#44 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
34 reviews
Hello there and welcome to the first flight report for me in this year. For this report, I have a rather special flight for you - not due to the destination. No, Mallorca is definitely not an exotic destination, and neither is Frankfurt. To make a long story short, this is a flight report on a Boeing 757-300. Not only has the 757 become quite scarce over the (European) skies - the 300 variant is especially rare. In this way, I am lucky that one of the few airlines still operating 757-300s, Condor, is based at my nearby airport of Frankfurt, Germany. So it was a nice "coincidence" that we were planning a short holiday somewhere sunny, and that Condor "happens" to operate the 757-300 to Mallorca, which was also the cheapest way of getting on this type. Speaking of cheap, I was somewhat time-constrained due to work obligations, so there was basically no other choice than to travel around Corpus Christi, which of course made travel more expensive. Without further ado, let's jump straight into it.
Our journey today begins in concourse C of Frankfurt's Terminal 1. It is located to the East of Terminal 1's other concourses A, B, and Z, and largely serves Condor. We used the self-bag-drop to the right of the photo above. While there were a lot of helpful employees, many people still struggled to self-check their baggage. Which makes me wonder if this system really is more efficient than having staffed bag-drop counters.
Anyhow, soon we were on our way to the security checkpoint, which is located in the concourse the flight departs from, in this case concourse B. A rather long and dark walkway later, we were at the checkpoint, where the wait was very quick. After that, we were basically locked in in the little Schengen zone area of concourse B, where there are simply too few seats to handle a proper rush and not a lot of other facilities, either. An escalator ride later we were in the area of the gates B1-B10. B Schengen in general is a rather uninteresting area with too few restrooms and only basic shopping and food options: a duty free shop, some vending machines, two cafés and a press shop with some drinks.
If you have a lot of time to spare and are not scared of a long-ish walk through a tunnel, you can keep on walking straight past gates B8-10 and then take the stairway or the elevators to your left. These will lead to a tunnel to concourse A, which is mainly intended for transfering passengers. However, it can be used by all passengers, and concourse A offers far more shops, food options, and services such as water bottle refillers.
At the airport, we could spot some interesting planes. The first two photos of the gallery above offers a view of the apron, taken from the corridor connecting concourses B and C, with several Condor beach towels and planes from Turkish Airlines and Delta. Photo 3 shows an El Al 737 departing Frankfurt for Tel-Aviv, whereas photo 4 shows a more zoomed-in view of a Lufthansa 747-400.
Anyways, we soon found our gate B2. Our gate, or so we thought. Around 1pm, about 10 minutes before the scheduled boarding time, we were informed of a gate change. Or new gate would be B5. Not really convenient, as we had to cross the area containing the stairs to the lower level and with this a rather large stream of people. At least, the originally empty newspaper stands were refilled, so that I could pick up a free newspaper - a welcome positive.
Boarding finally began around 1.20pm. Boarding was chaotic, as boarding groups were completely ignored. It was also quite slow, as gate staff took their time to actually check Economy Light passengers' cabin baggage. Of course, they have every right to do so, but this being checked is actually a first for me (as we were traveling in Economy Light today). At least, the staff were quite lenient with the exact sizes, so we could make our way onto the staircase leading to the buses.
A bunch of people were already lined up on the stairs to board a bus, which said "Letzter Bus" (last bus) on it. Expectedly, people crowded on the front half of the bendy bus, so we jumped on the chance and entered the rear, where there were still seats free. It took until about 1.35 until we could depart, as we were stuck waiting for three missing passengers. In the end, it turned out that they wouldn't appear, so the bus drove off (and their checked luggage, if they had any, had to be offloaded). But hey, with the bus was cramped enough as it was, I wouldn't have known where to put these passengers.
After a brisk trip across the whole apron of the airport, we caught the first glimpses of the main event today, our (pencil) plane. Despite the plane being jam-packed, only one stair was used to board it.
Today's ship: D-ABOG, a 25.4 year old Boeing 757-300, equipped with RR RB-221 turbofans. Delivered to Condor new in March 1999. Between then and now, D-ABOG spent a short stint working for Thomas Cook Airlines in the UK from 2017 to 2018 until returning to Germany. Currently, it can seat up to 275 passengers in an all-Eco configuration and a couple less when the Euro-Business seats up front are utilized as such.
As we were quite late to the party, it wasn't possible for me to take a good shot of D-ABOG's cabin. But let me tell you that it doesn't feature the black-and-yellow seats anymore that you see on older photos or videos. As it seems, Condor have invested in new leatherette covers for the seats, which is surprising considering this airframe is to be retired next year in 2025. Legroom was tight, of course, but not abnormally so (for average-sized persons). All in all, except for the ceiling panels, the cabin didn't look old and tired at at all. If anything, it could have used a slightly more thorough cleaning between flights… even though I've seen much worse.
Please find some more random photos in the gallery above, of a Condor van with striped planes on it, a Lufthansa A340-300 taking off, as well as Lufty 747-8 D-ABYJ.
Each seat featured a small-ish table (which, in my case, wasn't exactly as clean as the photo above makes it appear), a larger literature pocket behind the table and a smaller below. The larger pocket came with the safety card, of course, a sick bag with the cocky words "Hello again" written on it, a shopping magazine, and the menu for the buy-on-board service. We will have a closer look at the BOB later on. First, let's note the very vintage-looking ceiling panels with individual air nozzles as well as my usual bad luck when it comes to selecting window seats.
The seatbacks also had stickers informing us about Condor's "FlyStream Entertainment," which we will also take a look at later.
After the captain's announcement that we would soon depart, pushback occured at 2:23. As the overhead screens were apparently malfunctioning, the security demonstration was performed manually. Shortly, we made our way onto runway 18 to take off.
I had heard that 757s are quite overpowered for their size and weight, so I expected a bit more initial thrust of the trusty RR engines. However, it was still more than enough to lift us off the ground. The sky was clear with only high clouds and allowed for great views of the Western Hessian Rhine Valley.
Photos 3 and 4 of the gallery above show the town of Rüsselsheim with the Opel HQ and car factory, photo 5 shows Groß-Gerau with its noteable railroad crossing, on photo 6 you can see the Kühkopf, an island created by a shortening of the Rhine river.
But soon enough, a cloud layer caught up to us, making the view outside the window appear like this for much of the remainder of the flight.
Let's have a look at the service, now. As I wrote above, there is only a buy-on-board service onboard Condor short-distance flights. Still, the selection is quite extensive and somewhat fairly priced. The menu includes beers, like the varieties "Null pro Meile" and "Ferien Lager" brewed for Condor by craft beer brand Brewdog. Both names are puns: "Null pro Meile" doesn't only sound like "zero per mile" but also like "Null Promille" (zero per mille - blood alcohol), while "Ferien Lager" doesn't only hint to Lager beer, but only to a holiday camp.
Other than those beers, you can buy headphones, amenity kits, neck pillows, various snacks and even two different warm meals. There's also a good variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. You can save a bit of money by making use of their combo deals (disclaimer: of course the best way to save money is buying nothing ;) )
Interestingly, the menu on flights to and from Majorca varies a bit from the rest of routes (photo 5 of the gallery above).
Condor's 757s feature two aspects uncommonly seen on short- to mid-haul aircraft in Europe today. First, the aforementioned overhead and bulkhead monitors. And second, the lavatories in the middle of the cabin (even though I have to admit that they are becoming more common, especially in A321s). Another "feature," which also make the plane's age rather noticeable, is the window shade on my window that doesn't quite hold in place when fully opened. A veeery minor thing, I know, but I'm the type of person to notice something like this.
Apart from the (broken) screens, Condor offers another way to enjoy IFE aboard their 757s: the FlyStream entertainment. It's easy to connect to it, and other than various movies and music options, it offers a nice interactive moving map, albeit with some features like outside temperature and time to destination missing. Still, this BYOD entertainment system offers more than you could ever wish for on a short flight like this, in my opinion.
We made our way via Western Switzerland and the French coast over the Mediterranean. Around 3.17, the announcement was made that the estimated arrival time was 4.15. Shortly before the beginning of the descent, around 3.43, the crew began their on-board "duty free" sale (is it really "duty free" if the flight at no point leaves the common European market?). Shortly after, we saw the first signs of Majorcan land, and at 3.55 the descent into Palma de Mallorca finally commenced.
Unfortunately, the experience of the Majorcan landscapes from above was somewhat tainted by a screaming baby, who seems to have had some problems with the usual pressure adjustments… understandable, as I also noticed them a lot this time. Apart from that, the views from above definitely confirmed notions that Majorca can be a quite mountainous island and makes me wonder if I really should come again to hike or bike a bit. Also, it was a bit surprising to me how long the island really was. It did take a couple of minutes until we had crossed the island and made our way past Palma further West.
Over the ocean, we made a big starboard turn and lined up for Palma airport.
We descended over the beautiful blue sea, the coast and a highway, and soon enough we experienced an unremarkable yet safe touchdown. Touchdown occurred around 4.22pm, and a few people applauded (but fewer than expected, to be honest).
Considering PMI is a major hub for vacationers in Europe, there wasn't a terrible lot going on. Some visitors here included Aegean Air, a Laudamotion A320 (I hadn't realized that they were still around), and of course Eurowings. If anyone wants prove that Majorca is Germany's 17th federal state: even the Sixt ads on the jetbridges are in German ;) (clearly a joke).
It didn't take long at all that employees and service vehicles of PMI started appearing and working around our plane. I happened to sit directly above the luggage door, and very soon pieces of luggage started being loaded on (a lot of) carts. Also notice the interesting "sin barreras" truck, whose purpose I guess is lifting passengers with reduced mobility up to their planes when no jetbridge is used. Photo 4 shows the absolute lot of baby cars and strollers which had been loaded onto the plane. Majorca is truly a family destination, at least to some extent.
The offloading of passengers, however, took a bit longer. In part surely courtesy to the 757-300s long single-aisle design and only one jetbridge being in use. We said goodbye to the friendly crew and made our way into the airport halls (nothing special to be reported here).
It was quite a long walk to the bag drop area. On the way, we saw a lot of interesting shops and eateries, which we will perhaps pay a visit to on our way back… though the walk was really much longer than expected, at least the signage marking the way to the exit was present and clear.
It wasn't a long wait until our bag appeared on the carousel, which was nicely stretched out on both sides to allow for many people to somewhat orderly wait for their baggage. After this, we just had to find our hotel transfer… but that isn't part of this story anymore.
I hope you enjoyed this flight report and stay tuned for the next one coming out very soon.
DE: All in all, it was a pleasant experience flying on Condor's 757. Perhaps it was less special than flying on a 757-300 in 2024 sounds like. But as an avgeek, I still was grateful to have had this opportunity. Apart from the rather chaotic boarding, the flight was fairly standard and nothing out of the ordinary, except for the unexpectedly extensive BYOD entertainment system. Little details like the craft beer names make me appreciate Condor's efforts to make their flights as special as possible given their limited economic means to do so.
FRA: "Standard" is a good word to describe FRA airport. As always, connections to the city and to communities in the region are good. Cleanliness was okay given the crowded nature of the Schengen B gates, even though I would characterize "services" to be a bit lackluster. Efficiency is so-so, ranging from great (security check) to abysmal (bag drop, boarding).
PMI: We didn't see a lot of Palma de Mallorca's airport, but what we saw made a quite good impression. Though deboarding took a while, baggage delivery was quick to happen and the selection of shops and services seemed very satisfactory. If one thing could be improved, it would be access: Though Palma is close-ish to the airport, all other communities on the island are hard or impossible to reach without a rental car or, if you really want to do this to yourselves, a bus transfer.
Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 15 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne Frankfurt (FRA) → Palma De Mallorca (PMI).
La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est Condor avec 7.5/10.
La durée moyenne des vols est de 2 heures et 2 minutes.
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Thanks for sharing!
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