Sicily air travel

My experience the last few years is that it’s best to book well in advance, like at minimum six months out. I would also advise checking directly with the airlines versus the travel websites. I have found better flight options and better prices going direct with the carrier on my last three trips.

I am not sure booking many months out is helpful. Long story follows. It is instructive.

We booked many months out for our RS Sicily trip and flights. Then kept getting notices from Expedia about flight changes. Most were minor. No big deal, though it was nerve-wracking to see our short layover in Frankfurt get shorter.

Then, less than a month out, the airline (United, using other carriers; booked though Expedia) unilaterally changed our return flight from Naples to a return from Rome and then unilaterally cancelled all our flights just a day later, before I did anything.

I then managed to quickly book new flights (with NEW credit card charges) with little price differences, but a couple of hundred bucks more for the two of us, combined. (Expedia told us to go to the carrier, but we ended up doing this on Expedia since United tried selling us replacement tickets at a price that was $3,000 more than the original price).

THEN, I had a huge fight for close to ten days with United which initially refused to refund our money that they had been paid many months earlier. And these were business class tix, so a fair bit of money was involved.

They lied about everything, starting with the claim that I had cancelled (not them), then that I paid Expedia and not United (false), then that they couldn’t give me anything other than a partial credit for future travel on United. They also refused to give me any names or addresses where I could write. This went on for about a week.

Fortunately, a travel columnist, Chris Elliott of the Elliott Report had names and e-addresses for United executives available on line.

I could then email two different execs at United with a very lawyerly demand package, citing applicable federal law and documenting the full history with purchase documents and my partially redacted credit card bill to document various misrepresentations by United and prove that my payments had gone to United, not Expedia. Plus all the notifications from Expedia through the months, as well as the then-recent confirmation emails from United’s DO NOT REPLY e-address that stated their initial and inadequate responses. Once I sent the five page demand letter with about a dozen exhibits referenced and attached, United quickly responded, got an appropriate middle manager to deal with me and within another week I finally got my money credited back to my card.

Now, let’s say all those mini changes to my schedule had resulted in a 45 minute layover in Frankfurt on the way to Sicily, rather than the 60 minute layover that was scarcely enough to take two busses from plane to terminal and later from terminal to plane, plus run though the terminal and clear customs. Then I would have had to change the tix, and I am sure the airlines would have made me pay for that.

Since your trip is in the spring and not summer, perhaps a month or six weeks out might be the sweet spot for you to book your tix. Buon Viagge.

PS. I suggest you get to Sicily at least one day in advance. At least two days in advance if you want to go to Cefalu in advance of starting the tour in Palermo.

LATE NOTE: I did engage them multiple times on the phone of the course of a week. That's when I was told I had cancelled, that I had not paid United, and that they could only offer partial credit. It was ONLY because of e-mailing them an extensive package to a couple of Vice Presidents at United that I was able to resolve this. Ultimately, United's mid-level manager told me the whole thing was very strange and it was difficult for them to understand why they had changed the departure city, and then why they had cancelled.

I fly around 20 times a year. It used to be more.

How far in advance you book is up to you. Some like to book up to a year in advance, some shorter. If you want to save money, don't wait until six weeks out or less especially during a busy travel month.

You may want to start monitoring flights and can do that with Google Flights. When you set a flight watch it alerts you to changes in price.

Always book directly with the airline. When you book through a third party, you pay the third party who then pays the airline. Payment, from the ailrine's point of view, is from the third party. Most people think they are paying the airline or hotel but they are really not. If everything works out, then you could save some money. But if there is a problem, there will be a problem.

The further out you book your flights, the better chance of changes. If an airline changes your flight or cancels it, they have to offer you an alternative for no extra cost. Not so if you book through a third party. At that point, you have to deal with the third party. (You will get notices from the third party and not from the airline.) It's also possible that the third party is making the changes and letting you think it's the airline.) If the supplier, airline or hotel, refunds your money paid through a third party, it was because they dealt with the third party and go their permission rather than making ou do it. One way to know this is how long it takes to get the okay for a refund. Dealing direct, they can issue it immediately.

Over the years, I've had flights changed and even canceled. I always book direct with the airline. I never had a problem getting things fixed at no extra cost. They will usually first offer you a flight credit but you can refuse that and get a refund if a flight is canceled or changed. It's best to speak with someone rather than using email or chat.