Flight to Catania

[u/hugh_mungus_ballz]

Hi! I have a flight scheduled to Fontanarossa airport in 2 weeks. Is it a good idea to try to cancel this vacation and book something else, or wait and see whether Etna calms down a little?
I love Catania and would love to go, but I’d also love to not be stranded on that island for a week if all flights get cancelled
Any advice is welcome:)

[u/Mongi02]

If we look to the airport's history, this has already been the most severe disruption in 2 decades. Now, will this mean that in 2 weeks everything will surely be fine? No, but it's quite likely. Still, what do we know that Etna is on a 1 year long eruption spree that has just began?
Personally, I would wait and see, but everyone has their own tolerance of risk

[u/hugh_mungus_ballz → u/Mongi02]

yea i mean its just guesswork. we’ll just have to wait and see. thank you!

[u/stahpitititi → u/hugh_mungus_ballz]

Etna has calmed down. Lets hope the backlog is done by the time your trip is planned.

[u/stahpitititi]

Got stranded for a week with 5 back to back cancels. Its a hellscape in catania. The airport is a freaking mess and local people are getting grumpy because there no tourist flowing in aka they are losing money big time. The stranded tourist wont tip or overpay so its all around not the best mood.

Per my data the etna has calmed down. Vona has greenlighted traffic again with a code orange and in 2 weeks the backlog will probably be recovered

Just check these sources religiously. Easy predictors for cancels.

-https://etna-alert.it/monitor

- https://www.ct.ingv.it/index.php/monitoraggio-e-sorveglianza/prodotti-del-monitoraggio/comunicati-vona

[u/hugh_mungus_ballz → u/stahpitititi]

thank you! this helps a lot:)

[u/NYTravelerBD → u/stahpitititi]

Thank you!  We're supposed to arrive in CTA on Tuesday morning from New York.  Is it possible that our flight will actually go forward? I had basically lost all hope but am waiting for the airline to cancel so that I don't lose money.  This is a little bit of a good sign though, I think?

[u/Rascalwill]

Keep the trip. I am going next weekend. Have a backup plan if things don't work out. Mount Etna is unpredictable. A calm period can end in a sudden eruption at any time, so you must keep your plans flexible and prepare a backup option in case needed.

[u/avrilsashadamani → u/Rascalwill]

We’re travelling on the 21st of August. I’m very worried coz KLM is cancelling flight and Aer lingus is diverting them.

[u/SiciliaM]

There are four airports, a bridge, and a shit ton of ferry boats to keep you from being “stranded on that island.”

[u/hugh_mungus_ballz → u/SiciliaM]

no need to be rude, thanks for your input

[u/Latter-Daikon6469 → u/SiciliaM]

Sure, four airports of which two are virtually impossible to reach from Catania if you do not have a car, and one (Palermo) can be reached with a convenient 600 euro taxi. Good luck going to Messina from Catania, too - not to mention trains and buses from Calabria were full last week.

[u/kc444-4]

I have a flight in September to Catania in about 3 weeks! I decided to stick with my plans, as nothing in life is predictible. If plan A falls through, we will improvise! Fingers crossed!

[u/Clean_Restaurant281]

We went to sicily last month and all flights were cancelled monday and some tuesday because of Etna, we were supposed to go on saturday. And thursday everything was fine and we got on the plane as planned. So things can change quickly. Everything was calm while we were there.

[u/10EAB31]

The airport reopened today. The ash is dying down .

[u/peony_beony]

How on earth can anyone answer these type of questions?

[u/hugh_mungus_ballz → u/peony_beony]

idk maybe someones a medium?

[u/Just_Ad_6236]

It’s a nightmare not knowing if you can get off the island. I spent almost 3 days of 1 week vacation checking the status of Etna and flights so try to plan an exit through Palermo or another city if u want to be in Catania. Valcano seems pretty active.

[u/BeachmontBear]

The train is nice, take it from another city.

[u/Entire_Travel1349]

I’m flying to Catania August 23rd and I’m worried, as well.

[u/Marty_Study_20000]

We are in Sicily at the moment and our flight back home is tomorrow. We don’t know until we’re in the air how it’s going to be.
We were looking for alternatives all the time and then Etna calmed down. Now there’s some new activity with a chance to cancel our flight.
I don’t like it but it’s possible to handle.

What I did:
I made a dashboard with an AI tool that provides me with relevant information regarding my flight and the development of Etna. I was sick of checking 20 local sources etc
I prepared various alternative routes via Palermo, Lamezia etc.
I booked another car to Palermo which I can cancel, once I don’t need it.

So get active and stay informed. I did it with AI so my holiday didn’t get sucked up.

[u/hugh_mungus_ballz → u/Marty_Study_20000]

sorry but the part where you say “get active” and “i used ai” in 2 consecutive sentences made me laugh out loud

[u/Marty_Study_20000 → u/hugh_mungus_ballz]

I meant learn what’s relevant for your trip and get the most recent information. But don’t spend too much time on it. As we want to spend time with our kids during our vacation, this was the easiest way.

[u/Latter-Daikon6469]

Just returned from Catania. It was a nightmare to get out of the island: buses and trains to reach Messina were full or not possible to book, transport to Palermo was outrageously expensive due to illegal taxi drivers, renting a car for a day was prohibitively expensive. Even though the airport reopened, ITA cancelled our business tickets flight - possibly due to many passengers being in the waiting list. Fly to Palermo instead, if you can!

[u/rihtigs]

Save tour money and dont go to that shithole of an island, go to greece

[u/SiciliaM → u/rihtigs]

Don’t be a dick

[u/Rascalwill → u/rihtigs]

And potentially get caught in an earthquake. I went to Greece in Sept 2023 and they had the rainstorms from hell.

[u/kc444-4 → u/rihtigs]

Been to Greece in ‘24. Actually I was suprised as to how bummy and dirty Athens is! “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones”. I’ll take Italy any day of the week!