Flight from Sicily to FCO to connect International Flight to US

Separate tickets? Checked luggage?

Separate tickets and checked luggage.

I'd never 'self-connect' with less than four hours, maybe more if it involved a hike between terminals.

ITA may be able to check your luggage through on to Delta, but it's hard (impossible) to know that before you check in in Sicily, so can't be counted on.

Delta and ITA share codes/flights, so you should be able to get checked through.

We are doing this next month. But we are flying the night before and staying near the airport. I think it is risky to take two unconnected flights when the second is an international flight which would be very expensive to replace. Having checked luggage makes it much more risky in my view.

Delta and ITA share codes/flights, so you should be able to get checked through.

Not an assumption I would make.

Presumably you are looking at separate flights because it is cheaper than buying a single ticket?

Why would you expect the airlines to provide the single ticket service when you buy separate tickets?

I agree with Scudder, 'not less than 4 hours' on separate tickets.

When you buy separate tickets and self-connect, you put yourself in a position where you have to rely on the kindness of strangers to check your bag all the way to your final destination. It might happen and it might not. It really depends on the gate agent at the point of departure because even with a code share airline checking your luggage through to the final destination is not automatic for a person on two separate tickets. You need an interline agreement and not a code share to be guaranteed the check through to your final destination. You could try connecting the tickets through the airline and get the benefits including not having to worry about missing the connecting flight but that costs money. I would allow not less than 4 hours between the two flights. When I self connect, I allow 6 to 8 hours between flights and I rationally know that is too much time but I try to do things that reduce my stress when traveling and worrying about my onward flight is stress inducing.

Delta and ITA share codes/flights, so you should be able to get checked through.

This is not reliable, even among codeshare partners. But extra caution in the case of ITA, for which Lufthansa has a buyout bid pending. That would almost surely terminate any SkyTeam partnerships for ITA.

I did this exact thing last year. I flew from Catania to Rome on ITA and spent the night at a hotel near FCO.. Then I flew out on Delta to the U.S. the next day. This is the only way I would consider doing this when flying on separate tickets with checked baggage.

(I did this on my flight from the U.S. to Palermo as well.)

Agree that you should allow four hours. The absolute minimum should be three. You’ll need to claim your checked bags from ITA and proceed to Delta’s counters for checkin/screening. Delta’s recommendation is to arrive at airport at least three hours before departure. Checkin and checking baggage must occur not later than one hour before departure. Arrival at the gate is recommended at 45 minutes before departure.

It is highly unlikely that ITA will be able to provide any type of assistance.

We don't know your airport in the States, when you are traveling, and whether you've already purchased the transatlantic leg. It is possible to book flights from Palermo to the States via ITA and Delta - at least to select destinations. But whether or not a codeshare is available, they will have an interline agreement and a travel agent should be able to book on a single ticket so your bags will be checked through.

I'm returning from Rome in November on ITA, connecting to Delta in Boston. It will be a major integration challenge if the Lufthansa purchase of ITA goes through, and will most likely take quite a while.