Condor Launches New Frankfurt–Edmonton Route

Condor has just completed its first round-trip direct flights between Frankfurt and Edmonton. The inaugural flight from Frankfurt touched down in Edmonton in the mid-afternoon on Friday, May 26, and then left back for Frankfurt a few hours later.

This is the second direct route to Europe that currently departs from Alberta’s capital city, and luckily, it’s also possible to book it with points.

Condor’s New Frankfurt–Edmonton Route

Condor’s new Edmonton–Frankfurt route launched on May 26, 2023, and is scheduled to continue until September 1, 2023. The direct flight is scheduled twice weekly across the summer travel months.

The westbound flight from Europe departs on Tuesdays and Fridays, and is just under 10 hours in duration. Heading back to Europe, the eastbound flight clocks in at just under nine and a half hours, and also departs on Tuesdays and Fridays.

The flight times are as follows:

• DE2468 Frankfurt (FRA) to Edmonton (YEG), departing 2:05pm and arriving 3:50pm
• DE2469 Edmonton (YEG) to Frankfurt (FRA), departing 5:50pm and arriving 11:15am the next day

The route is served by Condor’s Boeing 767 aircraft, which offers economy, premium economy, and business class cabins.

The flights are loaded into Condor’s website, and can be booked throughout the schedule.

Condor also operates a number of other routes between Frankfurt and destinations across North America. In Canada, you’ll find direct flights to Vancouver (YVR), Toronto (YYZ), Halifax (YHZ), and perhaps the most interesting destination, Whitehorse (YXY). 

Aside from this new Condor route, the only other way to fly direct from Edmonton to Europe is with KLM. 

How to Book Condor’s Frankfurt–Edmonton Route with Points

At the moment, Condor doesn’t belong to any of the major airline alliances. However, the airline has a partnership with Alaska Airlines, and fortunately, that also means that you can redeem Alaska miles for flights with Condor.

Throughout the Summer 2023 schedule, there is wide-open business class availability between Frankfurt and Edmonton. On some dates, you can also find upwards of five business class award seats, which is great news if you happen to be sitting on a healthy stockpile of Alaska miles and have been holding out for a way to redeem them.

A one-way flight in either direction costs as few as 30,000 miles in economy, 45,000 miles in premium economy, or 55,000 miles in business class.

It’s worth noting that the price in economy jumps up to 40,000 miles from mid-June onward; however, premium economy and business class prices appear to remain stable.

In Canada, earning Alaska miles has become much more difficult ever since MBNA axed the Canadian Alaska Airlines co-branded credit cards in late 2022. Currently, your best bet is to either access US credit cards, keep an eye out for a sale on Alaska miles and just buy them outright, or transfer Marriott Bonvoy points.

For buying points, during a sale earlier on this year you could purchase Alaska miles with a 60% bonus, which worked out to be a cost of 1.85 cents per mile (USD). For a round-trip flight to Europe, you’d need 110,000 miles, which would have cost $2,035 USD ($2,770 CAD) during the sale.

On the other hand, a round-trip flight in business class costs around $3,780 (CAD) to book with cash. 

Therefore, if you can buy Alaska miles during a sale, you stand to save a fair bit of cash versus booking directly with the airline.

Alaska Mileage Plan typically puts on sales every few months, so you may want to keep an eye out for the next one to then save some cash on a direct flight to Europe this summer.

How Is Condor’s Business Class?

Condor currently operates the Boeing 767 on the Frankfurt–Edmonton route, with either 18 or 30 business class seats, depending on the aircraft. In either case, there is a 2-2-2 configuration, which is of course less than ideal.

On the plus side, there are lie-flat seats for the long-haul flight, and if you’re travelling with a spouse or companion, perhaps the convenience of a direct flight will outweigh the less competitive cabin configuration.

While the Boeing 767 business class cabin certainly isn’t a competitive product, Condor’s newest Airbus A330neo business class is most certainly worth a look. 

If you’re okay with taking a positioning flight to a US hub such as Seattle or New York, you’ll have a much better chance at scoring a seat in the new business class product. However, keep in mind that award availability might not be as bountiful as it is on the Edmonton route, and you’ll want to double-check the aircraft type before committing. 

Conclusion

Condor has just completed its first round-trip flights between Frankfurt and Edmonton. The route is set to operate twice weekly between now and the beginning of September on a seasonal basis.

Edmonton has become Condor’s fifth Canadian destination, joining the existing routes to Halifax, Toronto, Vancouver, and Whitehorse.

Luckily, there is bountiful award availability through Alaska Mileage Plan. Even if you don’t have a stock of Alaska miles, keep an eye out for sales, as you could score the flight at a discount.