Flight to Venice. Will the airport be open?

Have you seen this?---

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/this-from-the-eu-focus-italian-citizens-returning-from-abroad-and-foreign-citizens-in-italy

The airport may be open but I doubt it will be accepting tourists.

In your situation, I would keep calling UAL, until I got an agent that is willing to do a refund ( if Mom says 'no', go ask Dad !)

If you don't want a voucher, then wait for the airline to cancel the flights instead of cancelling them preemptively. I think your trip is not going to happen, unfortunately. If you want to check, then go on the VCE airport website and look at all the incoming flights. I literally saw one flight for today, only to/from Rome.

Your question should be will Newark be operating international flights to another country Italy with a high rate of coronavirus infections. Checking the Newark Airport website do you any see flights going from Newark to Italy?
Newark is part of the world's epicenter of the coronavirus
There is not going to be an elixir to fix this by the time you are scheduled to fly from there

If the flight is canceled by UA then you get your money back.
Don't waste your time calling UA again after this advice until they cancel the flight and then demand your money.

UA is counting on you to cancel before they, so you will not be eligible for a refund if you bought $15,000 worth of non-refundable tickets

We had a flight on United to Berlin/return from Dubrovnik for April 28th. They just cancelled that a few days ago. I got a phone call and when I requested a refund, it took a few minutes and it was done. So just wait a bit longer until they cancel.

Hi everyone. This is really helpful and thanks so much for your help. I will stay on hold and wait to see what happens in the coming few weeks and will not proactively cancel. I really appreciate the comments!

We were to fly into Venice on July 19 and out on August 11. Air Canada emailed the other day and has cancelled our flights so it is extremely unlikely that your flights will go.

Have you used this United portal to check your trip by #

https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/notices.html

Even tho everything had already been shut down just about everywhere, British Airlines did not cancel out flights until 3 weeks out. Then, we had to wait until 72 hours out to call, but did receive a full refund. So- just hang on until the airlines cancels your flights. Good luck!

Thanks again for the information on all of this. I really am grateful.
Geri, yes I've used the portal but it is geared more to information to having people cancel and rebook with little or no information on refunds. Understandable under their circumstances and desire to preserve cash. I am a million miler on United so can fortunately can get through to agents on the phone relatively quickly and I must say most of them have been great although occasionally contradictory, also understandable as thing shift so much. On the other hand they are coached to talk refunds and shift the conversation to the consumer cancelling and rebooking and I have to press the subject of what happens if they cancel and they are very tentative about the subject. Maybe I'd coach my agents to do the same thing if I was in charge at United. In any case I'll wait and can cancel as late as 2 hours before the flight so will wait to see and will report back. I love having all of your advice and it is immensely helpful to me.

I should have said agents are coached "not" to talk refunds. Sorry for the typo and thanks again.

...geared more to information to having people cancel and rebook with little or no information on refunds.

United is only required to issue a refund IF United cancels your flight or makes a substantial change to your flights schedule or wants to rebook you to a flight with a substantial change:
https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/refunds

Am I Entitled to a Refund?

When the airline is at fault:

Passengers are often entitled to a refund of the ticket price and
associated fees when the airline is at fault.

Cancelled Flight – A passenger is entitled to a refund if the airline
cancelled a flight, regardless of the reason, and the passenger
chooses not to be rebooked on a new flight on that airline. Schedule
Change/Significant Delay - A passenger is entitled to a refund if the
airline made a significant schedule change and/or significantly delays
a flight and the passenger chooses not to travel.

When the airline is not at fault:

Passengers are entitled to refunds only in limited circumstances if
the airline is not at fault.

Fully refundable tickets - Passengers who purchase fully refundable
tickets are generally entitled to a refund when they do not use the
purchased ticket to complete their travel. Non-refundable tickets -
Passengers who purchase non-refundable tickets are generally not
entitled to a refund unless the airline makes a promise to provide a
refund.

If the customer cancels, the best you can expect is a credit towards future travel with restrictions. So wait to the last day or two before canceling, but cancel for a credit BEFORE the flight departs.

Just wanted to thank everyone who replied to my questions here and as an update I called United and they cancelled my flight and will refund the amount I paid. Was told there would be approximately a four-week wait to get the refund but happy to get this resolved.

So happy this worked out for you! Thanks for coming back and letting us know how it turned out.