LH’s frequent flyer programme Miles and More offers a good deal: a Condor flight (return) during winter season for only 10.000 miles. Minimum stay is one night and the offer is valid for destinations on Spanish mainland, in Portugal, Turkey and Cyprus (so no flights to the Canary Islands, Madeira or Egypt possible). Alex (A.net-member Ndebele) and me searched for an opportunity that included the B 757-300, a type that was still missing in our logs. We came up with a weekend trip to Palma de Mallorca. So here is the report:



Saturday, 10 December 2005
Stuttgart (STR) – Palma de Mallorca (PMI)
Airline: Condor
Flight number: DE 6438
Scheduled departure time: 06:00
Scheduled arrival time: 08:00
Type of aircraft: Airbus A 320-200
Registration: D-AICK

View Large View Medium Photo © Tomek Kujawa

View Large View Medium Photo © Nacho Piédrola - Iberian Spotters

This aircraft was built and delivered to Condor in 2001.



We had got pre-assigned seats with our reservation for 2A and 2C (free of charge). Nevertheless, I decided to take the opportunity of Condor’s late-night check-in the evening before as our flight time was extremely early. I was at the airport at about 17:45 and the counter was due to open at 18:00. But an LH agent had already arrived and opened one counter, followed by two other agents. At first they had a problem with the system which was solved soon and then the procedure was finished quickly. Alex had decided to check in the next morning as he had a better train connection than me.

So we met in the gate area shortly before 05:30 in the morning – quite an early time! Boarding started shortly after and we walked down the air-bridge to our A 320 where we were welcomed by a very friendly cabin crew that consisted of 4 flight attendants (2 female, 2 male). A good selection of newspapers and magazine was offered. We took our seats in row 2, but as load factor was only about 50% and the left section of row 1 was completely empty, Alex changed to 1A so both of us had a window seat. The captain made a welcome announcement followed by the safety video shown twice (in German and English language).

We taxied to runway 07. As it was still a few minutes before 6:00 am and no take-offs are permitted before 6:00 at STR, we had to wait. At exactly 6:00 a Hapagfly B 737-800 landed from Hurghada, then it was our turn for the first take-off of the day. We climbed up into the dark but clear sky. The video monitors in the cabin were showing pictures from the outside camera but as it was still dark, there was not too much to see. Later the programme changed to the air-show, interrupted by the typical charter airline stuff (adverts, programmes about holiday destinations, sports, lifestyle, cartoons, etc.). Besides Condor offers an audio programme with 10 different music channels. Headphones were sold for EUR 3.00, but we had brought our own ones which could be used as well.

The cabin crew prepared the meal service. As the galley of Condor’s A 320 is quite small, the crew had to prepare the trolleys in the door area. During that time, they closed a curtain in front of the passenger cabin. Then they distributed the breakfast which consisted of a sandwich (cheese of turkey), a yoghurt and hot and cold drinks:



Not bad for a short charter flight that is usually not more expensive than a flight on an LCC on the same route (HLX or Germanwings both serve the route as well during summer).

The captain made an other announcement about our flight route which was STR – BSL – Lake Geneva, Marseille, then crossing the Mediterranean Sea to PMI.

Sunrise somewhere over Switzerland:



We started our descent into PMI which was extremely bumpy due to strong winds on the Balearic Islands. We really experienced heavy turbulences, but as the captain had announced that there was no danger at all, even the seldom-flying holiday passengers didn’t seem to worry too much. For us (and probably some others), it was great fun. We approached along the coastline which offered good views to the City of Palma and other places, but as it was still dark, we were unable to take good pictures.

We landed on the Northern runway in Eastern direction and taxied to a parking position in front of the A-gates where we were on-block at 7:40, so 20 minutes ahead of schedule due to strong tail-winds.

I was the last one to leave the aircraft and I asked the purser if it was possible to take a photo of the cabin (as I do on nearly all of my flights). She said yes, but as the other crew members were already walking through the aisle to check the cabin, she made an announcement over the PA system and they all hid away behind the seats… Really funny crew!   So there are 3 flight attendants hidden away in this cabin. Do you see them?…  



Our aircraft was prepared for the flight back to STR:



Off-block and bound for STR again:



What to see at PMI during winter? The answer:



Masses of Air Berlin (hub for many destinations on Spanish mainland and in Portugal), a few aircraft of Condor, Easyjet and some Spanish domestic flights (Iberia, Air Europa, Spanair / AeBal) and some Air Nostrum Dash 8 and ATR 72 serving the neighbour islands Ibiza and Menorca. That’s it, the huge airport terminal is nearly empty during winter. So we didn’t spend too much time at the airport.


We took the number 1 bus to Palma (runs every 15 minutes, fare is EUR 1.85 one-way) where we had booked our hotel. Then we made a walking tour through the city.

Palma cathedral:



A view to the seaside:



In the afternoon, we took a train North. The train passed by the airport of Son Bonet, a small airfield North of Palma. We left the train spontaneously and explored the airfield a bit. A Saab 340 and a DC 3 of FlyLPI were parked:



Besides, a few An 2 which didn’t seem to move away again were stored.



Sunday, 11 December 2005
Palma de Mallorca (PMI) – Stuttgart (STR)
Airline: Condor
Flight number: DE 7587
Scheduled departure time: 09:10
Scheduled arrival time: 11:15
Type of aircraft: Airbus B 757-300
Registration: D-ABOG

View Large View Medium Photo © Snorre - VIP Vienna International Planespotters

View Large View Medium Photo © Jenny Coffey

This aircraft was built and delivered to Condor in 1999.

And here are two pics of the same aircraft still in its original painting, the “old” Condor colours:

View Large View Medium Photo © Jens Flunkert

View Large View Medium Photo © Jens Flunkert

We left our hotel shortly after 06:30 in the morning and took a bus to the airport where we arrived very quickly. There were several Condor flights on that Sunday morning (STR, FRA, MUC, DUS, HAM, SXF) but only the check-in counter for HAM (the first flight to leave) was already open. As we had only hand luggage and the counters were not busy at all, we asked if they could check us in for STR but the agent said no. So we had to wait about 15 minutes until the counter for STR opened. Handling was done by Ineuropa Handling, quick check-in, we got our pre-assigned seats 5D and 5F. We made our way to security control where we were surprised to find a long queue, even on an early Sunday morning with only few flights. We had to wait quite a while, but we had enough time.

We proceeded to our gate in the A-section where our B 757-300 had already arrived from STR:



Boarding started quite early and we walked down the jet-bridge to our first B 757-300 flight. As our seats were in the front compartment, we had to turn left in the aircraft. A passenger who couldn’t decide which newspaper he should take blocked the aisle for some time, but finally we got to our seats. Load factor was extremely low (less than 50%), so both of us took a window seat again (Alex took 4A with 4B and 4C remaining empty while I stayed in 5F). From the following pics, some are taken by Alex from the left side, some by me from the right.

The safety video was shown again, followed by a tape in Spanish language. Then we went off-block and taxied to runway 06R.

The A-section of Palma de Mallorca airport:



We took off into a sunny sky:



The cabin crew had announced that they were going to show the cartoon movie “Asterix Operation Hinkelstein” so they even sold some headphones on this leg as there were many children on board. So unfortunately nearly no air-show as the movie lasted practically for the whole flight. At least the outside camera was active during take-off and landing.

The captain made an extremely long announcement, covering every detail of our flight route, the numbers of the runways, wind speed, etc. And he made several short announcements during flight when there was something to see like “On the right you can see … now”.

Flight route was PMI – Menorca – Marseille / Toulon – GVA – BRN – ZRH – STR. Meal service was similar to the outbound flight with two kinds of sandwich, yoghurt and hot and cold drinks. I realized that the meals were catered at PMI (Spanish products).

It was a clear day with a perfect view. The French coastline:



The Maritime Alps:



The Swiss Alps:






A mountain village:



An other mountain:



A small airport in the Swiss Alps (could be Sion?):



The Lake of Constance:



The Swabian Mountains (“Schwaebische Alb”):






Hohenzollern Castle near Hechingen:



The town of Ehningen:



DaimlerChrysler car factory in Sindelfingen:



Our former home town Boeblingen:



The town of Echterdingen, close to Stuttgart airport:



The shadow of our aircraft:



Terminal 1 of STR, in the background the construction site of the new exhibition centre:



Two B 737-300 of DBA:



We touched down on runway 07 and were on-block on a terminal parking position shortly after. The plane emptied quickly. A picture of the front section of the cabin:



The back section of the cabin, behind the main door:



As one of the flight attendants had realized that I was interested in planes (and taking photos) he asked me if I wanted to visit the cockpit as well. I said yes and he asked the captain who was happy to offer me a cockpit view:



Then we left the aircraft and made our way to the train station.


Conclusion: These were two great flights. Condor did a good job with on-time performance, friendly and funny but nevertheless professional crews and a service that is far above the low-cost standard. On the other hand, they are usually not much more expensive than their low-cost competitors HLX or Germanwings. I have never been on other German leisure carriers like LT, HF or AB so I can’t really compare to them. But after 14 flights on DE now, I will be happy to fly them again.


Thanks for reading my report – questions and comments are always welcome.

Regards
Christoph