Africa can be a difficult destination to find award tickets to, and the further south you go on the continent, the more expensive (and difficult) you get, both in terms of availability and price.
This is an option to go to Africa that is rarely talked about, but it has become very interesting recently. That’s the German airline Condor when booked with Alaska Mileage Plan. For years, the Condor has been synonymous with “mediocre business class,” but it’s invested heavily in improving this hard-hitting product, and according to most reports, it’s done well. In addition, business class award tickets via Alaska are very expensive at 65,000 miles one way to the Maldives and 70,000 miles one way to Southern Africa and Mauritius.
Condor business class award fare
- With Alaska Mileage Plan, you can book Condor Business Class to/from the U.S./Canada at the following rates:
- Southern Africa, 70,000 Alaska miles one way
- North Africa/Middle East 65,000 Alaska miles one way (including Maldives)
- Europe (including Turkey, Canary Islands, Cyprus, Georgia, and Azerbaijan) 55,000 Alaska miles one way
- Includes one free stopover in each direction
What is Condor Airlines business class like?
First, for those who are wondering, “What exactly is a condor?”, let me briefly review it. Condor began in the 1950s as an airline primarily intended to serve German leisure travelers. Lufthansa originally owned about 25% of the airline, which flew to sun-worshiping destinations in Europe such as the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, and eventually to Southeast Asia. It went through a number of ownership changes until travel agent Thomas Cook bought a majority stake in the airline, which then went bankrupt and current ownership goes to Attestor Capital.
I first started using it during the Thomas Cook era, flying 767s from the West Coast to Frankfurt, which was an unwelcome throwback to a far less pleasant era of air travel. . Angled flat seats, poor quality catering, and cheap(ish) prices were what made Condor’s long-haul routes “stand out.” But when Attestor acquired the airline, it received a huge injection of cash and the business class product improved dramatically.
Condor is currently phasing out that feature. Ancient 767 and replacing it with Airbus A330 Sharp things and well reviewed, a business class product. All seats are 1-2-1 with a 78-inch fully flat bed. WiFi, Bluetooth headphones, plenty of in-seat power, and a sparkling 4K in-flight entertainment system are all provided. I haven’t had a chance to fly this new product yet, but most of the stories I’ve heard so far have been good.
Currently, Alaska Mileage Plan is the only U.S. loyalty program affiliated with Condor, and its combination of pricing, products, and availability makes it a very attractive point and mile program to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. can generate options.
How to Book Condor Business with Alaska Mileage Plan
There’s good news and bad news when using Alaska miles to book Condor awards. The good news is that almost all of Condor’s routes can be reserved online at Alaska.com. The bad news is that checking availability isn’t always easy. Let’s take a look at the process for one of North America’s most difficult awards: the island of Mauritius. We are looking for vacancies for 2 people returning during the end of May 2024.
How to check availability for transatlantic business with Condor
I usually start with a route map like the one below. First, check availability on transatlantic flights, then look for flights from Europe to Africa. Finally, combine the flights you actually want into one award.
Almost all of Condor’s North American flights depart from Frankfurt.
On the West Coast, Condor flies to Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. I want to search all these airports at once, so seat aero, probably my favorite platform for this kind of extensive search. I would like to check out the Alaska Mileage Plan option for non-stop flights only where he has two seats available. We would also like to consider extending availability until next May (note that extended availability, direct flights, and multiple seats are paid features).
Also notice in the bottom right that we’ve narrowed our search to only show flights departing from Frankfurt (FRA). That way you can focus on the condor flight you’re looking for. Looking at the results for the past two weeks in May, we found several dates showing at least two seats from FRA and San Francisco (SFO).
Actual airline calendars may have availability for several more days than seats.aero shows.That’s what I see here alaskaairline.com. With a Monday-Thursday departure at the end of May, there are two full weeks available for his 2+ seat business between FRA and his SFO.
perfection! Now, after checking the availability of seats between Africa and Frankfurt, you are ready.
How to check availability of business class seats on Condor flights to Africa
There is a problem with planning here. In Alaska, most outbound Condor flights are not aired unless combined with a transatlantic flight. If you search for Mauritius (MRU) – FRA at the end of May, you will see:
This seems to suggest that there will be no seats available between Mauritius and Frankfurt for the entire month of May. But that’s not correct. Since we already know that the FRA-SFO sector is open for the last 8 days of the month, let’s search for business class all the way from MRU-SFO (i.e. all available MRU-SFO dates are should pair with them). The calendar shows:
Eureka! He only has two flights on the list, but as expected, both cost 70,000 miles + business taxes/fees. If you click on the 27th, you’ll see that it’s all business class. It takes almost 12 hours between MRU and Frankfurt and another 11.5 hours between FRA and SFO (with an overnight layover). That’s the equivalent of almost a full day of life flat business on a new (ish) A330 at 70,000 miles + tax.
See more Condor availability with multi-city itineraries
There’s another oddity about booking these tickets on Alaska Airlines. If you enter the origin and destination as one-way, you will not see all available flights. If you enter your itinerary as multiple cities with built-in stopovers, you will often see additional options (note that stopovers are free one way when booking rewards via Alaska) ). Therefore, the Frankfurt-SFO section, which was already known to have vacant seats, was set on May 27, and then the dates of the Mauritius-Frankfurt section were traced back to the other MRU-FRA flights between the 20th and 20th. I checked to see if there is. 27th:
Sure enough, when I changed the Mauritius leg to 5/23, I found another date with (at least) 2 business seats available.
In summary, we found Mauritius to Frankfurt for 2 passengers in business class available on 5/20, 5/23 and 5/27. You can combine any of these flights, including a stopover, with any of his eight Frankfurt-San Francisco segments we found earlier. All combinations are 70,000 miles each way, regardless of the length of the stopover.
Additional examples from Africa
The same principle applies to other destinations. Alaska Airlines’ availability from Zanzibar Island (ZNZ) – SFO is as follows:
The same two dates (5/20 and 5/27) are shown as available. But again, if you count backwards from the 27th, you’ll find another date available for a multi-city itinerary. This time it’s Saturday, May 25th.
Searching Mombasa, Kenya (MBA) on the calendar shows the same two dates (5/20+5/27) available for a one-way itinerary. However, similar to Zanzibar, if you switch to a multi-city search, other options for Africa and Europe become available between these dates.
Further improving availability to and from the East Coast
Everything we’ve considered so far has been based on access to the west coast, but usually the Condor has much more access to the east coast, especially JFK and Boston. Check out our calendar for two Alaskans going from Frankfurt to New York (JFK) next May-July.
It’s literally available almost every day. With seats available every day, it’s also much easier to find deals to Africa, as you’ll see when looking for a one-way flight from Mombasa to JFK next June.
simple idea
For those with Alaska miles, Condor has become an attractive and valuable option to Europe and especially Africa. Europe offers a wide range of interesting destinations, and Africa, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean also offer some attractive options. There are some quirks when searching for availability, but given the combination of availability and price at a time when the company’s business class product is becoming more competitive with other transatlantic airlines, this is It’s a sweet spot worth considering.
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