Airline tickets

Never and I haven't needed to.

No, just trip insurance.

Never have, although some British Airlines tickets bought with “Avios” frequent flyer points have been refundable - They just put the points back in your account.

The higher the class of ticket purchased usually comes with a partial or full refund of the ticket.

While maybe not that big a deal under normal circumstances, during Covid-times, I have only been purchasing 100% guaranteed refundable tickets for airlines and reserving hotel rooms with 24-hour cancellation. I'm not interested in rebooking privileges or vouchers, I want the cash back.

No, but my frequent flier tickets are refundable and I do have trip insurance.

I didn’t buy refundable when I went to Italy in 2017, but because things are so uncertain now, I was wondered what you all were doing.

I did for the first time. I bought my plane tickets in November for my September trip; best price I had seem and still is. Covid made traveling and my RS tour quite uncertain then. I am buying annual travel insurance in July to cover this trip and next June’s so travel insurance would not have covered these plane tickets.

Does trip insurance cover airline costs if I had to cancel the trip?

If you have non refundable airline tickets and have covered that cost when you purchase your insurance, then yes that cost will be reimbursed IF you have a legitimate reason to cancel.

When I book a trip I never book any lodgings, tours, etc that are non refundable, so I don’t include those costs in my Trip Cost for travel insurance. They are not paid in advance so no need to insure.

I do book non refundable airline tickets so that is basically the Trip Cost I use to determine what my Travel Insurance will cover.
The Trip Cost is what you have paid in advance that is not refundable.

I did have to file a claim, trip cancelled due to a medical issue so when I filed the claim I had to submit medical records, etc to prove I had a valid reason for canceling.

IOW it depends on what your policy states, what is considered legitimate reason to cancel.
You can’t just file a claim if you canceled because you changed your mind unless you have a “cancel for any reason” type policy which are costly.

Many airlines have dropped all of their change fees so I do just book non refundable, and have changed dates/ locations- you just get Flight Credit which are good til whatever date.
Right now I still have some Flight Credit left from trip canceled last September that are good thru end of 2022.

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/trip-planning/travel-insurance

"what is considered a legitimate reason to cancel"

Which is the reason why I have always chosen to be "self-insured"

EDIT: To clarify, I do purchase health insurance for travel but not trip cancellation insurance.

Once you reach a certain age, there are a lot of legitimate reasons to have travel insurance and a lot of legitimate reasons to cancel a trip.
We never used to buy it, then we had 4 aging parents that we had to be able to get back to in a hurry if needed or cancel a trip last minute. Now we are down to 2 aging parents.

Then we both crossed that magical age of 65 and need the health insurance coverage, medical evacuation, etc.

It’s fairly inexpensive peace of mind.

In this day in age I have purchased fully refundable airfare. Its worth peace of mind that I can cancel my flight for any reason!
To us its a small price to pay.

I will be getting travel insurance this time. I’ll give the non-refundable vs. refundable tickets some thought based on your input.
I’m trying to coordinate flights for my friend who will be coming from LA, and me from NC, to meet somewhere before flying in Venice. The only flight I have found so far allows us to meet in Newark with a 3 hour layover, then flying on to Munich. The Munich flight to Venice leaves 50 minutes after we land. Is that too short a time? Makes me a little nervous.
The May 2023 flights will be available for purchase in June. Is that too soon to buy?

The May 2023 flights will be available for purchase in June. Is that too soon to buy?

Yes. The airline will inevitably change the schedule or cancel the flight you thought you were getting and the price will fluctuate multiple times over a year. I'd plan everything else but in the age of Covid 19 look no more than 4 months in advance to buy an airline ticket.

I nixed the flight with the short connection in Munich. What was I thinking, lol! You all have given great advice. I did think about meeting somewhere and staying overnight but that increases costs.
I’ll just keep checking on the flights and prices in the near future and see what’s happening.
BTW, car rentals seem to have taken a big increase.