parkkibum

Hi, i'm not sure if this is the right forum to post this but here i go.

I'm traveling to Florence from Lax on 2019 August.

I have a return ticket but I need some advice on LAX-FLR

my options are

1. book UA mileage for 30k + $30 in fees. detail is
LAX-VIE VIE-FLR with Austrian Air with 50 min of layover in Vienna, it's not a separate ticket so my luggage should go though unless LAX-VIE segment gets delayed.
I'm not sure how it works in Vienna but I had a layover of 1.5 hour in Zurich with Swiss Air(LAX-ZRH,ZRH-VIE) but i had to go through immigration although the baggage went through if my memory serves me correct. i barely had enough time and i had to ask for people in front of me that i'm running late so they let me go first which i hate to do again. Will this 50 minute layover in Vienna be an issue? it seems like Vienna is a small airport so it should be fine as long as there is no delay.

2. buy one way LAX-CDG Norwegian Air and book separate flight CDG-FLR(air france)

should i go with option 1 or option 2 or maybe even third option that i'm not aware of?

i have over 100k mileage in AA, United, British as well.

thank you.

FlyingUnderTheRadar

You are going to clear immigration into the Schengen area then catch your next flight. Have you looked to see if there is a later flight in the day that is VIE-FLR. If there is another flight that is reasonable time wise I would A) try to see if it can be booked under option 1, or failing that I would still book option 1 knowing I could more than likely get on to the later flight because the earlier flight does not meet the connection time yet was sold as a valid ticket.

I would not book two separate tickets unless the second was cheap because if there is an issue with the first and you miss the second, it becomes moot (i.e. you will be buying a new ticket).

parkkibum

there is only one flight out of vienna to florence so booking a later flight will not be an option. if i miss the vie-flr flight will they give me a next day flight for free if i buy lax-vie, vie-flr as whole segment?

Ragesh

Being Vienna based my experience is that immigration is rather painless. 50 min connection time is fine, however there is no buffer for any delays on the long haul. If you miss the flight to FLR they will reroute you free of charge if you booked LAX-VIE-FLR on the same ticket. If you have 100k+ miles try to get a Business seat

GUWonder

parkkibum

thank you, that is a relief, unfortunately there is no business class availability

parkkibum

thank you. as long as they provide next day flight and lodging, i'm relieved.

JBord

As others said, as long as you're on a single Star Alliance ticket (thru UA miles) they'll put you on the next day's flight. I don't know that you'll get lodging, unless the flight arrived late. If you arrive on time and just don't make it, you may be on your own for lodging. Are you sure there are no other flights that day? You could probably ask them to put you on any Star Alliance carrier, so you'd probably make another connection...not sure if you checked other carriers as a backup plan but you may want to have a few ready to ask about.

Personally, I wouldn't book a 50 min connection unless I didn't mind arriving a day later than expected, and knew that a hotel might be on my dime.

VIE is a fairly easy airport, but there are a lot of factors outside of your control.

parkkibum

i guess i can fly to Bologna or Pisa but there is 8.5 hour layover in vienna, and i can maybe spend a day or so in Bologna and take train to Florence.

but this idea is pretty good too. thanks!

JBord

Not sure if you caught my point (maybe you did). I assume the flights you mentioned were all on Austrian. But they will probably put you on any partner flight. For example, if there is a Lufthansa flight that connects in FRA then on to Florence, that could be an option. Or Swiss through ZRH, or Brussels Air, via Brussels, or LOT via WAW. I was just pointing out that you can look broadly across *A for backup flights, even though they may not be available with UA miles. That no longer matters once you're in route.

parkkibum

yea, but on that day i'm traveling, unfortunately that's the only option that i have . thanks for the tip!

GUWonder

stut

You could also try Milan, which is an easy train ride from Venice, should you misconnect.

In my experience, VIE is a great airport to change at. I've made 10-minute connections there before, where they've driven me from plane to plane, with my bags, stopping at an immigration post on the way. All on a dead cheap short-haul economy ticket.

KLouis

Yes, train rides from Venice to Milan are plentiful and relatively fast, but of zero value to OP who wants to fly from Los Angeles to Florence via Vienna.

PS Spelled out the airports: should be helpful to those practicing "speed reading"

stut

Yup, some quite significant speed reading on my part there