sharona

I'm looking for a one stop connection from Boston to Florence. I've been surprised at how airline suggested itineraries have short connection times on international flights. A flight we would like to take gets us to Zurich at 11:00 on a Tuesday morning and our connecting flight on the same airline leaves an hour and 25 minutes later. That doesn't seem like enough time since we will have to go through passport control in Zurich. I've never flown through Zurich before so I'm not familiar with the airport. Does anyone have any thoughts on that short of a connection time in Zurich?

neckervd

Zurich isn't a big airport, but a efficient one. According to my experience, it should work. In the worst case, they might book you to the next flight, arriving at Florence at 16.05

jamikins

Have you tried Boston to Pisa? It is a bigger airport so you may find more options at cheaper prices.

lancer11

I just booked round trip Boston to Athens on Swiss Air as the flight costs went down and the duration of the flights were short. On my return flight I have 1.35 hour from the time I land in Zurich from Athens to the time of our Zurich to Boston flight. All Swiss air. I figured they must know what they are doing. I did not know I have to go through passport control.

sharona

We are meeting up with friends in Florence and we need to be there on Tuesday. We are trying to minimize the travel hassle which is why we're willing to pay a little more to go directly to Florence.

I was also looking at an Air France/Delta flight but that connection was at CDG and it, too, was only an hour and 25 minutes. I definitely would not book that tight of a connection in Paris. I was hoping Zurich would be easier and we just might make it. Also, I know a lot of the flights from the US arrive earlier in the day so we also may have that in our favor since the flight I'm considering lands at 11:00.

sharona

lancer1, I don't believe you have to go through passport control in Zurich on the return since you'll already have been in a Schengen area. For me, Zurich will be my first point of entry into the Schengen so we'll have to go through passport control.

We're also returning from Athens to Boston on Swiss. I just looked today and that leg of the flight is still very expensive. Athens to Boston is double the cost of Boston to Florence.

travelgourmet

Should be fine, barring delays out of Boston. I've never waited more than 5 minutes for passport control at ZRH (been in, out, or through at least 40 times). The airport isn't that big. You should make it easily.

travelgourmet

<i>I don't believe you have to go through passport control in Zurich on the return since you'll already have been in a Schengen area</i>

You have to pass through passport control when you exit Schengen, which will be in Switzerland in the case of Athens-Zurich-USA. It should be a non-event unless you have overstayed or otherwise violated some rule, in which case, under no circumstances should you exit via Switzerland.

greg

>>> That doesn't seem like enough time since we will have to go through passport control in Zurich.

There is no one number for all the airports. The required layover time depends on the airports and what kind of connections you are making. ZRH and AMS are fast connection airports into Schengen. For example, I routinely do one hour layover into Schengen zone at AMS. I don't think it ever took more than 35 minutes from gate arrival to waiting at the departure lounge for the next flight at AMS. For larger spread out airports like FRA, CDG, etc, the type of connection matters.

>>> I figured they must know what they are doing.

They don't give a hoot regarding inconveniences to you. All they care is that the cost of required remedial actions don't eat too much into their profit to offset the revenue advantages in offering these type of flights. U.S. returns are usually more time consuming than entering Schengen. It can suddenly get very time consuming if there was a recent security incident the airport has not figured out how to do new checks efficiently.

sharona

Thanks everyone and thanks travelgourmet for the clarification on leaving the Schengen zone. On our last trip home from Europe we spent the night in our connecting city so we had to go through immigration anyway. I haven't decided on a return flight yet. We're still working on trip details. I always allow for quite a bit of time for the connection back to the U.S.

I think I'll chance it with the flight through Zurich on the trip to Florence. The flight times work very nicely for us.

lancer11

Sharona,
I paid 406 for my Athens to Boston flight. We are traveling in September so not sure if that makes a difference.