Originally Posted by
USFreak
the Department of State website says Austria is a Schengen country so it would be a Schengen (VIE) to Schengen (HAM) connection.
I guess what I am looking for is for anyone who has traveled through VIE and done this type of connection when starting in the US. My international travel experience is very limited so before I even consider booking this, I wanted to get feedback. The offerings for miles this summer are extremely limited (I dropped to Gold this year FWIW) so I want to hop on this if it is even remotely possible to pull this off.
Austria certainly is in the Schengen area. But you are arriving from IAD. That's a non-Schengen arrival, connecting to a Schengen departure. So you will clear immigration in VIE, and customs in HAM (you won't see your bags until HAM).
I've transited VIE many times in the past and it is trivial. It is specifically designed for very short connections like this. I'd be inclined to book it unless there is some specific exclusion for flight connections between non-Schengen and Schengen in the MCT.