Indemnisation vol retardé Condor

Condor delays: what is specific

Condor’s long-haul aircraft fly out and back; a delay leaving the Caribbean arrives in Frankfurt with the same aircraft, and that knock-on delay is compensable unless the original cause was extraordinary. On its Mediterranean rotations the same logic applies across the day’s sectors.

Both directions are covered: departures from Germany under EU261, and returns from outside the EU because Condor is an EU carrier. Weather at a Caribbean destination can be extraordinary during hurricane season, but only for the flight it actually affected.

How the 3 hours are measured on Condor flights

The delay that counts is the arrival delay at your final destination, measured when at least one aircraft door opens — not the departure delay, the touchdown time or the block-on time. Compare it with the scheduled arrival on your booking. A Condor flight that leaves 3 hours 30 late but makes up time to arrive 2 hours 50 late is not compensable; one that leaves on time and arrives 3 hours late is.

How much Condor owes for a delay

Under EU261 the amount depends only on the great-circle distance of the flight (or of the whole journey on a single booking), never on the ticket price: €250, €400 or €600 per passenger. On flights over 3,500 km Condor may halve the amount (€300 instead of €600) when the arrival delay is between 3 and 4 hours; from 4 hours the full amount applies. The table above shows the amounts on Condor’s typical routes.

Care while you wait

From 2 hours of delay (short flights), 3 hours (medium) or 4 hours (long) Condor must offer meals and refreshments in proportion to the wait, two phone calls or e-mails, and a hotel with transport if you are kept overnight. If it does not, keep receipts for reasonable expenses and claim them separately — they come on top of the fixed compensation. After 5 hours you may also abandon the trip and claim a full refund of the unused ticket.

What Condor may argue

Only extraordinary circumstances exempt Condor from paying: severe weather, air-traffic-control restrictions or strikes, security incidents, bird strikes, external strikes. Technical faults, crew shortages, late inbound aircraft from an earlier rotation and Condor’s own staff strikes are not extraordinary. The burden of proof is on Condor: ask for the precise cause of your flight’s delay and the measures it took, and treat a bare “operational reasons” as no answer.

How to claim a delay from Condor

1. Note the actual arrival time (arrivals board, flight-tracker screenshot, Condor’s own notification).
2. Ask Condor in writing for the reason for the delay.
3. Submit the claim through Condor’s official channel (https://www.condor.com/eu/help-contact/contact.jsp), quoting the booking reference, the flight, the date, the arrival delay and the amount per passenger.
4. If Condor refuses or does not reply within 8 weeks, escalate to Schlichtungsstelle Reise & Verkehr (formerly söp, Germany); a court claim remains available within the limitation period of the departure country.