Refundable tickets vs. Travel Insurance

Here is a recent discussion on the subject: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/refundable-airline-tickets-vs-non-refundable-airline-tickets-with-travel-insurance

Concise?

For 25 years I averaged between 2.5 and 3 trips to Europe a year. I almost always fly Standard Economy. No insurance. No refund, but rebookable for 2 or 3 hundred dollars. I never had a ticket I didn't use and I rebooted twice.

So, maybe 65 tickets x let's say $200 each average over the years (closer to twice that now) = $13000 saving. I would have to not use a dozen or more noncancelable tickets for having bought cancelable tickets to pay off. Insurance? I would buy it if I paid thousands for a RS tour but not a for typical trip.

But I'm happy in the cheap seats. No way I wouldn't get cancelable or insurance on Business class tickets. The math is probably the same but a one time hit might delay the next trip.

Oh, for medical, sometimes I would get a cheap low coverage policy, but always the evacuation policy. MEDJET. Now I have an expat medical policy with Allianz and the Evac policy.

A refundable ticket will get your airfare refunded. It won't cover hotels, tours, attractions tickets, or anything else nonrefundable that you paid in advance. It also won't cover lost luggage , medical coverage, evacuation, or repatriation.

OTOH, a comprehensive policy will only pay out for cancellation or trip interruption for specific reasons, unless you buy a cancel for any reason policy. And even then, the payout will not be 100%.

We don't travel basic economy, and need medical/evacuation, so we have an annual comprehensive policy.

Once one of our guides told us what medical evacuation cost, we started buying trip insurance, regardless of what kind of plane tickets we buy.

Take a look at the annual trip insurance policies; they are surprisingly affordable. Well, much less costly than other trip insurance policies.

It is always about what your personal risk tolerance is. Some people would be financially devastated by a cancelled trip, others not….. I never book a fully refundable ticket. Although a ticket becomes that if I am using frequent flier miles.

My plan is 4 fold.
1. Buy Medjet evacuation insurance and hope that this is a complete waste of money and I never use it.
2. A lower cost Annual travel policy from Allianz that would provide some payments (maybe not cover whole trip) in case of loss.
3. A good quality travel credit card (mine is Chase Sapphire Reserve) that provides travel insurance and great rental car insurance coverage
4. Make every effort to book hotel stays with free cancellation and full refund available. Here is the place where I will spend a few dollars more for fully refundable.