morganj

Hi all,

I'm about to undertake my first flight that requires connections, and I am looking at flying from London Heathrow via Vienna to Melbourne. The thing is, I've been presented with different times for the return from Vienna to LHR.

I will be arriving in Vienna at 06:10 and the return leg from Vienna to LHR runs at:

• 07:05
• 10:40
• 13:30 etc

Would I have enough time to make my connection with 55 minutes to spare, if I took the first one?



I'm erring towards the 10:40 flight but don't want to be waiting.

Cheers

morganj

Oh, and I'm looking to book the flights ASAP to get a good deal. If you can help, please advise!!!!

Have one on me:

swissfabs

Hi Morgan

55 min is definitly not enough, since the boarding is always 30 min before departure and your plane to Vienna could be late.
What you also need to consider is your luggage which wont make it to the other flight on time I reckon.

I recomment @ least 2 hours between flights, specially in big hubs like LHR (they lost my luggage there already a few times)

Hope it helps!

fabie

morganj

Thanks for the reply Fabie. What worries me is that for the departure LHR flies into Vienna at 09:45 and departs Vienna at 11:10. I am more assured because we're still in Europe and the likely hood of my plane being late, is lessened by the distance I'll have to fly. Do you think that will be too close? That's 1 hour 25 mins to get on board for Oz.

OzTennis

I agree, don't even consider the 55 min option - aside from luggage, what if your flight is delayed? We've done Manchester-Melbourne return with Lauda with a changeover in Vienna and our problem was the opposite - we had to wait about 5 hours in Vienna before our connection, both ways. Go for the 1040 or the 1330 and do what we did - with an EU passport you can walk out of the terminal and walk around, sunbathe, take a bus tour if you have time. Enjoy and unless it is changed you will get the best airline food I've experienced if you are travelling Lauda/Austrian!

OzTennis

morganj

Thanks, it makes sense. I'm just concerned about the departure flight out now!!!! Will 1 hour 25 mins be enough. Or will I be running around like a lunatic? I guess I have no idea what I need to do.

I suppose I:

1. arrive at Vienna
2. pick up my luggage
3. find out the departure gate for Melbourne
4. go through the departure gate/customs etc and sit and wait to board (just like any other flight)

Am I missing anything out?

I have deeply inhaled waiting to exhale and say "Phew!" before booking....
If I can know that 1 hr 25 min will be alright outward bound then I will book now!

morganj

Oh and BTW: It's with Austrian Airlines. Let's hope it's still the case with the food!

OzTennis

1 hour 25 should be plenty. 'No worries' because what you do at Heathrow, if they don't offer which they will, is to ask to have your bags checked through to Melbourne. They should give you a boarding pass for the Heathrow bit and the next leg and it is just a matter when you arrive in Vienna of looking to see what gate to go to. You won't have to worry about customs etc because you will be a transit/transferring passanger. We had an Austrian flight between Austria and UK and a Lauda flight between Austria and Oz.

OzTennis

TrickyTree

Like others have said I would go with the 10:40 flight I think the 07:05 flight is cutting it to fine.

Your baggage should also be checked through at Heathrow to Melbourne so you wont have to pick it up in Vienna (others who may have flown Lauda if I am wrong with this let me know).

Its just a matter of getting to the other departure gate for your onward flight.

All the best

TT

OzTennis

Just a final thought FWIW - choice of which plane to connect to in Vienna might also be influenced by arrival time in Melbourne. A speedy connection in Vienna may mean arriving at unsocial hours in Melbourne for people greeting you, getting to a hotel etc. If so, a few pleasant hours in Vienna might be worthwhile - as I said we walked around the airport area and could have taken a city tour (but didn't).

Travellers tip #368 - at most airports you can get a free bus to the city centre - you have to pretend to be booked/booking into the Hilton, Holiday Inn et al. i.e. Hotels put on free buses for clients.

OzTennis

Pollyana

I did the Lauda via Vienna to melbourne a couple of years ago; would fly with them again any time. Brilliant airline,very very impressed with the service from the cabin crew (who wear tight black jeans, white shirts, skimpy red waistcoats, very practical and for some reason popular with male travellers.......!!) Anyway, I digress, Vienna is a tiny airport, but (3 years ago at least) they check your passports AND VISAS again before you board the onward flight to Oz, that slows up the line. Going out was OK, you should be fine, but coming back - its a long way from Oz to Vienna, and we were late- only 15 minutes, but thats a lot on a tight connection. The airport at that time of day is MUCH busier - don't be deceived by the peacefulness going out. If I was doing it again, I would want a longer connection at Vienna for the return trip. It may be a small airport, and you usually go from one gate to the one next to it (!!) but, beware of the inbound delay. Remember too - time in Vienna is ARRIVAL - ie LANDING! allow for taxiing, getting everyone off the plane, etc etc. Go for the later flight, it'll be less stressful.

Your luggage will go straight through to LHR though, no worries on that one.

Hope your flight is as enjoyable as mine was

markeh

Hiya morganj
We've just returned from Oz with Qantas.

You should be able to send your luggage on to your final destination (unless it's an internal flight in which case you might need to go through customs at the port of entry and then recheck your baggage.)


We flew from Birmingham to Frankfurt, then on to Sydney via Singapore.
The stopovers in Frankfurt were too long and Singapore was too short!

The flight from Bhx To Fra was on a city express and we had no basinett even though the check in staff said we would have one.

There also seamed to be a problem with Quantas being able to give us ous pram between the flights. This realy pissed my wife off (sorry for the language but having to carry a baby around by hand for a 6 hour stop over in Fra isn't fun!!! ) ) Lets just say that we won't be flying to Oz with them asgain.

Next time we are going to fly from Birmingham with Emirates and try and break the trip with a stop over in Dubai. The majour thing is that the flighjts are on large planes and as such you get better seats / facilities / experience.

The pram relay was the final straw!

It's the second time I've flown out to Oz in a month, the last time I flew with Emirates and prefered them.

Regards
Mark

morganj

Thanks all for your contributions. I didn't expect such a positive response. I've since booked the flights and am raring to go! Just over 5 weeks before departure! Phew, much planning still to do. I'm heading off on my own and meeting no-one there (at the moment!) so it's going to be a bit strange - but I'll be cool! There wil be not much time to check out Vienna on the way out but I may have a look on the way back. I've taken heed to all your advice (having jotted it down for later use) and read with interested and with shared frustration with some of your stories.

I'd be interested to see if the cabin crew ladies on Austrian Airlines are the same as those on Lauda - but don't tell my girlfriend this!!! Ahahahahah....

Mark, I've heard good things about Emirates having trawled through these Expat pages, and from what I can glean they are a little more expensive that Singapore. But neither of these have come close to Austrian Airlines right now. How's £540 sound for an October return (for around 2 weeks in Oz) sound?

Right, let's look at the damned flight policy!!!

OzTennis

We've flown Lauda once, BA and Qantas twice each, Singapore twice, Cathay once and Emirates 6 times. All round (for us) Emirates is far superior to all the others - food close second to Lauda, journey broken into 3 equal sectors of around 7 hours each, Dubai duty free shopping, wider seat pitch than most, fresher cabin air (less re-cycled) than the others, great service and not to be under-rated, they won't bother with a plane partly full of Arabic speakers! At the time we fly, out to Melbourne end of June, back start of August, Emirates has been as cheap as any, can't speak for October. (2004 fare £549 each Glasgow-Melbourne via Dubai and Singapore). FWIW OzT's ranking of airlines is Emirates, Lauda, Cathay, Singapore, Qantas and BA equal last.

I'm sure the Austrian stewardesses will be as 'tidy' as the Lauda ones I remember. For me (don't tell Mrs OzT), 'Singapore girl' is the only thing they can beat Emirates on.

Enjoy the experience. Which part of Melbourne are you going to?

OzTennis

lynnj

As has been said before when you check in at heathrow your baggage will be checked all the way through so you dont have to worry about it after you check in at heathrow untill you arrive in Melbourne.

As for connecting times, there is a minimum connecting time between flights which is different for all airports depending on whether you are arriving or departing in domestic or international flights, your travel agent or airline will be able to advise you on what this is, as youe ticket will be a "through" ticket ie, it is a london to melbourne ticket not 2 seperate tickets london to vienna and vienna to melbourne, should any leg of your journey be delayed sufficiantly to mean that you miss your connection the airline will simply put you on the next flight, after you ahve checked in at heathrow it is the resposibilty of the airline to get you to your destination.

Taking all this into consideration i would always book onto the earliest recognised connection, airline reservation systems are actually set up to automatically do this.

Lynn