Travel disruption cover

You download every travel app available, check The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) advice about your holiday destination, and even fold your (ironed) pants neatly into your luggage. ^{Footnote [1]}

And while you're planning on going places seamlessly, sometimes travel disruptions can happen unexpectedly. So, it may be worth exploring travel disruption insurance to help you manage unexpected changes to your itinerary.

It’s a type of optional travel insurance that provides extra cover for cancellations and delays, including if the FCDO advises against all (or all but essential) travel to your destination.

If you’re about to go on holiday to Egypt in four days and the FCDO just advised against all travel, you’d be able to claim for cancelling your trip, provided you have travel insurance with travel disruption cover in place.

With travel disruption cover, we’ll reimburse the costs up to policy limits for each insured person that have been paid and cannot be recovered from the travel provider or other sources if:

• you've had to cancel your pre-booked travel arrangements because of strikes or industrial action on the day you’re due to leave 
•  severe snowfall means it’s not possible to leave your home on the day you’re due to leave 
•  in the 31 days before you’re due to leave, 
  •  the FCDO advises against all (or all but essential) travel to the area you’re planning to stay 
  • avalanches, earthquakes, fires, floods, landslides, storms, tsunamis or explosions makes the place you’re planning to stay unliveable 
  • there’s been a food poisoning outbreak at your pre-booked holiday accommodation. 

You won’t be covered if you decide to travel against the advice of the FCDO, so make sure to check their website before you book any trips.

You also won’t be covered for anything that’s already happened (or is going to happen) that you could reasonably expect to affect your travel plans. If a volcano is actively erupting (or ready to blow) in Guatemala and you then book the next flight out, which is then cancelled because of safety concerns, then travel disruption cover may not cover the cancellation.

Yes! If it happens on the day you’re scheduled to depart and leads to the cancellation of your pre-booked travel plans. For more details on what’s covered by travel disruption cover, check out our optional covers booklet.

Having travel insurance may save you time, money and worry if your suitcase ends up lost rather than on the baggage carousel.

To get an online quote in minutes, have your personal information to hand and head over to our travel insurance page.