I would like to take a trip to Sicily this spring using frequent flyer miles but I can only use them as far as Rome. Does anyone know a good way to get from there to Sicily?

You can fly for as little as 50 Euros each way on discount carriers such as Air One and/or Meridiana. Sometimes, also Alitalia (the principal carrier on this route) offers discounted fares. Rome to Palermo is a mere 45 minutes by air; Catania is about 10 minutes more.

I think when I flew to Sicily, the total price of my airfare was about $100 more than it would have been if I'd just flown to/from Rome or Milan without the connection to Sicily. My flights to/from Catania or Palermo from Milan or Rome were on Alitalia.

You can also take the train from Rome to Catania but it takes aprox 10 hours. For a few extra Euros you can take a flight that will only last about 1 hour 10 minutes (to Catania). Its relatively inexpensive (aprox 100 Euro) and they have several flights a day. Definitely fly. Main carriers are Alitalia and Air One. Search for cheap tickets on Volare Web on on their websites directly - also try expedia.

I found Air-One's web site difficult to navigate as I was having trouble trying to buy a ticket on line. I came to find out that if I wanted to buy with them, I'd need an address in Italy because they send out paper tickets. Instead, I called Lufthansa (Air One is partners with Lufthansa) and told them the Air-One flight number that I wanted. It was 80 USD/pp from Palermo to Rome. Lufthansa sent the tickets to my home. Our flight was just a couple weeks ago, so the price should be the same or better.

Also I used "airporteasyshuttle.it" to take us from our hotel in the center of Palermo to the airport for only 28E. This is a great, convenient and cheap service

I flew Air One from Rome to Catania for about $138 rt during a peak travel period. Price was better on Expedia than on Lufthansa site.

Priscilla - Try MERIDIANA

They have flights one way to Catania, starting at € 35 + Tax for next March.

Another option might be WINDJET.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Sorry -

www.meridiana.it

http://s2.windjet.it/

With miles on Delta or Alitalia you can go to Palermo.
We are using our miles to do that in February but for our return from Catania we purchased a very cheap ticket from Air One (Luftansa partner) one way, Catania to Rome.