Iran Attack Disrupts Air Traffic: Why Your Travel Cover May Fall Short

The world is not talking about the US's attack on Iran and the ensuing geopolitical turmoil in the Middle East. If your trip is interrupted due to the crisis, will travel insurance cover you?

For trip cancellation coverage, the standard policies cover certain specific contingencies such as hospitalization or death of the traveler or an immediate relative, occurrence of natural calamities, political risk at the destination country, such as riot, strike, civil commotion, loss of passport or visa, etc.

Travel Insurance Excludes War 

“The outbreak of war in the visiting country is not usually covered. Similarly, if the trip has already commenced prior to the war, the coverage under trip extension, curtailment, etc., may be available only if such interruption of the trip due to war is specifically covered,” says Hari Radhakrishnan, expert, Insurance Brokers Association of India (IBAI).

“The timing of a government's advisories will impact the coverage under a travel insurance policy. If an advisory or warning was provided to the public prior to the purchase of your travel policy or prior to booking your trip, your insurance company may consider that circumstance to be known and would likely deny a claim based on that event,” says Arun Ramamurthy, co-founder, Staywell.Health.

If an advisory is issued after your trip has been booked and prior to its date, provided your trip was booked in good faith, you may have coverage under some of your insurance policy terms for cancellations due to other reasons (such as trip interruption or cancellation).

So, travel prohibition declared by the government and/or airline authorities, which is publicly known before the policy issuance date only, is not covered under the policy. “This does not mean that policies purchased earlier will have coverage for war cover. The above condition is only for political disturbances in the country being visited, not war,” says Radhakrishnan. So, in case your flight is delayed or cancelled, you are not likely to get any compensation since the current geopolitical situation is an act of war.

Consider CFAR Rider 

If you're traveling to an uncertain destination, you may want to consider additional options for flexibility.

“You can purchase a Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) rider to cancel your trip for a non-standard reason and recover a portion of non-refundable expenses if your cancellation meets specific time frames and requirements. Similarly, if you are in a destination and require a political evacuation or emergency evacuation due to a security event, your policy may provide coverage for your evacuation from the dangerous area to a safe area,” says  Ramamurthy.

The availability of these options will depend on the specific terms, conditions, and events that triggered the benefits of your travel insurance contract, as well as when you purchased your travel insurance contract (before the occurrence of the triggering event). It will also most likely provide coverage if the war broke out after you purchased the policy, and not if travel advisories were issued.