We are flying to Italy in a couple of weeks and then plan to take a Ryan Air flight to Bulgaria. (Spending time in both countries) We've noticed that they've had a lot of cancellations recently and read an article that they expect to have quite a few more in Nov due to strikes.

I did some searching for alternative locations that we could travel to on other carriers and came up with a few options that are under $100. I know that you guys can't read the future, but do you think it's worthwhile for us to book refundable tickets through one of those other carriers as a backup plan? I'm concerned that if they do a last minute cancellation (1-2 days before the flight) that the backup plan will be 3x as expensive for the same flight.

I've never purchased refundable flight tickets before. Are you able to cancel for any reason and still receive your money back or do you have to prove illness and such? Thanks!

The Ryanair cancellation have been caused by scheduling problems, more vacation to be taken and according to rumours too few pilots for the schedule overall. By now I think te schedule reductions are announced and generally I would not expect a high level of additional cancellations.

Refundable generally means you can get your money back no questions asked. Though it was just mentioned in another thread that Wizzair only gives a credit for new flights valid for three months even on flexible tickets. So for low cost carriers read the terms carefully.

Purchasing fully-refundable flights now is likely to be just as expensive as buying last-minute flights should you need to 1-2 days before travel. So I don't see that shelling out for new tickets now as a worthwhile endeavour.

(Using frequent flyer miles might be a better way of obtaining cheap, (partially-)refundable flights if you are still worried.)

Besides, the threat of Ryanair strikes in Italy has receded. Today's planned strike, at least, has been postponed. The planned general strike in November would likely affect your alternate airline, but not Ryanair - so you may actually be better off with a Ryanair ticket.