Help me with airfare to Sicily (for my mom)

Try going directly to the airlines, I am flying from Detroit to Palermo in May, with a 4-hour stop in Roma, the airfare was about $1600 roundtrip with economy comfort both ways on Delta.

Where is her flight originating?

I assume someone will meet her at Comiso but not Catania? I think the insane price is because Comiso Airport is regional, not many choices there. She might be better off flying into Catania and hiring a private transfer to Comiso.

First, where is she coming from?
I assume that she has free time so she can pick and choose travel dates that give the best air fare. I like to use http://matrix.itasoftware.com/. You can put in the entire month of October and a range of days (say 10 to 17) you want to stay, and it will give all the cheapest prices for every day of the month for various trip lengths. Might have to tweak it a bit. Sometimes Turkish air shows the cheapest flights, but connections from HEDouble Hockey Sticks through Instanbul. You can add in a qualifier in the advanced routing box like ~IST to elimanate these flights from the results.
Edit- Looks like flights to Comiso are from Milan Linate. That makes it a two changer. $1500 is a good ballpark price.

First of all beware of travel agents. There are lots of incompetent people in the business and their only goal is to get a commission. Your choice to come to this forum is a smart one.
Comiso is Ragusa's airport, however it's an airport with very limited traffic. Ryanair, a low cost airline, is the only one flying from Rome. However Catania airport (CTA), the largest airport in Sicily, is not too far from Ragusa.
So these are the best options:
1. Fly Alitalia (or its partners, like Delta, AirFrance, KLM) to Rome. Then from Rome there are numerous Alitalia flights to CTA. Coming from the U.S. this is the best solution as it would allow you to fly the entire trip on one ticket (with Alitalia or its partners). Use Kayak.com to find flights, select as the origin your home airport, your destination is CTA.
2. The option to fly to Comiso would require two separate tickets. The first one to Rome with any airline. Then the second from Rome to Comiso with Ryanair. Since it would be two separate tickets and one leg with a low cost airline, your mother would need to pick up the luggage in Rome, and check in again with Ryanair. So it's really important to choose an adequate amount of layover in Rome. This is not an option I would recommend for an elderly person traveling alone and not experienced with low cost airline procedures.

Roberto, I believe Ryanair flies from Rome Ciampino, so that would also involve an airport change.

5k is extremely high. Sounds more like business class to me. I'm flying mid Oct from Vancouver BC to FCO on KLM with a 4 hr layover in Amsterdam for $760 round trip. Then from FCO to Palermo for $120 RT. I bought my tix a couple of months ago and similar flights out of Seattle were about double that fare.

I booked directly on KLM and Alitalia.it websites. Don't know where she's flying from, but your estimate of $1500 should be a reasonable guess. I would look for different transportation options from Catania to Ragusa. Shuttledirect.com quotes a price of about $200 for a private driver from Catania to Ragusa. Good luck!

Hello folks--Thank you for weighing in. I forgot to mention that we are on the East Coast and figured that JFK would be the best airport to fly out of. Newark is also a possibility. Her dates are open because yes, she is retired. She chose October because the weather would be milder.

Her friend in Sicily has no car and cannot meet her at Catania. Other that shuttle direct, what options are there for getting from Catania to Ragusa?

She's very worried about having the stamina to undergo such a long flight and the ensuing touristy-things. I'm trying to reassure her that she can do it and have a good time, too!

She's very worried about having the stamina to undergo such a long
flight and the ensuing touristy-things.

I'd be cautious about disregarding her health concerns. Presumably she knows her physical/medical limits better than anyone else, except her doctor. If she's "very worried about having the stamina" to do the flight, she probably has some reason for being worried. Flights of that length are physically hard on people much younger than your Mom.

If she hasn't already done so, perhaps you'll want to mention that she might want to see her doctor to get the doctor's recommendation on this kind of trip with long flights, and seeing what other advice her doctor might have?

Since Medicare doesn't cover a person outside the US, hopefully she has travel or other medical insurance that will cover her on this trip.

Agree completely with Zoe. If budget will allow, I'd definitely hire a private car. She's a bit elderly to fly into Rome, change airports with luggage and then take the flight directly to Comiso - and on top of all of that a bus!?. Ragusa isn't an easy place to get to for a non driving individual. Factor in the age/exhaustion issue. Even though I would expect the taxi/private driver to be pretty expensive, it should certainly not be expensive enough to justify a $5k airfare you're looking at to get her to Comiso!

A good ballpark figure for JFK/Catania is probably + - $1600. Even if the taxi is several hundred eu, it would be worth the money.

If she flies Alitalia round trip to Catania, she won't have to change airports, or even get her luggage in Rome. They should be able to offer her special assistance through the Rome airport. I'd "google" private drivers at Catania airport and see what it would cost to get her directly to her friend's home in Ragusa. TA may have some recommendations for a RELIABLE service.

At her age, convenience should be a high priority. I wouldn't even "mess" with Ryan Air. Stick with whatever you can get on Alitalia. Much better service and generous luggage allowance and more professional overall in my experience.

She's been to her doctor and gotten the green light, and plans to purchase health insurance that will cover her while overseas.

It really does sound like a better plan to keep the transfers to a minimum. I do especially like the idea of a private driver. Her friend may even know of a good service there.

She will most likely be traveling with a cousin who is in her early 60s, which I think makes things easier.

It's not that I am disregarding her concerns. If she should decide not to go, of course it is OK. But my mom tends to be a worry-wart and I just want to reassure her that these things are doable. I saw a post on the forums the other day from a gentleman over 80 who said he and his wife (same age) have been to Europe several times and continue to visit. My mom's ancestors come from Sicily and I think it would be a wonderful trip.

Her friend is also elderly and I'm sure would not march her around too much! ;)

There are buses from Catania Airport to Ragusa for about €8.60 one way. They appear to run frequently and it takes about 1 hr 45 min. http://www.interbus.it/ This website is in Italian and it doesn't seem to work for me with Google Translate turned on, but it's fairly easy to figure it out. Just enter the info and search.

A quick check on the KLM website shows fares from JFK to be about $1436 with good connections.

Perhaps your mom's friend could suggest other transportation options too.

Yes, Comiso airport is problematic. Delta site shows $1436 from JFK to Catania operated by Alitalia through Rome (Delta, KLM, and Alitalia are all one as far as pricing and schedules go).

I'm going to Sicily this September (from Washington DC area) so I had to do a lot of research on flights, since Ragusa and southeastern Italy was the region I will be visiting. I found the best flight by far to be Turkish Air ($763 with all taxes) but it does involve a stopover in Istanbul on both the entry and exit. In spite of the low price, I would not recommend that option - works for me but I'm in my early 40s and very flexible. As other have said, Catania is the best airport in proximity to Ragusa because Comiso is just too limited (no flights from US that I know of). So price your flights to Catania. Given she's going in October, I would be really surprised if the flights are more than $1,200 although I don't know what airport your Mom would be leaving from. Ragusa is still a way off from Catania so your Mom will need to be picked up. I'm staying in Siracusa, and even the train service to Ragusa from Siracusa is not as frequent as I would imagine (there are huge gaps in the afternoons it seems).

PS. My friend's fare from JFK to Catania in Sept was a little over $900 via Air Berlin.

Agnes, thank you very much for the tip about Air Berlin. I just did a "test run" and found a flight round trip for $990.

I'll keep searching. Thank you, everyone , for your invaluable help!

I found the lowest fare of $864 on Air Berlin (JFK to Catania) just by playing with the dates in October on the Air Berlin website. If your Mom has flexibility on the actual dates, I'm fairly sure she can get a decent priced ticket. Use the (+/- 3 days) and try different weeks to get the best fare.

I ran all of the above by my mother and she is adamant about flying into Comiso. For some reason, she doesn't want to fly out of Newark and does not want to have to make driver arrangements to get from Catania to her friend's house. What can I say? I am throwing up my hands and giving up.

Thank you all for your help and advice.

Then I am seeing JFK to Rome to Milan Linate to Comiso. You may have to call Alitalia for this one. I tmasy also involve an overnight stay somewhere along the way, possibly Milan. Next, who is paying for this trip?

Hi, Sam--It's her trip and she is paying for it. I was trying to help because she keeps wavering back and forth with "I don't know if I can afford this." I mean, when somebody tells me $5K for airfare, and I KNOW better, I figure I should help. ;)

That said, she can be extremely stubborn and it might be best if I just step aside and let her and her cousin figure it all out. My cousin is a seasoned world traveler and used to live in Europe, so she might be a better candidate for all this than I!

I should add that she doesn't want any stopovers and wants to fly direct to Comiso, which does rather limit her options.

SandraL, I think you've done all you could do! I hope your mother has a great trip!