Purchasing a second plane ticket for Rome to Palermo?

Never buy a ticket at the airport not unless you are rich

I am sorry it will not make any difference where you buy your ticket. The last minute ticket will be expensive but it might be worth it to avoid the big wait. I would not encourage a purchase prior to arrival. But there is a couple of other consideration -- is the leg to Palermo as part of your original ticket.? In other words do you have an open jaw ticket to Palermo with a return from Rome? If you skip the Palermo leg there is the possibility that your return is cancelled. Need a couple of more details before a good recommendation.

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I bought open jaw tickets (Cincinnati to Palermo; Rome to Cincinnati) because I knew we would not want to spend the first night in Rome prior to the start of the tour. We have an extra day after the tour, so I left the Catania to Rome leg off the ticket until we choose how to spend that night. The Alitalia tickets are currently about $93 each with a bag. It will essentially give us another day in Palermo, vs spending it at the airport, which is pretty valuable in a two week trip.

So you have an itinerary of CVG-FCO-PMO// FCO-CVG as a single purchase?

If you skip your FCO-PMO leg ( i.e., buy other tickets) AA may very well cancel the FCO-CVG leg.

Be very careful what you do, and get in writing from AA any assurance that they will not cancel your return if you do freelance it on the FCO-PMO leg.

That is the big issue, and you may not get a good answer. IT is the potential for AA to cancel the remaining part of the return ticket. This is a very tricky area in that they have the right to do that, and have done it to some people. There was an earlier posting here of Lufthansa actually suing a passenger over that issue. Personally I would not chance it at this point. Unfortunately you are going to have to live with your decisions. If you make the early fight you may have to do a little begging but it might work and they could charge you a fee also.

You're in a bit of a tough situation here. It is standard airline practice that if you fail to fly any leg of your itinerary, all remaining legs will be canceled. In other words, if you do not fly your purchased Rome to Palermo flight as part of your Cincinnati-Rome-Palermo itinerary, the airline will cancel your return flight back to America. This is normally stated in the conditions of carriage when you purchase the flight.

(The rules change when there have been disruptions in operations due to mechanical problems, weather, etc., but that's a whole different kettle of fish. Also, there are lawsuits working their way through European courts at the moment that hint that this practice may change. But it's unlikely to change from now until September.)

If you call AA and tell them you no longer wish to take the FCO-PMO leg of your itinerary and want to end in Rome on the outbound, they will re-price your itinerary, and it is unlikely to work in your favor. From the airline's perspective, you had bought a CVG>PMO, FCO>CVG multi-leg trip. However, now you are telling them you want a CVG>FCO, FCO>CVG round trip, and they will charge you the current price for that ticket (which I bet is more than your original ticket), in addition to likely charging you a $200 per-ticket change fee.

I know it seems ridiculous because you're probably saying "so the airline will charge me more if I take fewer flights?" Unfortunately, because of the complicated way that airline prices work, them's the shakes.

You basically have two options:

1. Take your flights as scheduled.
2. Change your ticket to end in Rome, which will cost you as I explained above, on top of buying new Rome-Palermo tickets.

Don't under any circumstance just not fly the Rome to Palermo leg without making any change, as your return flights home to America will be canceled. Maybe you are a gambling person and are gambling AA won't cancel the return ticket, but I wouldn't count on it.

Well, at least FCO is a pleasant airport with lots of restaurants and shops. Do you have any lounge privileges ?? (We have relaxed in Priority Pass lounges at several airports courtesy of Chase Sapphire Reserve card.)

It sounds like we will be spending the day at FCO. I certainly don't want to jeopardize the ticket home. I appreciate the advice!

I would say that if you arrive at FCO on time and get through immigration, there's no reason not to go to a Vueling desk and ASK about being put on the 10:45 flight. All they can say is no, and there's a small possibility they might agree. Worth a try, in my mind.