Flight recommendations for Sicily

I start with Google flights, sort for number of stops (one or less--will def be at least one stop for Sicily). Just doing a dummy flight without dates, I see Turkish airlines is on there. If you don't mind the long layover in IST (I would), it's probably going to be a good deal price-wise.
If you have time for a stop over, flying direct to a major city and then changing to a different airline (you need ample time between to do it this way) is also an economical.
"Easiest" is booking through all the way on one airline, so I'd try that first and see what kinds of layover options you have to choose between--you appear to have one stop options on Swiss and United/Lufthansa (I would try to avoid Frankfurt airport based on some annoying experiences there).

We're doing the Sicily tour in April. Delta/KLM flight from O'Hare to Rome, with a plane change in Amsterdam. American has non-stop flights ORD-FCO, but our loyalty is with Delta and we're traveling on Skymiles. We've got a week on our own in Puglia, then are flying from Bari to Palermo on ITA. That itinerary involves a plane change in Rome. I just today booked the Bari to Palermo flight. I had a choice of layover times at FCO, since ITA has flights from Rome to Palermo throughout the day. On the day we're doing this, ITA's afternoon and evening flights from Rome to Palermo depart at 1:20 p.m., 3:20 p.m., 5:10 p.m., 8:05 p.m. and 10 p.m.

So you could book your international flights round trip to/from Rome's airport and then separately book Ryanair or ITA flights to get from Rome to Palermo, and on the other end of the tour, from Catania to Rome. To avoid missing our international flight home, we're leaving Catania on the last day of the tour, flying on ITA to Rome, staying overnight there one night, and doing the Delta international flight the next day. You could also build in that cushion on the front end of the tour, international flight to Rome followed by a Ryanair or ITA flight to Palermo the next day.

When are you traveling? ITA Airways will start nonstop service to Rome from ORD on April 7 - six days per week, and daily starting June 3 for the summer. From Rome they offer frequent connections to both Palermo and Catania - so you could book the trip on a single ticket.

I went there last here and flew through Frankfurt and from there had a direct flight to Palermo. It's a small airport so you will need to connect in a larger city within Europe and then take a second flgiht.

Thank you for the help on my flight plans. I guess there is no easy way to get there. Thank you again and Happy Holidays!

It depends who you prefer to fly with and time of the year you are flying. During the summer United had a direct flight into Palermo from Newark I believe. Please do some research. When we flew to Palermo before the pandemic we went through Munich which was an easy stress free connection

We traveled to Sicily last year from San Francisco via Milan MXP. From there, several flights daily to both Palermo & Catania. We flew into Catania, then back from Palermo.

@Bonnie — what do you mean by not easy? To me, getting to a small island across an ocean in less than 20 hours with only one plane change is the epitome of ease—if you tell us what is hindering you, we can maybe explain or assist.

I have booked the RS Sicily tour in late March. Since I live on the West Coast, flying with no stops en route is not an option. Have you thought about flying to Rome and spending a night near the airport? Ostia is a small resort town near Fiumicino, offering both hotels and lots of options on AirBnB etc. The next morning you can get a flight on ITA to Palermo. Another advantage of this is that, if you arrive in Rome from the U.S., you will have to clear Customs with your bag and then check it again with the next carrier--no checking it all the way to your destination. You could also stay at an airport hotel, but they are usually expensive and it's a short trip to Ostia, with its beach (a good walk even when the weather isn't great) and good restaurants.

Have you thought about flying to Rome and spending a night near the airport?

ITA offers numerous flights per day from FCO to Palermo. In addition to ITA, American, United and Icelandair offer connections in Rome to Palermo on ITA. So it isn't really necessary to lay over in Rome just to catch a one hour flight.

On a single ticket your baggage should be checked through to Palermo as well - you will just need to clear immigration at FCO.

Bonnie, we went thru the same questions re getting to Catania, Sicily. No simple way, from Mpls.
After much checking, we are flying delta, Mpls to NYC. Then NYC to Milan. We will spend 3-4 days in Lake Como area (easy train from Milan). Then back to Milan, where we have sevl options to fly direct to Catania.
Dont know if this helps you. But from Minn-wisc., I do not believe there is an easy or simple wa6 to get to Sicily. I think we exhausted every option in our planning!
Good wishes!!

Take a look at United's code share flights with Lufthansa via Frankfurt or Munich and onward to PMO. Requires one stop and change of planes. Or look at Swiss Air ( also a United code share) to Zurich to PMO. I am flying Swiss Air thru Zurich and on to Palermo myself in March but out of Boston not ORD. Also see if you can get a direct flight from ORD to FCO Rome and connect from there to PMO. if you are flying after June 1 in the summer Neos Air ( an Italian airline) has two direct flights a week out of JFK on Thursdays and Saturdays. Take a hop into JFK and fly direct in and out of Palermo. This summer service started last summer, I believe. And I think United may have direct flights to PMO in the summer probably from EWR. Seems like I read that is starting in 2025.

You don’t say what time of year you’re planning on flying into Palermo so I’ll assume some time during the summer. There are O’Hare to Palermo flights available and somewhat affordable considering the distance. ``so I did a hypothetical search and came up with results instantly. By the way sky’ scanner is the only search engine I’ll ever use for flight and hotel searches:
https://www.skyscanner.com/transport/flights/ord/pmo/250714/250725/?adultsv2=1&cabinclass=economy&childrenv2=&inboundaltsenabled=false&outboundaltsenabled=false&preferdirects=false&rtn=1

We are going to Sicily in April with a few days in Naples first so we booked a United flight to Naples from IAD via Munich on Lufthansa; then flying Ryanair from Naples to Catania, and returning home on Lufthansa from Palermo to IAD via Munich. We have about a 2-hour layover in Munich each way, which should be enough time. We are avoiding going through Rome, which is expecting high tourism during this Jubilee year.

We got very reasonably priced tickets on Delta from New Orleans to Rome, via Atlanta on a Sunday in March. We get to Rome at 9:30 a.m. and are going to spend the day there, at a hotel near the airport, and will fly to Sicily the next day on ITA. We could have gotten an ITA flight that day, but chose to spend the day in Rome rather than Palermo. When the tour is over, we are flying back to Rome for a few days before flying home, again ITA to Rome, Delta from Rome to Atlanta to NO. We did not book the Delta and ITA tickets together. The
Rome ticket is round trip; the ITA tickets are two separate ones, since we'll be flying from Catania to Rome.