Traveling to Sicily

The one with the most convenient flight at the best price.
FCO-PMO
Alitalia
Easyjet
Ryanair
Vueling

CTA-FCO
All of the above except for Easyjet.

I usually fly Delta out of Detroit (code shares with Alitalia). The connection from Rome to Palermo is Alitalia, which has better baggage rules than some low-cost airlines.

Just a word of encouragement re Alitalia. A couple of years ago we needed to fly from Catania to Rome to catch our homeward flight. I was leery of Alitalia because of the horror stories about them that have circulated over the years. When I checked reviews of the low-cost lines, however, there were many horror stories, as well. Bottom line: we flew Alitalia, at a very good price, and no problems. I did schedule us to fly the day before our transatlantic trip, and we spent the night in a hotel in Fiumicino. With any airline, I think it's risky to jeopardize an expensive, long haul ticket by attempting too tight a connection on a separate ticket.

I was on the same tour in June. I spent a few days in Rome before and after the tour so I purchased my international flight separately. I flew Vueling round-trip between Rome (FCO) to Palermo (PMO). The ticket was only 90 dollars, including the fee for checking one bag. It was a pleasant experience, the staff were nice, flights were on time, check-in and luggage retrieval were surprisingly quick and efficient.

If you do fly Alitalia, a few points:

1) They include one checked bag as part of your base fare, so they can wind up cheaper than the "budget" carriers if you have to check a bag anyway.

2) For domestic Alitalia flights in Italy, the fares on their International website, which has an English option, and the fares on their Italian website, which does not, are the same. For some reason, both are much cheaper than the fares on their US website - for the exact same flights.

3) If you are a Delta frequent flyer, you can get points for your domestic Alitalia flights (there's a place to enter your Delta number as part of the booking process).

4) Book EARLY! They can have seats as cheap as €50, but these go fast. Closer to the day of travel, and depending on the demand for that day, fares can go as high as €400 (yes, one way).

If you are not spending time on the mainland at both ends of your tour, then book your flights from home to the Sicilian city or cities. Take into consideration that Etna affects the Catania airport. When it spews, it can easily close the airport for several days. If you are on a tighter schedule, you may want to fly out of Palermo instead. If you are spending some time on the mainland, consider flying into or out of other cities. I flew from Catania to Bologna on Meridiana, which gave me a free checked bag. Remember that even if you have only carry-on for international flights, you are likely to have to check luggage on the budget airlines, since the carry-on limits are usually much lower.

Agree with booking the entire flight on DAL if that's your airline, because Alitalia DOES have much more generous baggage rules. Remember that when the European airlines say ONE carryone, they mean ONE, not your purse plus carry on. ONE.So leave enough room in that carryon to fit your purse into it.
I also agree that arriving in Rome a day prior to your departure date is a good thing to do. Etna is currently active. Not destructively active, but active enough to mess with the Catania flights. Might be better to return via Palermo.

Harold:
Which are the different Alitalia sites you are talking about.
www.alitalia.com gives the same prices for the same flight, no matter which country and language you choose. The only difference is that if you choose Italy/Italian they give you prices in Euro.

Roberto:

First, to clarify, I was referring to domestic Italian flights only, not flights between the US and Italy. But it does appear my advice needs some updating.

I just went to the main site, Alitalia.com. I then opened two windows, one at the International site of http://booking.alitalia.com/Booking/en_en/, and the other as the US site of http://booking.alitalia.com/Booking/us_en/

I then selected (just as a test) one way flights from FCO to PMO on September 29, 2014.

The results were different from what I saw when I was buying my tickets last year. At that time, the prices were substantially lower on the International site, when converted (comparing dollars to dollars). And I'm not the only one who found this; see this post from Ron In Rome: http://www.roninrome.com/transportation/booking-alitalia-flights

This time, the prices are basically the same. For instance, the price for one flight on the International site was €425.88, which http://www.xe.com shows as $540; the US site priced that flight as $548. By the time I pay credit card fees, it's actually less to use the US site.

HOWEVER, the International site shows some lower priced tickets still available, which are not available on the US site. There are 4 price levels, and "Promo" prices (the lowest level) are simply not showing on the US site for that date, but are still available for some of the flights on the International site.

So, I think it still pays to check both. But you're right, at least for that one date I checked, the dramatic price difference seems to have disappeared.

Except for Alitalia, you may not find one airline that services both. I found booking
flights to and from Sicily to be difficult-the web sites are not great. Take the earlier
advice about the closing of Catania airport because of volcanic ash very seriously.

Pat

I have tentative plans to visit Sicily on last week of this November. Flying in/out of Rome FCO.
As of today Alitalia website in Italian is offering promo airfares. USA website is not listing any promo airfare.
For example FCO - CAT 21 Nov 48.80 euro or US$ 63 vs. $209.90.
I have not used their Italian website so I do not know if a real purchase would go through.

Harold has some very good advice. My husband and I purchased tickets thru the Alitalia Italian website for a trip next March. We are flying from Naples to Palermo and returning from Catania to Naples. We got promo fares which are not on the US site. Yes the purchase did go thru.

I purchased one ticket between Rome and Sicily through Alitalia's Italian site, and the other ticket through their International site. Both transactions went through with no problems, and I hadn't even notified my credit card company (of course, they can block the transaction, but a quick phone call should clear that up). And as I said, I was able to enter my Delta frequent flyer number, and I got credit for the flights I took.

Just like any other air ticket these days, you get an e-ticket sent to your email account. If you book through the Italian site, the e-ticket is in Italian. If you book through the International site choosing English as the language, the e-ticket is in English. But I had no problem using either of them. For one flight, I did on-line check in and printed the boarding pass. For the other, I did on-line check in, but had no printer access, so I got the boarding pass at the airport. Again, no problems either way.