There is still more than a month and a half left until the 2026 Christmas holidays and already now the cost of plane tickets to reach Southern Italy, Sicily and Sardinia is registering a surge that is putting a strain on the pockets of thousands of students and workers away from home. The findings released by the Codacons association show fares soaring well over 350 euros for trips scheduled between 23 and 24 December with return scheduled for 6 January. The maximum peak is recorded on the Milan-Reggio Calabria route, where the basic round trip expense reaches 427 euros, followed by the Milan-Trapani connection at 383 euros.
Starting from Turin, you need at least 359 euros to reach Reggio Calabria, 354 euros for Catania and 349 euros for Brindisi, while from Florence to Palermo the minimum expense is 345 euros and from Verona, Bologna or Venice to Catania it exceeds 340 euros. The issue landed directly in Parliament on the initiative of the leader of the Democratic Party in the Transport Commission, Anthony Barbagallo, who formally requested urgent information from the executive led by Giorgia Meloni. The dem deputy denounced the incompatibility of these increases with the constitutional principles on insularity, targeting the systems of dynamic pricing and the algorithms adopted by air carriers that cause costs to skyrocket around the holidays.
The defense of companies and the ping pong strategy of the skies
In the face of political protests and consumer associations, air carriers are putting the increase in operating costs on the table, in particular linked to the price of fuel as highlighted by Ryanair’s top management. The additional costs for choosing a seat and for boarding hand luggage must also be added to these basic figures.
To get around the bloodletting, the tactic of the so-called ping pong of the skies, a travel method analyzed by the RimborsoAlVolo company, is spreading among younger travellers. The mechanism provides for the renunciation of direct flights in favor of routes with intermediate stopovers, both in national and foreign airports, allowing average savings of between 30% and 40%, with peaks exceeding 60%.
Economic savings and risks of disruption in indirect flights
The insights conducted by the general director of RimborsoAlVolo, Giuseppe Conversano, demonstrate that opting for a stopover in Rome Fiumicino reduces costs by 40.6% on the Florence-Palermo route, by 38.3% on the Florence-Catania route and by 32% on the Turin-Brindisi route. Including foreign stopovers leads to even clearer cuts: flying from Milan to Catania, stopping in Valencia on the outward journey and in Tirana on the return journey, drops spending from 342 to 157 euros, guaranteeing a saving of 54% equal to 185 euros.
Similarly, the Turin-Catania route with a stopover in the Albanian capital saves 47%, or 167 euros per person. However, experts point out that the overlapping of multiple routes exposes passengers to prolonged waiting times, the danger of missing connections and the risk of suffering delays or cancellations.
