Tl;dr – The carrier’s zone based baggage schedule caught me off guard.
Recently, I flew Condor Business on a rogue route from Frankfurt to Panama City. I’ll have a full review of the flight – I did splurge for the ‘Prime Seat’, but I wanted to take a minute to highlight Condor’s baggage policy. Condor’s baggage policy differs by route, or more accurately, geographic zone, and you’ll want to check which zone your destination calls into to determine your baggage allowance.
To be fair, Condor isn’t the only airline to have different baggage allowances by region. That said, as is the case with long-haul business class on most carriers, I assumed I’d be afforded at least two checked bags up to 30KG in weight for my business Condor class fare. That was not the case.
As Mrs. Blackbeard and I had just finished a trip that, at the end, involved wine adventures in the Mosel and Rheingau, we predictably had some extra goodies to take home. In our case, flying to Panama only included one 30KG checked bag. In comparison, routes between the US and Canada, and those originating in Brazil, include 2 X 32KG checked bags.
To my credit, I noticed this quirk before checking in online (or over the phone, actually), so I was able to pay the fee to port a second bag that at least didn’t include the at-the-airport surcharge.
While I was caught off-guard here, in hindsight, this kinda matches what my pre-flight preconceived notions of Condor were. Condor, from the outside looking in, has always felt a bit like that raw ‘tweener’ forward trying to figure out which way to ‘take their game.’ It’s not a traditional low-cost airline, but Condor also isn’t a full-service, mainline carrier, and part of its business model does contemplate upsells and paid-for add-ons. And then of course, it’s a partner to oneworld Alliance member Alaska Airlines (that’s actually how I booked the flight). You’ll often find Condor described as a leisure airline or a hybrid carrier, offering a balance between price and service.
Bottom line, if you’re planning to fly lie-flat on a Condor US/CA (or Brazil-originating) route, be sure to review your baggage needs in advance.
