The articles you linked about an A330 leased from Smartlynx says it is one A330, total. That is what I said too, one plane. But that one plane serves JFK in the US, Toronto in Canada, and two airports in Spain. Not Seattle. So the OP was not on a plane leased from Latvia, and her speculation about that being the cause of poor maintenance has no factual basis.
I think we all agree that the record shows the Condor plane the OP flew on was not leased from Smartlynx or from Latvia. Although why she thinks that if it were, that would make it a sketchy situation with respect to maintenance and safety is beyond me.
I agree with Carol. In fact, I've been on flights - in various classes of seating with various "full fare" airlines - and I've had entertainment systems that simply didn't work or entertainment offerings that I found wanting. So the "clunkiest" part of my carry-on, especially for the long flights, is my entertainment gear... A tablet, noise-cancelling headphones (one set for me and one for my wife), and a device that enables me to share the sound from the tablet. (oh, and I also have at least one old-school book to read). I download Netflix or other offerings of our choosing to the tablet for us to watch. I listen to downloaded music and podcasts on Spotify. And I read. But I wish I didn't have to lug that stuff on the plane.
I was just searching Condor flights for someone else and noticed that some flights offered to US airports from Frankfurt fly to JFK,mand then partner airline (Jet Blue, Alaska, or other) from there. The FRA to JFK flight, DE2016, says right on the website that is it a Smartlynx plane.
I vastly prefer the partial livery. Having just the stripes on the tail makes it feel classy and still recognizable. Striping the entire plane makes it look amateurish and circus-like. I think this gimmicky look will get old very fast. I appreciate the effort to be different, though!
As part of its new brand identity, German leisure airline Condor has unveiled a new original airplane livery with a beach towel-like striped look. The company, which is in the process of reinventing itself, has announced that it will refresh its long-haul fleet by introducing 16 new efficient A330neo aircraft. Ahead of the first A330neo delivery, the company revealed its new striped livery in five different colors.
We made through security and to our gate just in time to make the pre-boarding for small children. The staff was friendly from the start and we did have a nice amount of extra leg room in the Premium Economy and baggage stored nicely. I was happy to see the monitors at the back of the head rest and that we had comfortable over the ear headphones for the kids. Our main problem with the flight however, was lack of water and the cabin often was warmer than seemed necessary. When we did get water, the water was warm. Apparently, they ran out of ice mid-way through the flight. I would say that was my biggest complaint of the journey, insufficient hydration. Thankfully we had our own water bottles, but it was complicated to use the ones we brought. (See previous post on why). Once we arrived in Frankfurt, it was relatively easy to get off the plane, make our way through passport control and get our luggage.
Once on the plane, we headed to our seats in coach class and found a new bottle of water in each seat. WAY nicer than having to nearly beg for water on the flight over and then to just get little cups. We settled in fine, less room of course from Premium Economy, but standard. One annoyance was no plane for alternative payment when their credit card machine was broken and we wanted to buy the code to access the full Premium TV package. About an hour after it was announced that you could buy it, we finally were able to pay and purchase the package and watch something. Shortly after we got the digital entertainment squared away, a crew member came by and handed out various toys and games to the kids on the plane, something that was never offered to us on our flight from the US to Germany!
With brand-new planes equipped with snazzy new lie-flat business class seats and massive upgrades even back in economy, German budget carrier Condor is glowing up before our eyes. By next spring, that glow-up will be complete.
Every seat is equipped with a substantial 4K seatback screen with free movies and TV shows. You can pair your own set of Bluetooth headphones, a feature you'll only find on just a few planes with a handful of other airlines.
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