Condor compensation: the EU261 complaint form, delays and cancellations

Which Condor entity flew you

Condor operates its whole network under one German operating licence from Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf, Hamburg and other German airports. Occasional wet-leased aircraft from other European carriers do not change your rights: the claim is against Condor as the contracting carrier that operated the flight in its own name.

How to claim from Condor: the EU261 complaint form

Condor’s own channel is its EU261 complaint form (“Beschwerdeformular EU261”, under Hilfe & Kontakt → Entschädigungsanspruch on condor.com) for a cancellation, a delay of more than three hours or overbooking. Condor asks for the flight details and the passenger names exactly as on the original booking confirmation. In a group booking you may claim only for passengers you are entitled to represent; for anyone else, attach Condor’s signed power-of-attorney form (Vollmachtserklärung). Condor then tells you whether it accepts the claim.

What to put in it: the booking code, every passenger, the flight number and date, the scheduled and actual arrival time (the time the doors opened), the amount per passenger under Article 7 and the bank account for payment. Keep a screenshot or the confirmation e-mail of what you sent — its date starts the two-month clock for conciliation. A first refusal that cites “extraordinary circumstances” without detail deserves a reply asking for the precise cause and the measures taken.

What Condor typically argues

• Late inbound aircraft on long-haul rotations — a delay leaving the Caribbean arrives in Frankfurt with the same aircraft; compensable unless the original cause was extraordinary.
• Weather at the destination — hurricanes and tropical storms can be extraordinary, but only for the flight they actually affected.
• ATC and airport restrictions — extraordinary only if shown for your flight.
• Technical problems — not extraordinary (Wallentin-Hermann, van der Lans).

Escalation

• Schlichtungsstelle Reise & Verkehr e.V. (formerly söp; Fasanenstraße 81, Berlin) is the conciliation body Condor names on its own website. It is free for passengers and takes claims from €10 to €5,000 once you have contacted Condor and either had no answer within two months or disagree with its answer — not while a court has the case. Its proposal binds neither side unless both accept it. The full German route — conciliation, the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt and the Amtsgericht — is on the Germany page.
• Luftfahrt-Bundesamt (LBA) is the German enforcement body.
• Flights departing another EU country: that country’s enforcement body. Court: the Amtsgericht at the departure or arrival airport. Limitation in Germany: three years from the end of the year of the flight.

Typical amounts

Frankfurt–Palma, Munich–Palma and the Mediterranean network are under 1,500 km (€250). Frankfurt–Hurghada, Düsseldorf–Fuerteventura and the Canary Islands pay €400. Frankfurt to Cancún, Punta Cana, Seattle, Toronto, Cape Town or Mauritius pays €600 (€300 if re-routed to arrive under 4 hours late).