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Middle East Situation - Travel Insurance
I’m hoping someone might be able to clarify the best course of action regarding a flight booking issue.
British Airways has offered me a refund for my flight to Dubai in May but the flight itself has not actually been cancelled yet. Because of this trip, I have also booked airport parking and hotel accommodation separately.
My question is about travel insurance and timing. Is the general advice to wait until the airline officially cancels the flight before submitting an insurance claim for the other non-refundable items, such as the parking and hotels? Or would accepting the refund from British Airways affect my ability to claim those costs later?
I’d really appreciate any guidance on the correct approach so I don’t accidentally invalidate a potential claim.
Comments
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You'd need to speak to your insurer. Generally if you make the decision to cancel you won't be covered, but they may make an exception in these circumstances.
Equally, given it's war related and that's often excluded from insurance you may not be covered either way, which would at least make your options clearer!
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The main thing will be the FCDO and if your travel insurer has put in any special terms for the current events.
As of today FCDO says they advise against all but essential travel to the UAE, assuming you bought a normal policy and not from the likes of BatteFace that are explicitly for those travelling to riskier places, then your insurance will be invalidated by travelling against FCDO advice. The FOS routinely upholds complaints where an insurer has declined because it not being a covered cancellation reason but you wouldnt be covered by the policy if you went anyway.
Some travel insurers have made announcements that they are temporarily changing their terms, this is generally to allow people to transit through the Middle East countries despite the FCDO recommendations. I havent seen any that have totally waived it though.
Right now you are too far out, things could change significantly in the 1.5 months. Speak to your travel insurers, they may be willing to accept a claim now but most likely they will say to wait to see what the situation is at the time.
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I booked our trip to Jordan for April 2026 in October 2025 and took out travel insurance the same day. Unfortunately the agents have had to cancel on FCDO advice and have offered a full refund within 14 days. My insurance company on the other hand have point blank refused a refund because I did not cancel within the 14 day cooling off period when taking out the policy. Have others experienced this treatment bearing in mind that if I did travel my insurance would be null and void as it went against FCDO advice?
The company concerned have registered my complaint and will acknowledge this in 5 working days and then respond within 8 weeks!0 -
They have been providing cover to you since October, had you fallen in December, put yourself in a coma and likely to be in hospital for 6+ months then your insurers would have paid out. Majority of people dont claim on their insurance but they dont get a refund at the end of the policy, its how you can get £3m of cover for £20 because premiums are pooled and not refunded.
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In addition to MRNT's comments, with the cancelled trip, if there were any costs that are not recovered through the trip cancellation by the tour operator, these costs might be covered by the travel insurance that the OP does have in place.
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Thank you for the comments but bearing in mind that I have not made any claim as yet and I would be unable to make one as the FCDO has given their travel advice; the insurance cover has now been invalidated. At that point I should be offered at least a partial refund. It is like taking out car insurance and then being unable to drive, surely you could get a refund on the period outstanding. Or have I misunderstood something?
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Many insurers do offer partial refunds if you cancel a policy (AXA for example will refund 65% of a single trip policy, or pro-rata an annual policy as long as there's been no claims). There's usually also an administration fee. We were going to cancel a single trip policy with them, and with the admin fee and 35% reduction it was going to wipe out any refund. In the end we just changed the trip date a year into the future, and then changed it again when we booked our next holiday.
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As already explained, if you make a claim or not is broadly irrelevant, you had cover should you have needed to have claimed.
Had your trip gone ahead and the FCDO were still saying dont travel and your insurer still excluded travel against FCDO advice the insurer would have had to pay out even if its not a covered reason in the policy. There are many cases on the FOS, more commonly associated with people who are pregnant and their travel destination has an insect born illness like zika and its almost exclusively upheld even in cases where the pregnancy was a deliberate act (eg IVF).
Some insurers will give a partial refund, in principle, but charge an admin fee for the cancellation which in 90% of cases will wipe out any refund given Travel can start at £20 for a policy but admin fees are normally circa double that. Others instead just say no refunds rather than saying it's a £10 refund but a £34 admin fee and we'll waive the £24 you owe us.
Car insurance admin fees are often around £60 but with average premiums being around £700 the chances of being due a refund is much higher. Note however many add ons (eg legal expenses) are non-refundable too. Insurers will also want the policy cancelled as they will remain RTA insurer so would remain liable if the policy wasnt cancelled. Often with motor however you will get circumstances where the refund is £60 but you have £75 admin fee and owe the remaining £50 for optional extras and you will have to pay the £65 to cancel the policy, ie its more expensive to cancel than to allow it to run to term.
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Please can you clarify what you have described….. (I am also confused on the rules when there is a conflict over the FCDO advice: FCDO says NO, but Airline or Travel Agent says the flights/holiday CAN go ahead.)
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"Had your trip gone ahead and the FCDO were still saying don't travel and your insurer still excluded travel against FCDO advice the insurer would have had to pay out even if its not a covered reason in the policy."
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Are you referring just to the repayment of the Cost of the Policy? Or do you mean the whole "Cancellation clause" can be invoked.
And if just the former, what would happen if it is an Annual Policy?
Many thanks for your help.
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FCDO is only ever advice, it never says that no one can go somewhere. Right now the advice of the Middle East is all but essential travel so even they are acknowledging some will have need to go that outweighs the risks. There is a higher tier of advising against all travel, which currently applies to Iran itself, but it's still only advice.
Flights often continue for "all but essential" as there are always people who do have essential travel to visit dying relatives etc. Similarly FCDO isnt a world authority and if you look back as recently as covid different countries equivalences of FCDO came up with very different assessments. UK had Mexico on their Red List but the US had them on their Green list, Mexico thought the UK was Green with the US thinking we were Amber or Red depending on exactly when. I did go to Mexico whilst it was red with the intent that if it was still red when I was due back then I'd go to the US and spend 2 weeks there then go to the UK rather than spend 2 weeks in a quarantine hotel.
Most flights leaving the UK arent British domiciled planes so whilst they may consider the UK's views their home country's is likely more important.
So yes, was describing the scenario that FCDO says dont travel or dont travel unless essential but your airline is still operating.
The later, you can claim for cancellation of the holiday if at the time you are due to fly the FCDO advises against travelling, your flights etc are still running and your travel insurance excludes cover when travelling against the FCDO advice.
Some insurers have avoided this issue in the current conflict by advising they will cover claims for travelling against the FCDO advice as long as you are only transiting through a country with FCDO advice and you won't be leaving the airport. It will be a long time until we see how the FOS reacts to this post purchase change of terms and those that believe it's not safe to go against FCDO advice even if they will be insured.
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