High fees on BA are a given but sometimes those fees are less "cost" than the additional miles on other carriers. BA has flights to Naples and from there you can take a ferry or other means to Palermo. Pretty certain you will need to plan on a separate ticket from ANC to SEA or other departure airport. Adding the ANC-lower 48 portion onto a BA mileage ticket is not very inviting usually. Also consider Iberia to Madrid and on to Palermo from there....looks like there is an itinerary for that on miles this fall. The problem is gettting business or first seats on miles as well. Those are becoming less available it seems other than on BA. Sometimes it's worth it to buy a BA non-refundable in J or F and get the huge mileage bump but do not buy it on AS...their prices are almost double for the same ticket as purchased through BA and the EQMs are pitiful compared to buying on BA...just look out, it seems, that the chosen BA flight doesn't have an AS codeshare....no one is too sure on the details of the new buy it on AS plan as it was just released but it doesn't look like a very good deal in many ways. Others may disagree and I admit I haven't read all the fine print yet.