I mentioned at check-in earlier, turned out to be a huge tour group. I felt really bad for the gate agents, especially the one young chap who nearly got run over by the group and their unwillingness to line up and insistence to squeeze into a huge ball to try pushing to the gate. Not a great look. We were a bus gate today, which I guess is a double edged sword. On one hand, no priority bus meant I became part of the human ball of heat and noise courtesy of the tour group, on the other hand incredible views of our jet was imminent. And you bet those views was well worth the shoving and yelling!

Given the small airport, the bus ride lasted only a few minutes. From distance, the beautifully unique livery stood out, and oh what a view it was from the tarmac. 

Interestingly, I seemed to be the only person taking pictures, I would assume quite a few passengers are taking the route for the unique airline. Luckily, the ground crew took charge far more dominantly and efficiently than the gate agent. The pair immediately demanded two lines to be formed ahead of the stairs, and greatly helped with boarding efficiency. There were a few business class passengers running to the front of the line, but I was already quite up front in the line so I just stayed put. 

Here’s the first look at our cabin, oh how beautiful it is. One of the nicest interior cabin designs out there and really showing how new it is. 

My seat for this quick trip was over at the window in 6K, one located closer to the window offering some extra privacy. There were no amenities or comfort items at the seat.

Looking behind me, the walls and headrests all reflect Condors unique livery, and it really works well with the sleek blue colors. 

Looking forward, you can get a sense of the large IFE screens and alternating seats, with middle seats offering honeymoon and ones spaced further apart.

This might be the nicest looking business class cabin out there, absolutely no regrets choosing this route so far. Over to the toilet, it was kept very clean throughout, and I loved how the condor stripes are featured on the wall.

Always cool when the toilets reflect the airline’s design, shoutout to AC’s maple leaf toilet walls.

. In addition, despite being such a short flight, they had wet towels in these small packs, and also a bottle of mouthwash was provided. 

. Back at the seat, new USB c ports were offered, along with the older one. Seat controls worked very well as expected for a newer product.  The footspace was also ample and very comfortable, after fully reclining the seat during the flight, I could see this being a solid resting spot for longer flights.

Ok, with the positives out the way, here are a few disappointing aspects so far. Keep in mind, this business seat for just under two hours cost around 8500 RMB, which is around 1200 USD. For such a hefty price tag, some of these issues can’t really be justified. First, by looking at this picture of the headphone rest, you would assume proper headphones would be provided. However, not on this route, only small economy style earbuds were offered. 

The cabin was also quite chilly throughout, and after inquiring the crew apologized and mentioned there were no blankets or mats on the flight. You wouldn’t expect full amenity kits or anything, but proper headphones and some blankets shouldn’t be asking too much. For reference, Thai offers blankets, regular headphones, and a full meal service from BKK to HKG on a similar length (a review I’m working on), more on the food from this flight later. To be fair, this is my first fifth-freedom flight, and I’ve never taken a widebody 2-hour journey on a European carrier, so I’m not too sure. But purely judging on the price tag and the fact the airline doesn’t really lose anything by providing these amenities, it was quite disappointing.

There were more passengers in business than I thought. A Chinese blogger once had the entire cabin just to himself and his partner on this route, today we had around 12 passengers, two of whom were flight crew (assuming deadheading) and were constantly chatting with crew members and the captain upon landing.

A VERY hot towel was offered, but no welcome drink. Only a small bottle of water was passed around. 

. The captain then came on the PA to welcome everyone on board, then the purser spoke about the food services. All PA’s were first given in German, then English, then Mandarin. When introducing the food, he spoke about them cabin by cabin, stating Business passengers would receive a “sandwich”, while Premium Economy and Economy would receive a food service, with all classes being able to buy snacks from the in-flight dining menu AKA Skyline Café.

I took some time to check out the IFE, which was another highlight. There were a plethora of movie options, and a huge selection of “best games of the year” from German Bundesliga football seasons even dating back to 2008/2009. They had some strange season jumping with TV shows, for example there was Friends Season 4 episodes 4,5,9,10,20 and also a few more from Season 8 but nothing in between. There was also a section dedicated to in-flight wifi usage, but more on that later.

Condor's cartoon safety video then played, one of the more nifty ones out there.

We then began taxiing back, and took off at 21:02 out of Sanya, 12 minutes behind schedule. I managed to snap a shot of the Sanya Atlantis buildings along with the coastline. 

Sanya was quite a fun experience, but I wouldn’t return at this time of year, way too many people. 

Around 21:40, the drink trolley was pushed over. I went with a coke zero, and whisky on the rocks. I guess they were hiding the alcohol in the front galley, as every time me or another passenger ordered one, the crew had to run back and forth to bring it over. 

Now something I really had mixed feelings with, albeit primary negative ones. For 1200 USD, this was really not what I expected for the meal service. On ctrip (basically Chinese Trip.com), where I book some of my flights, it tells you when booking whether a flight has a meal service, and if so whether this will be a full meal or only a snack. For this route, they listed “full meal”. Of course they’re a third-party service not officially associated with Condor, this was still a real letdown.

The only positive I could take from this wrap was that considering I was genuinely starving, and the appetite booster from my whisky, it tasted decent (but was extremely cold). I still feel for the price tag, this wrap didn’t cut it. Again, not a representation of the airline as a whole, but I can only speak on experiences here. 

I am aware that United offers a full meal service between Bangkok and Hong Kong, which is also just under 2 hours, as I am currently on this route flying Thai.

After the ‘meal’, the crew began advertising their duty-free offerings and pushed two stacked trolleys down the aisle. I picked out this cool plane bracelet, and I copped one. 

The wifi portal hadn’t been working up to this point, but when I finally got in, I was shocked by the prices. 7 euros for just chatting, and somewhere between 20 or 30 something for full access (I can’t remember off the top of my head). I’m unsure if these prices are different for long haul flights, but truly something else for an hour or so. 

Playing with the large screen, I also found our earbuds on sale for 4 euros, I guess that 4 euros saved!

For the last 50 minutes or so, the cabin lights were dimmed, and it looked truly beautiful in the darkness. Again, nothing but positive for Condor’s beautiful cabin. 

The short flight soon came to an end, and we touched down in Bangkok at 22:15, almost 30 minutes behind schedule. . While disembarking, I noticed that the first row has excess foot space just like that on Hainan’s new A330 Neos. I wonder if they charge extra especially considering this is a significant improvement to all other business seats, and would make a world of difference on longer flights.

 We were at a remote terminal and so needed to take the train back to customs. I was told I needed to fill out an online form, and I was too far ahead in the line to scan the official code. I was afraid I was going to see the officer without filling it out, so I quickly googled it and lost 50 dollars to what ended up being a fraudulent website. Completely my mistake but look out for it when you guys arrive. The lovely immigration officer allowed me to hang around when I filled out the official form and helped out a couple of times when things didn’t load, thank you so much!