35 Minutes at Warsaw Airport?

I’m pretty sure that lots of people pull this off everyday. Or the airline would not offer this.

All you’ll be doing is walking off one plane and on another. The gates will probably be close to each other. I would be delighted at such efficiency.

If the airline sells this as a transfer, then they believe it can be done. And even if your arriving flight is late and you miss the transfer, the airline has to get you on the next available flight.

Warsaw's airport is not huge, and it's pretty easy and relatively quick to connect there (assuming domestic connections). I think we had a 45-50 LOT-to-LOT intra-Europe connection and made it surprisingly easily, with a little time to spare, no long walks or running. Of course, our flights were on time, and there were no other issues.

The big question to ask (with any tight connection) is: How serious would the consequences be if you miss your connection?

Assuming it's all on one ticket (no way would I try on separate tickets), if you misconnect, they'll put you on the next available flight (if they have seats...how many seats do you need? 2? 8? 2 are more likely to be available than 8...). When would the next available flight be - an hour or two later, or the next day? And what is awaiting you at your destination - a cruise ship departing Venice early the following morning, or a relaxed week there in Venice?

So how bad is the risk, how awful would it be if things go sideways? If it's no big deal, then I'd be willing to give that tight connection a chance (I would be looking for better uses of my time than that 14 hour train ride!). But you need to give a hard, sober look at the "what ifs". Another point worth considering: Between now and "this summer" the flight schedules could easily be adjusted - either way: your 35 minute connection could dwindle to an even more alarming number, or could also expand to a comfortable hour-plus. No way to know.

If you do decide to "go for it" it would be prudent to research your options, so you have in your back pocket all the info you would need to quickly pivot to a Plan B (and maybe a Plan C, or D...) as a game-day decision.

Since this "tight connection" would save you pretty much a whole day (that 14-hour train ride is going to consume a full day), it would be very tempting to me. If all goes well, you could pull it off.

One other option would be to fly Ryanair to Bergamo or Bologna, and take a train to Venice from there.

Passengers on intra-Schengen flights that use jet bridges walk off the plane straight into the Schengen departures area at WAW so 35 minutes is more than enough to go to the next gate. More time is needed if you have to be taken to the main terminal by bus.

I'm enjoying and appreciating your comments. As I mentioned, I doubt we would actually try this, especially since there is no later flight from Warsaw to Venice. Should we decide to fly this route, we would take a flight from Kraków that leaves three hours earlier.

I really was curious about whether any of you had managed to pull this off. And although I wasn't really expecting suggestions of alternate routes, WengenK's idea of flying from Kraków to Bologna, and then taking the train from there to Venice is enticing, especially since there is an express monorail from the Bologna airport to the train station that runs every seven minutes. Hmmm... the more I look at this, the better I like it. Direct flight on Ryanair to Bologna, then dinner in Venice!

There is a problem, but it has to do with the other passenger (ahem.) He does not like changing planes, and does not like budget airlines. Hence the possible 14 hour train trip.

But that'll be a problem for later; I do appreciate all of you for your comments and suggestions.

Thousands of people must have pulled of off, not only connecting to Venice but also other Schengen destinations. The way Schengen part of the terminal is arranged is that you walk into Departures though the gates other flights are departing from. It may even happen that you will depart from exactly the same gates you arrived if the plane from Krakow is scheduled to fly to Venice next. LOT uses Embraer 195 on both routes so it's not that unlikely.

There are people who seem confused when they first arrive in Warsaw because they expect to enter Arrivals/ baggage claim after disembarking not Departures, but most are used to this layout by now. It was introduced years ago and it's a lot more efficient for connections than Arrivals and Departures located on different levels.

Whether your hold baggage can make it is another matter though.

If budget airlines are not an option and you don't like LOT's offer, have you looked at Austrian via Vienna? You still need to change planes there, but you can get a longer layover time (55 minutes on the random date I looked at) but still a shorter total travel time since you don't start by flying in the wrong direction.

Badger, the change might be a deal breaker.

My plan of attack now is to work up a chart or spreadsheet, listing the three best train itineraries, and probably the two best flight or flight+train combinations, and then present it to my husband. This part of the trip won't be happening until late May, but I need to arrange and rearrange hotels and various excursions.

Our hotels are booked, but I'm double booked (Kraków and Venice) for at least two of the nights, and I want to get those cleared up as soon as possible. This is going to be a two month trip, and there are lots of rough edges that still need smoothed out.

Thanks again to everyone for your help and comments.