We will be going on one of Rick's Tours of Sicily later this year and are arriving a few days early. We arrive in Rome (FCO) on our international flight at 11:10. There is a Ryanair flight leaving FCO at 13:10 to Palermo. We will have no checked baggage. Is two hours enough time to clear customs and make the flight?
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23232 posts
Probably not. On a good day with everything clicking and on-time, you probably could make it. One delay anywhere and your dead. We have sailed through immigration in 45 mins to an hour on a couple of times but two years ago on a Saturday morning it was nearly three hours. Second Ryanair could have a 45 min cut off for checking in prior to the flight. That is fairly common with some European air lines. Not a smart plan unless you like dice rolls. What is plan B if you miss the flight?
Posted by
OP
4 posts
We will take a later flight. Thanks for your input.
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11142 posts
Another thing to consider is, does your luggage fit Ryanair's carry-on requirement.? It may be ok for your international flight but not Ryanair. Be sure to check that if you try your risky, tight transfer.
Posted by
67 posts
We used Vueling; they have a fare class that is still reasonable and allows you to move your flight up for no extra fee.
Posted by
Central Connecticut, USA
1103 posts
We took the RS Sicily tour in April 2016, and stayed a couple of days in Rome before continuing on to Palermo.
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
In April 2014, what I did in this situation (separate tickets US to Rome and Rome to Palermo) was book two flights. One left Rome three hours after my scheduled arrival, and the other one left ten hours after my scheduled arrival. This way, I knew I'd use one and throw away the other; the combined cost of the two advance tickets was lower than a last minute ticket from FCO to PMO on my travel day (a Monday - every time I looked, prices went up again for that day).
In the end, I made the three hour "connection" with lots of time to spare - and I was picking up checked luggage in Rome and having to re-check it to Palermo. But I was very glad to have the "insurance" of the later ticket.
For Ryanair, do heed all the warnings. You need to print out your boarding pass from home; you need to pre-pay for any checked bags (and you are almost certain to have them, as Ryanair's carry-on limits are much lower than transatlantic flights); you need to go to the document check desk to get your boarding pass stamped. Failure to follow all of Ryanair's rules will not only cost you a lot, but may delay you enough to miss the plane (one of the many ways they make money is by being very strict with cut-off times. thus making you buy a new and full-priced ticket for another flight).
I took Alitalia from FCO to PMO. At the time, they included one checked bag and had a more generous carry-on allowance than the budget carriers. Now, they have "basic economy" tickets with more restrictions, so check carefully to learn the terms of the ticket before buying.