Oregon to Frankfurt. Which airlines??

A 1 hour or less layover is not feasible unless you want to risk missing the connection (remember that the plane will start boarding at least 1/2 hour before), so rule that one out. Also consider Iceland Air and perhaps other airline options (other than the "top two", as you called them).

I live in Oregon and I always fly Lufthansa either out of Seattle or San Francisco where you fly direct to Frankfurt. I never do a connecting flight in the USA. I love flying Lufthansa and it is worth the extra money that you would pay on Condor. I use Alaska Airlines for the short early am flight to Seattle or S.F.

One other thing, I book the Alaska flight separately from Lufthansa as it is cheaper than booking Lufthansa ticket starting from Portland.

We're also in Oregon and flew Condor non-stop PDX to FRA. So I don't know which date you are looking at in the fall, but if you are flexible with dates and look a bit at their schedule, you should also be able to find a non-stop. There are several each week. The next year we flew Lufthansa via Denver and well, it all seemed about the same. Except the price! Read all the fine print for Condor so you know what you are getting and it should be fine. Have a great trip!

Kathleen, Sorry but you are doing a connecting flight in the US by flying from Eugene or Medford or wherever to SEA or SFO to catch your Lufthansa flight.

My one Business Class flight was a deal I got on British Airways’ Club World, so I can’t tell you about upgrades on other airlines. It was nice, but, frankly I wouldn’t have paid an extra $800 for a preflight lounge, nicer food and drinks, and a much less-crowded part of the airplane.

As for Denver to Frankfurt flights, I used to take Lufthansa’s direct flights, 20 years ago, before British Airways, Icelandic, and Norwegian also started serving Denver. Lufthansa’s got comfortable planes, very good (coach) seats, and great, friendly and professional staff. Their partner airline, United, used to also fly their own planes directly from Denver to Frankfurt, so there were 2 flights a day going from DEN to FRA. Now I think it’s just the one Lufthansa plane, departing Denver at 11:40 AM. Some passengers on that plane will have a United ticket, even though it’s a partner Lufthansa plane. If you can get to Denver by 9:40 in the morning, by whatever means, and in whatever seating class, you could enjoy your long Lufthansa flight, non-stop from there, in Business Class. If the price works.

Galen, what I was referring to as a connecting flight was the actual flight from USA to Europe

Kathleen's plan leaves you open to the risk of missing your trans-Atlantic flight and having to buy an expensive new ticket (probably even the whole the whole roundtrip, since missing one leg tends to cancel the future flight legs). Booking the connection on one ticket with code-share partners is what protects you and makes the carriers responsible to get you and your luggage all the way across the pond.

Check Air Canada. We flew PDX to Frankfurt in June 2018. It was Air Canada to Vancouver, BC. Then Lufthansa to Frankfurt. This was booked as one ticket via Air Canada. It was a great deal ($630 RT) for economy, but I have no idea about business class.

I would never do a 1 hr (or less) layover for an international flight, especially at SFO.

Looks like Condor flies non-stop Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday during the month of September, then Tuesday and Friday in October, then nothing in November.

PDX to Frankfurt, priced through British airways site, but on American Airlines Planes. One connection in Dallas, $3700 each in business. RT. How does that compare with the other airlines?

Any reason you're not considering the Delta PDX-Amsterdam flight? It's year round and reliable. Condor and Icelandair (stops in Reykjavik) are both seasonal choices - as has been noted Condor service ends in late September and Icelandair goes through mid-October. Definitely do not pick a 1 hour or less connection in SFO or Seattle - recipe for a missed flight.

use kayak.com or matrix air for lowest cost fare.

One hour is a bit short for a connection anywhere.

I flew recently from San Diego to Zurich, via SFO, under Swiss Air /United codeshare, [as my return was Frankfurt with Lufthansa.]

Anyhow-in SFO, I was amazed that I did not need to leave the United secured area to get to the International Terminal. I think I had scheduled about 3 hours between flights, being cautious, having carry-on only, expecting to go through security again. As I said, I was surprised that the walk so simple and only took me 10 minutes.
Oh, well, more time in the Lounge.

I also would not advise an hour layover in SFO, because the famous local weather/ SFO foggy marine layer can interfere with flight schedules, but on a sunny day, it could be done. Of course, an hour doesn't allow one to spend anytime in the Business Class lounge!

Safe travels!

I would just fly Iceland Air. That hop from Portland to Iceland is only 7 hours, a 1 hour+ layover in Iceland and then Frankfurt is another 3.5 hours. For me, this is far better than sitting on a plane for 10-11 hours. They don't have the business class like you might be used to, but the shorter flight might be worth it?

Icelandair does have a Saga Class business class section of the plane. Plus onboard, in any class, you can buy Fazer Mints, the fabulous candy from Finland.