Not a Frequent Flyer.. need help re: Condor Air

[Member123]

First of all, thank you to everyone who posts on this area of CC. I have learned a tremendous amount from everyone.

 

I had never even heard of Condor Air! But, in reading the response to a posting, greatam remarked that Condor Air flew from FRA to LAS on a nonstop route. So, I immediately looked at the availability for me and I am very, very pleased with the price and, importantly, the flight scheulde. But, I do have questions about Condor Air, and the wisdom of this return flight from Europe.

 

Although I'm not a frequent flyer, I also am not a total noobie. So, I'm aware of the broad stroke(s), I just need some help with the "devil in the details."

 

The flight that I'm considering is leaving FRA on a flight schedule of either Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday. In reading reviews on Condor Air... it's one of those frustrating review situations where either (1) I LOVE Condor Air! 10/10 or (2) I HATE Condor Air! 1/10. It seems that the majority of people who HATE Condor Air are arriving at the airport with a total disregard for (again) the details of flying with Condor. Yes, I know I have to pay money to make a seat reservation or simply arrive at the airport and let the check-in clerk assign me a seat for free! I will pay the money. Yes, I know that my carry-on is limited by weight, and I will make sure that I don't have a problem there. So, the bottom line is that I feel like I can avoid a lot of the negative review experiences simply by reading the Contract of Carriage, the Baggage Allowance Rules, the Fee Schedule and FAQs at the Condor site.

 

So, here are a few of my questions.

 

I'm a little puzzled about my "rights" in the event of a flight cancellation. To make my life as smooth as possible, my inclination is to book the Thursday flight since there is a next day flight and this should (in theory) improve my chances of getting onto the next available flight. Am I correct or does it make a difference, at all?

 

There is a $90/per ticket difference between booking directly at the Condor website and booking through Choice Air. Will I receive more/less service if I've booked through Choice Air? Choice Air is the higher fare ticket, refundable with fees. I really don't care about the refundability because I can truthfully say that I would rather spend the night in Frankfurt than take an alternative flight that would put me into a nonstop route back home. Again, am I thinking clearly?

 

Finally, does anyone here have an opinion about Condor Air... or have personal experience with this particular airline? Again, hoping greatam is out there looking at CC today! :D As an aside, I sure wish I could send a personal message to a CC member. Is there a way I can do that? My flying history is mostly with Southwest. We rarely fly internationally, and so I'm just not as experienced.

[6rugrats]

You can only send a message to a member here if they post their email address. There is no messaging on Cruise Critic.

 

Are you sure that the $90 more expensive fare purchased through Choice Air is really "refundable"? Usually they are not. Personally, I'd just purchase directly from Condor Air.

 

I am not sure what you mean by "improve my chances" of getting on the next flight, if you book a flight on Thursday and the next one is on Friday. I don't think it makes any difference.

 

Contract of Carriage is here, and it outlines the rights you are asking about:

http://www.condor.com/us/help-contact/terms-and-conditions.jsp

 

Note that you can credit miles earned on Condor (in most fare classes) to LH:

 

http://www.miles-and-more.com/online/portal/mam/de/earn/flight/offer?nodeid=2508915&l=en&cid=18002

[Globaliser]

I'm a little puzzled about my "rights" in the event of a flight cancellation.

In addition to the provisions of the contract, to which 6rugrats has posted a link, you will also have EU rights in both directions of travel because Condor is an EU airline.

 

The current EU rights are contained in Regulation 261/2004 (HTML text, or PDF). With the usual caveat about Wikipedia, there is a page on this Regulation here, which may give you an overview of what rights you have.

 

There is shortly to be a ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Communities which is expected to resolve a hotly-contested point of interpretation of the Regulation, but it relates to long delays rather than cancellations. In respect of cancellations, the law is about as clear as one could reasonably expect.

[Member123]

Thank you both so much for conversing with me.

 

@6rugrats. I guess I was thinking "improve my chances" of getting onto the next flight by having a flight the next day rather than having a gap in the schedule. Maybe, I was just asking if I was being a bit too conservative by waiting until Thursday, so that if a Thursday flight was cancelled, then I could get on the next Friday (next day) as opposed to booking on the Tuesday, which would mean that I'd have to be placed on the Thursday flight... if Tuesday was cancelled... and would I be fighting a possibility of a fuller plane on the Thursday flight because of the flight schedule? I was wondering if I am "over" thinking?... whcih I have been accused of doing quite frequently btw!

 

Thank you for the opinion to book directly with the airline. I get a bit confused as to whether it would be better to have a third party to call in the event of a problem or if I am better off just dealing with the airline, itself. I believe the description of the fare was something like "refundable, with fees." I thought perhaps the difference in price was due to a difference in the type of fare whereas the website price is clearly a "use it or lose it" fare category. Again, I don't care about the refundability... or not... just whether one category would give me a higher priority than another in the event of a problem.

 

@Globaliser. Thank you. I did find the Contract of Carriage information and I was impressed (if you want to call it that) with the explicit information there. This actually made me feel more reassured that we could cover expenses in the event that there was a cancellation problem that was specific to Condor Air, as opposed to circumstances of nature or throughout the airport, itself, for example.

 

I am booking a one-way flight, coming home after a TransAtlantic crossing. We are doing a bit of an add-on to our cruise: staying in Florence for a while and then taking the train to Milan for a few days and the train on to Zurich for a few days and the train on to Frankfurt for a few days. So, we're not in any hurry to get home, so to speak. In fact, Las Vegas will be a stop of a few days before we just finally go home!

 

I've just never heard of Condor Air, and the reviews didn't make me feel especially warm and fuzzy.

[Member123]

OK! I'm good! :D

 

I just saw 6rugrats post on another thread and (wow!) saw the flightstats website. So, now I have everything I need to make an informed decision. It looks like Condor Air has a lousy on-time performance rating... which doesn't bother me on a return leg for a cruise vacation... and appears to have a very low cancellation occurrence.

 

I set up some flight alerts for me based on the flight numbers of the Condor flights that I'm interested in... just for fun. I just didn't know anything about that particular site. It's amazing to me how much information you can find... and some of it is actually useful! :eek::D