Pula's tiny Istrian airport isn't built for transatlantic arrivals, which is precisely what makes routing there from John Wayne such an interesting exercise in itinerary construction. There's no nonstop, of course — booking business class from Orange County to Pula means threading together SNA's limited widebody access with a connection through a major European hub, and the two most sensible options are Lufthansa via Frankfurt or Munich, or Turkish Airlines via Istanbul, with Croatia Airlines (OU) handling the final short hop into Pula on an A319 or Dash 8 configured with a simple regional business cabin. I've flown the Lufthansa routing most often, and the honest answer is that your long-haul comfort hinges entirely on which aircraft they roll out on the SNA-to-hub segment — Lufthansa has been rolling its new Allegris business suites onto select 787 and A350 routes, though North American deployment remains inconsistent, so it's worth checking your specific tail number before you get attached to the idea of a suite with a door.
Turkish Airlines deserves more credit than it gets on this itinerary: their Istanbul hub is a genuinely efficient connection point for the Balkans and Adriatic coast, and their long-haul business class — lie-flat seats with proper dine-on-demand service — pairs nicely with a short IST-PUY hop that Turkish sometimes operates seasonally in summer, saving you a second connection entirely. My insider tip: fly into Pula only between May and September, when Croatia Airlines and seasonal carriers add frequency; outside that window, it's often smarter to route into Zagreb and take a 45-minute domestic hop or a scenic three-hour drive down the coast, especially if flight loads to Pula itself look thin on OU's schedule.
April, May, September, and October remain the sweet spot for this journey — shoulder season fares tend to soften considerably before Istria's summer crowds arrive, and the Adriatic weather is arguably better for coastal exploring anyway. Given how much these connection-dependent fares fluctuate week to week, setting up dedicated price tracking for this specific SNA-to-Pula corridor is the smartest move you can make before booking.
