EJS464

Traveling PRG-VIE-ZAG-DBV in December and I am being offered two options via Croatian Airlines (OU) booking on a single ticket on their website with the PRG-VIE leg serviced by Austrian Airlines (OS) leaving at 8:15 in the morning.

Option 1
VIE - 55m connection time to transfer to an OU flight for the VIE-ZAG leg
ZAG - 35m connection time to transfer to another OU flight for the ZAG-DBV leg (our inbound plane to ZAG is a DHC8-400)

Option 2
VIE - 55m connection time to transfer to an OU flight for the VIE-ZAG leg
ZAG - 3h 40m connection time to transfer to another OU flight for the ZAG-DBV leg

We will be checking bags, have Star Alliance Gold status, have no experience traveling through these airports, but do not need to arrive in DBV at a particular time. The 55m connection in VIE seems doable coming in on an early morning flight but I would love to have some feedback. The 35m connection in ZAG seems very tight but waiting an additional 3 hours seems too long to not at least give the tighter connection a try and deal with a rebooking if we miss the connection. Anybody have any experience with this type of tight connection in ZAG to provide some feedback on our chances?

Kid Flyer

as ZAG is my home airport I can tell you from experience that the 35 min are doable, especially bcuz OU holds the flight if you are late from VIE so I would book it without any doubt

AlicorporateUK

Whilst I personally managed to make several similar connections at ZAG (mostly connecting to SJJ) and I would therefore be inclined to prefer option 1, you however need to bear in mind that delays due to weather at that time of year could also play a role, especially on such short connection and on a 3-flights' itinerary. Again, though, you'll be absolutely fine in normal circumstances.

G

MultiFlyer

55m in Vienna gives you plenty of time.
If I remember correctly the MCT is 25m for *A flights.

vbroucek

For the VIE connection, the only possible issue would be a bad weather at both VIE and PRG. Need to keep in mind that the PRG-VIE flight is services by plane that arrives to PRG 07:35. So any delay off VIE can have significant knock-on effect... But in general 55 min in VIE is plenty and if on one ticket, who cares. There is (I believe) direct VIE-DBV flight if you miss your VIE-ZAG...

EJS464

Thanks to all for your responses and feedback. I certainly appreciate that weather will be the great unknown but it is helpful to know that the connections are doable under normal circumstances. We will book the shorter connection and hope for the best on the weather and enjoy the airport experiences in case we misconnect.

davidcito

Maybe one thing to keep in mind: there is no Lounge access in ZAG for domestic flights, hence you may want to limit your lay-over there. There isn't an awful lot to do for 3 hours...
David

steveo

I did BUD-VIE-ZAG recently. My advise is to spend the least amount of time possible at Vienna airport. Departure area is a basement area, little food, and the snack stand is cash only. When I left we had flights to Erbil and Belgrade leaving at the same time so we had some interesting people watching.

You will need to get your passport stamped on arrival to Zagreb, but passport control was very efficient, and it looks like the airport has undergone a facelift recently so it looks pretty nice.

gojko88

Any particular insights/impressions?

They've opened an entirely new terminal It's a bit sterile, but a massive improvement over the old one.

AirVance

Can i use this thread to ask a related question? Next month i will fly the following itinerary: FRA-ZAG-DBV. At the former terminal, if you had an international-to-domestic-transfer you had to go landside first after arriving. Then you had to go through security screening again to get to the domestic departure area. How does the transfer process works at the new terminal?