Dear fellow travelers - a warning:
Condor Air is a budget airline that has appealing fares in business class over the Atlantic. I thought it would be worthwhile to buy those seats and earn mileage under Alaska Air while getting a nap in flat seats for a long flight. Big mistake.
On our outbound flight, one of our seats did not have functioning in-seat entertainment or flight maps.
On our return flight, both of our seats were broken, had no power (for charging and for CPAP), and could not recline or raise footrests. Also, entertainment was only by wifi to your tablet or phone, with a choice of less than 20 movies, most of them older. On this flight, 20 out of 30 seats in business class were defective and could not be reclined.
Other passengers that I spoke to had experienced similar breakdowns on other Condor flights, resulting in unsatisfactory flights. I know this can be considered a first-world problem, but when you are counting on getting some sleep on the journey, and have paid the money to get the product that will help you do that, this is not a good performance.
Also, the plane and crew were leased from Smart Lynx, an airline from Latvia.
My real concern is about their equipment maintenance. The flight attendant told us that they have made multiple referrals to maintenance to repair the seats, but repairs have not been done. This makes me wonder what other areas of maintenance have been deferred?