London to Vienna

[londonbridge]

Mods please move this to Trip Planning And Reports if it’s more appropriate. I’m flying out to Austria on Thursday, arriving in Vienna at 12:20 lunchtime local time, then heading on to St Polten. How much time should one allow to clear immigration and customs in determining which train to book from the airport? There are Railjet direct trains at 03 and 33 past the hour with a journey time of approximately one hour. On the return leg, flight leaves Vienna at 13:55 so I’m looking at departing St Polten on the 10:32 or 11:03 to allow for checking in.

 

[cactustwirly]

Mods please move this to Trip Planning And Reports if it’s more appropriate. I’m flying out to Austria on Thursday, arriving in Vienna at 12:20 lunchtime local time, then heading on to St Polten. How much time should one allow to clear immigration and customs in determining which train to book from the airport? There are Railjet direct trains at 03 and 33 past the hour with a journey time of approximately one hour. On the return leg, flight leaves Vienna at 13:55 so I’m looking at departing St Polten on the 10:32 or 11:03 to allow for checking in.

Which airline are you flying with? Some are more prone to delays than others, I would strongly recommend a flexible ticket for this leg.
If you're only taking hand luggage it takes about half an hour, although I remember the station being a bit of a walk from the terminal

 

[Mainline421]

There aren't any Sparschiene tickets for that journey so just get the tickets when you arrive, it'll be the same price and tickets won't be limited to any specific train.

(Incidentally that thread title on a rail forum made me assume you'd be taking the Nightjet rather than flying).

 

[londonbridge]

Flying Austrian airlines out and Lufthansa back. Yes only hand baggage so I’ll just have a small overnight bag.

Never been to Austria before so not sure what you mean by Sparschiene tickets. Looked at Trainline and prices for the outward train vary from £15 right up to £36, so I can still pay £15 for a walk up ticket on the railjet if I just buy on the day?

 

[Mainline421]

Flying Austrian airlines out and Lufthansa back. Yes only hand baggage so I’ll just have a small overnight bag.

Never been to Austria before so not sure what you mean by Sparschiene tickets. Looked at Trainline and prices for the outward train vary from £15 right up to £36, so I can still pay £15 for a walk up ticket on the railjet if I just buy on the day?

Avoid Trainline, checking OEBB the walk up price is €16.80 one way

 

[30907]

Never been to Austria before so not sure what you mean by Sparschiene tickets.

Sparschiene are the equivalent of NR Advances.

Looked at Trainline and prices for the outward train vary from £15 right up to £36, so I can still pay £15 for a walk up ticket on the railjet if I just buy on the day.

Yes - the cheaper price is the regional transport authority's fare valid for immediate travel or up to 2hr after, no break of journey. The expensive one is the national rate with longer validity, but you won't need that.

Memory says there are ticket machines on the way down from the arrivals hall, or you can buy online when you arrive.

 

[DanNCL]

Mods please move this to Trip Planning And Reports if it’s more appropriate. I’m flying out to Austria on Thursday, arriving in Vienna at 12:20 lunchtime local time, then heading on to St Polten. How much time should one allow to clear immigration and customs in determining which train to book from the airport? There are Railjet direct trains at 03 and 33 past the hour with a journey time of approximately one hour. On the return leg, flight leaves Vienna at 13:55 so I’m looking at departing St Polten on the 10:32 or 11:03 to allow for checking in.

You won’t want to book as it makes no difference to the cost. Your best option is to buy a ticket at the station and get on the next Railjet.
Just worth noting that the 1333 goes to Graz instead of Salzburg so won’t serve St Pölten. If the 1333 is the next service when you get out of arrivals your best option would be to take that to Wien Hbf where there’s a 7 minute connection to another Railjet to St Pölten, which is supposed to be a cross platform connection.

Memory says there are ticket machines on the way down from the arrivals hall, or you can buy online when you arrive.

There are two different types of ticket machines, both types are present upstairs in the arrivals hall and on the station concourse. The OP will want to use the red TVMs which sell ÖBB and VOR (local transport association) tickets. Avoid the green TVMs as they’re for the CAT.

 

[Austriantrain]

Mods please move this to Trip Planning And Reports if it’s more appropriate. I’m flying out to Austria on Thursday, arriving in Vienna at 12:20 lunchtime local time, then heading on to St Polten. How much time should one allow to clear immigration and customs in determining which train to book from the airport? There are Railjet direct trains at 03 and 33 past the hour with a journey time of approximately one hour. On the return leg, flight leaves Vienna at 13:55 so I’m looking at departing St Polten on the 10:32 or 11:03 to allow for checking in.

I strongly recommend taking the 10:32. The trains leaving St Pölten at half hour are significantly more punctual than the rjx services at the full hour.

And it will make check-in much less stressful too.

And don’t pre-book for the train from the airport; you will find plenty of seats boarding at the airport station. Standard tickets on this route are now valid only for two hours, so buy the ticket at the machine or online just before boarding.

When you are at Vienna Airport station, take the first railjet service. If it happens to go to Graz, you will have a connection - almost always cross-platform - towards St Pölten.

 

[londonbridge]

Sparschiene are the equivalent of NR Advances.

Ah, I see.

Yes - the cheaper price is the regional transport authority's fare valid for immediate travel or up to 2hr after, no break of journey. The expensive one is the national rate with longer validity, but you won't need that.

Memory says there are ticket machines on the way down from the arrivals hall, or you can buy online when you arrive.

I did wonder why the trains that are twice the cost of the direct one seem to take twice as long and require changing as well.

Thanks everyone for all the advice.


Edit: (forgot about automerge as no-one had replied since my previous post)….
Thanks again everyone, found the ticket machines straightforward to use and paid the €16:80 each way quoted….@Austriantrain good call, I’m on the 10:32 back to the airport, arrived at St Polten station at 10:15 and could have got the 10:03 as it was running twenty minutes late.

In any case after I boarded no one has been through checking tickets either on yesterdays outward trip nor todays return leg.

 

[renegademaster]

Passport control at Vienna was very quick for me , like a minute or two at a non EU passport control booth right outside where the taxiway bus took me. Not the hours I spent at Berlin Brandenburg at 8am