Croatia Air

I began my flight home in 2018 with a Croatian Airlines flight from Zagreb to another European city--probably Munich. The Croatian Airlines flight was fine, which is to say that I don't remember anything bad about it.

I did fly them once but many years ago - from Split to Paris. My original flight was a nice, direct afternoon flight, but about a week before departure, it was cancelled, and I was re-booked on a flight leaving at 6am and connecting in Zagreb. This did not affect a connection since it left earlier than my original flight plus I was staying in Paris a few days.

But, they do have a spotty reputation. I don't think I'd count on making that connection. If this is all booked as one ticket, then if your Croatia Airlines flight is canceled or changed, you should be re-booked on an alternate connection at no cost to you (though it might not be an ideal flight). If you mean you are booking a separate flight from Zagreb to Zurich, then you are taking the risk of missing your connection at your expense. I've taken that risk a few times, but Croatia Airlines seems like a higher risk than average.

That's really what you need to ask: what happens if I miss that connection - what if the Croatia Airlines flight is two hours late or just canceled? Figure out now what that would mean. Would you lose your ticket home and have to re-book at your expense? Would some sort of trip delay insurance cover it? Just figure out your Plan B and what that would mean. If the risk is too high, don't do it - fly to Zurich the day before.

I flew them in Oct 2021 from Zurich to Split. It was ok and the food was really good.

If your flight to Zurich is a separate ticket from your Zurich departure flight, leaving yourself just 2.5 hours for a self transfer, is borderline crazy, regardless of what airline it is.

If making your trip home requires two separate tickets you should be in Zurich the night before your homeward flight.

Most online reviews of airlines are pretty bad. Most people whose flights were as expected rarely write reviews, but when things go wrong they often write angry reviews.

So I would not worry too much about that. But I would worry about 2.5 hours in Zürich if you're self connecting there. It should work, but you don't have a large margin of error.

I've flown on them too. Was non eventful. Since Croatia is now in Schengen they will probably offer more direct flights from secondary airports to main European hubs now. They are part of *A, so you should be able to book all the way home with them.

I flew them today, Amsterdam to Zagreb. It was totally fine. Short trip, snacks available for purchase or free in biz class. Biz is regular seats with no one in the middle seat. Flew Boston to Amsterdam on KLM (thru Delta) and had a 2 hour layover, which was plenty of time. Passport control looked scary but I’d your flight is in 45 minutes or less, they move you to the front of the line. Flight was on time.

I flew Croatia Air late May from Dubrovnik to Amsterdam via Zagreb. First leg was fine. Amsterdam air traffic control delayed our departure time on the second leg by an hour due to weather in Amsterdam. Otherwise, the second leg would have been on time.