Refundable plane tickets; yes or no

I had a refundable ticket on United for a July trip to Quebec City that I ended up cancelling. I cancelled right on the website and had the credit on my credit card in 2-3 days. Was super easy.

Airfare seems high lately. I’m watching fares to Amsterdam for next June and am not liking what I’m seeing. So if you see a good price I would book it.

I always buy United refundable tickets because my family situations might not be covered by insurance. (One example was a wedding that wasn't on the calendar when I booked my original flight.) I book my flights pretty far out, so I wouldn't have much of a window left to use a travel credit.

When I have seen a price drop, I have rebooked the ticket for the cheaper price, but still a refundable ticket. In those cases, I have paid less for a fully refundable fare, but still more than the original non-refundable price.

"If the price does not decrease, can I just change to a cheaper, non-refundable ticket?"
Whatever the price does, you can always cancel your refundable ticket and buy a non-refundable one, at the going price. You can't convert your existing ticket from refundable to non-refundable.

You mention getting your "pick of seats." If you have paid for upgrades and you refund your ticket, your upgrades will also be refunded. You would have to buy those upgrades again with your new ticket, at whatever the price may be - and it's not guaranteed to be the same as what you paid with the first ticket.

My question would be, do you have a price target in mind (at which point, if you get it
and purchase a non-refundable ticket, will you be able to conquer your obsession)?

Or, will you continue to obsess and keep checking prices?

And, are you content limiting yourself to United, or would you consider a more obtuse
routing or different airline if the price was right?

This is all related to how much you think your time is worth.

I don't think the price of refundable vs non-refundable tickets is necessarily a fixed
difference, so there is a theoretical possibility that you wait too long to pull the trigger
and are stuck paying the refundable price.

But, if you don't spend 23 hours a day checking, and are able to pull the trigger when
you think you have what you want, and won't get upset if by chance you see the price
go down further after you've purchased a non-refundable ticket, I don't see a problem
with your strategy.

We’ve purchased refundable tickets on United on our past 3 trips. I watch fares for a while, then book when they drop. Then I continue to watch regularly. On our most recent trip to Paris we flew Polaris on the outbound flight and economy on the return. At one point several months after I booked the price dropped a huge amount. I rebooked with no difficulty whatsoever (original fares refunded within a couple of days; new fares charged to my credit card). I think we ended up saving close to $1000 for the 2 tickets. I kept watching but the fares jumped back up to what we’d paid originally and kept climbing from there. So I felt really good about that strategy.

Thanks for the replies. Sometimes I think that booking trips far in advance just adds to the stress!

Refundable vs one you can change can with some airlines make a huge difference.

The two surveys that I am familiar with say something like 3 to 5 months out is the best price and that’s what I do. I buy a ticket that is priced consistent with past experience and never look back. As a result, in over 40 years of travel (I am guessing about 100 trips in total), I have had 1 cancelation (but they put me on a flight 1 hour later) and no major flight schedule changes. On my part I canceled one trip and rebooked one flight (cost $200).

Since it works so smoothly and because I am an individual of limited means I purchase the cheapest ticket that allows me to pick a seat at the time of booking. I have never had an issue with not getting a seat that meets my desire (center section, aisle, in the first 16 rows).

I am not saying it is the best way, but it has worked for me. I suspect that if I added up the ticket savings and subtracted the loss I am still ahead by a good margin.

No, I never buy refundable. Why?

1. I usually fly Delta, if my plans change or I see a cheaper price, I rebook at no cost, and get an e-credit for the difference (or pay a bit more if I had a schedule change), similar if I need to cancel, I get a full e-credit. I travel often enough that credits are no problem to use up.

2. If I really had a concern about issues needing cancellation and needing a refund of cash, then I would probably just invest the cost difference in travel insurance (with a cancel for any reason clause) as by the time I need to cancel, I probably have other expenses needing reimbursement. After all, to buy a refundable ticket over a normal ticket, is essentially buying specialized travel insurance.

If the price does not decrease, can I just change to a cheaper, non-refundable ticket?

Just make sure that you are ok with the price of your refundable ticket. There is no guarantee that there will be cheaper non-refundable tickets closer to your departure date. My non-refundable United ticket has increased by more than $300 since I bought it in March.

I buy non-refundable (but changeable) tickets to save money and am satisfied with getting a credit if the price drops.

I am a fan of refundable travel costs - refundable/flexible airline tickets, refundable/flexible hotel reservations, etc.
Yes, they are expensive, but they are the lowest barrier "travel insurance policy" I've found. Instead of having to make a claim or have an argument with an insurance agent, you just move your dates around on the airlines' website and move on with your life.

If you are not going to buy a refundable/flexible flight ticket, then consider a so called cancel for any reason travel insurance policy. For example, "grandma has the flu and can't babysit like we planned" is probably not going to be a "covered reason" for most standard travel insurance policies unless you buy a cancel for any reason travel insurance policy. There is a usually strict timelines for when you can buy a cancel for any reason policy - usually within 7-21 of the FIRST travel cost you incur for the trip, and then also, a similar timeframe to add coverage based on the time when you buy something new related to the trip. If your tickets or hotel are refundable with short notice (like, almost no notice to 24 hour's notice) then when you calculate the amount of coverage you need you can probably disregard them from the cost being covered and just include the costs that are non-refundable or that require 48 hour or 72 hour cancellation notice for a refund.