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Condor airlines??

I'm flying from PDX to Salzburg late summer 2018. I've heard nothing but seriously bad things about Condor airlines. When I did a search on Kayak, Expedia etc, ALL the cheap flights were on Condor!! The difference was around $400 a ticket. I'm going to look at flying out of SEA instead. But I wondered if anyone has good things to say about Condor??

Posted by
2613 posts

There's been quite a few Condor threads in recent years as Condor ups its presence at US airports. I have flown them numerous times and like them just fine. I upgrade to premium economy as I find coach on all airlines to be just too tight for me.

Here's a few of the threads:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/condor-air-05755729-32d6-4ef7-ba0f-3bafd82e67ab
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/condor-air-05b4fbbc-c149-4c31-800e-540cbd2c7180
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/condor-767-business-class

Posted by
11247 posts

We flew Frankfurt to Seattle on Condor in the days before they served PDX. We were traveling with our cat, returning from living in Italy after a few years and we were seated in economy. The seats were VERY close together and when the woman in front of me leaned her seat back a few inches, I could not lower my tray nor even reach the area under the seat in front of me where the cat was flying. Luckily, there were two Premium Economy seats available so we paid about Euro 400 for the two of us to upgrade. From that point on we had a great flight.

I would upgrade to at least Premium Economy. Don't underestimate the value of going West Coast directly to Europe without having to stop in NJ, DC, NY, or Chicago. It is valuable to get over the water without a US stop.

We have a good experience on Icelandair last year.

Posted by
1875 posts

Condor's bad reputation derives from their charter flights, where passenger rights are different compared to regular, scheduled flights.
To minimize costs sometimes flights are cancelled because of not enough bookings, passengers are rerouted without askig them, etc.

Posted by
5697 posts

Maybe consider flying into Munich (MUC) and then a 2-hour train to Salzburg ? Lots more flights into MUC.

Posted by
703 posts

We flew Condor premium economy last June PDX-FRA round trip. The fare at that time for premium economy was about the same as basic economy on Delta, American, etc. We will definitely consider flying Condor again. Have a good trip.

Posted by
6 posts

THANKS everyone! I looked on Kayak, flying in and out of Munchen, and got great flights and cheap tickets! Woohoo!!