FYI - Disappointing News for Sicily Lovers in the USA

I can understand your disappointment.

It would be nice to have a direct flight to Palermo, but I presume that it didn’t make the cut because it’s not such a popular destination for most people wanting to go to Italy.

So… If you still want to visit beautiful Sicily, just book your ticket with a change in Milan, Rome, or Naples.

When I went to Sicily, I decided to get over jet lag in Milan, for a couple of days, prior to flying to Palermo via a very inexpensive easyjet flight.

Thanks, Pricilla. My dilemma is that I really do not like to fly all that much so having to endure 2 take-offs and 2 landings will be challenging. Also, I guess I was just so damn sure (stupidly) that Palermo was going to make the grade. Guess I will have to readjust my thinking and learn to deal with it if I want to eat mind-blowing granita con brioche and caponata!

I understand your dilemma.

I love Sicilian granita, gelato, caponata, and arancini, yum!

I live on the West coast, so it takes me longer to get there!

You can take a ferry to Sicily from the mainland and skip the flight.

In a few years United and American will both have a next-generation, long range, narrow-bodied plane coming into their fleets, and these have the potential of making smaller routes economically viable.

It’ll be an interesting time for new routes when those a321xlrs come online.

Why not take the seasonal direct flight to Naples and then travel on to Sicily by land and sea?

I understand your frustrations and thought to myself wouldn't that be nice to have a direct flight, but then realized you were talking from the east coast which still doesn't help most people, including myself. Chicago O'Hare here. We are looking for flights to Palermo and will have to change somewhere in Europe. I don't like flying either, but I'm sure Sicily will be worth it!

Thanks, jlkelman. I have finally accepted that a fairy-tale direct flight is not on the horizon any time soon and I'm not getting any younger! Just yesterday, I booked our flights with United; flying from Newark to Palermo with a 3.5 layover in Zurich and on the return from Catania a longer stop of 4.45 hours in Frankfurt. Not too bad. People will probably say I booked too early as the flight is not until early May but I wanted Premium Plus seats and as there are fewer of those (22 seats) I didn't want to risk availability. Now I have to not look back and risk finding a significant price drop! Let's see how I do with that!

Joeandrose- Not sure about United, but most US airlines have changed policies to eliminate change fees on many tickets. I track prices of tickets I’ve already booked and always get a credit (not a refund) when the prices go down.

Both ZRH and FRA are easy to navigate, so it was an excellent choice on your part and the layover is more than adequate for a stress free connection. If your flights from FRA are both operated by Lufthansa, going from one gate to the next will involve only taking the escalators to the floor above (Z gates). If the FRA-EWR leg is operated by United, it is a slightly longer walk, but not too bad.

Scudder, thanks that is good to know. I am not the most experienced traveler and these days everything seems so much more complicated. I am going to check on United's policies should the price drop.

Roberto, thanks for giving my travel plans your blessing as I value your opinion and proven expertise! You have been so helpful to me in the past and it is much appreciated.