Flying to Sicily from Chicago

PMO is served primarily by European low cost airlines. Of the major airlines only Alitalia serves PMO with a decent amount of flights (from Rome). Lufthansa also serves PMO from FRA and MUC but only with one daily pair from each, and I suspect they are seasonal and not operating in February.

The best way to PMO from ORD is therefore an Alitalia flight ORD > FCO > PMO with only one lay over in Rome FCO.

The problem is I don't think Alitalia operates the direct non stop ORD - FCO in winter, therefore that would force you to go through another layover besides Rome, probably JFK or ATL (via the Alitalia partner Delta Airlines).

That would make your trip quite a long and tiring ordeal.

The option of flying to Rome non stop and then take another airline a day or two later is a good idea (in winter I think American Airlines still operates the non stop ORD - FCO). That option would give you a chance to rest and get used to the time zone and also to purchase an inexpensive flight from Rome to Sicily and back with a low cost airline like Volotea or Vueling. If that is your choice make sure you return to Rome a day or two before your flight back to Chicago with AA (which departs in the morning).

You could also take the low cost flight from Rome to Palermo on the day of your arrival from Chicago, but make sure you have many hours for the plane change because with the low cost airlines your luggage won't transfer automatically, as you have a separate ticket. You will need to pick up your luggage, go through customs, walk to terminal T1 and check in again and go through security with the low cost airline to PMO.

Getting to Italy from anywhere in the U.S., except a couple of East Coast airports, is a real bear. I think the idea of a non-stop to Rome with a couple of days there is a good one. You can always find something to do in Rome. You can probably find inexpensive flights to and from your Sicilian airports. On a recent trip, we did just what you are proposing, Catania to Rome and on to the U.S. the next morning.

Even coming from the east coast of the US, getting to and from Sicily isn't easy. We ended up using miles from Philadelphia to Rome, then separate tickets from Rome to Palermo and from Catania to Rome. Since we were connecting to Palermo on our arrival day, we bought two tickets: one three hours after arrival, and another one about 10 hours after arrival. This way, we were "protected" if our arriving plane was late (it wasn't, and we made the first flight easily, but of course that isn't guaranteed). We did this when we saw the price of flights on our arrival day start to skyrocket (meaning a single last minute ticket would have cost more than the two advance purchase tickets we bought).

For our flights home, we stayed in Rome overnight (no way were we going to chance missing our flight home). There really was no other way to do it, as our FCO to PHL flight departed around noon - much too early to catch a separately-ticketed flight from somewhere else. We stayed at the Rome Airport Hilton, but would have done just as well or better to stay at a central Rome hotel and take a taxi each way from the airport.

For your flights from Rome to Sicily, don't overlook Alitalia. They allow one free checked bag, which made them no more expensive for us than a budget carrier would have ended up being. If you are booking a domestic flight on Alitalia, use their International site with the English option; this has much lower prices for these flights than their US site. And book early, as the price rises when they sell out their allotment of cheaper seats (they have 4 price tiers).

My wife and I will be flying to Sicily from the New York area at the end of September. We are flying from Newark to Rome on United, using frequent flyer miles for one of us. Then we are transfering to an Alitalia flight to Catania. There are three hours between the flights and figure that is enough time to go through passport control, get our bags, change terminals, go through security and make our flight. We've done this before in Lisbon, Munich, and Frankfurt.

On our return we are flying from Palermo to Rome and will spend two days there. Even though we have been to Rome three times in last ten years, our attitude is simple: pass through Rome without spending time there? No way! Even if its just to walk the streets again, we have to do it.

Then it will be the morning flight from Rome to Newark.