Middle East crisis: Will your travel insurer cover you?
With the situation in the Middle East regularly changing and no clear indication of when it will end, what your travel insurance will – and won't – cover you for now depends heavily on when you bought it.
Many travellers are facing the possibility of flight cancellations and disruptions due to fuel shortages, which has knock‑on consequences to pre-booked accommodation, excursions and hire cars. Yet if your flight is cancelled, most insurers will expect the airline to refund you (or provide an alternative) and so won't usually cover you.
Below we run through the small handful of options which can provide some level of cover. For help with cancellations, jet fuel surcharges and more, see our separate Middle East travel disruption news story.
Watch: Want to protect your trip? Martin Lewis explains that your options are limited
Most travel insurance won't cover Middle East flight disruption, certainly not no-frills policies – they'll expect the airline to sort it out for you. So the real concern is knock-on hotel, car hire and other costs if you can't go and they're not cancellable, and again, most basic policies won't cover you.
You can watch MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis address this on the ITV's The Martin Lewis Travel Money Show Live on Tuesday 28 April:
Transcript of what Martin said on the show
Viewer: "Will you definitely receive all your money back, even for your hotel booking as well?"
Martin: "No. And I think this is what people need to be very aware of. If you booked a package holiday – where you booked everything in one, and under the package holiday regulations and rules and protections – generally, if your flight went, you would get everything back.
"And so actually, at the moment, package holidays give you a certain level of extra surety that you wouldn't get if you did a DIY booking, where you book your hotel and flight separately.
"Because the point is, if you lose your flight and you've DIY booked, there's nothing wrong with your hotel. The issue is you can't get there. Your hotel is still there. It's not faulty, it's not cancelling, so you don't have those consumer rights. So you would then say, 'What about using a credit card or debit card protection?'. It won't work, because there's nothing faulty.
"And that's just giving you the same rights that you would have with the retailer. So you'd then say, what about travel insurance? This is the bad bit. We were checking 40 travel insurance policies. Of those, only a few would have covered you for the knock-on eventuality of your flight being cancelled due to jet fuel, and then your hotel costs.
"Only about three or four, and most of those were packaged bank accounts, where it's linked to your bank account — only one standalone provider. So we need to be blunt. At the moment, there is a big risk in those circumstances.
"If you're booking, you want something with free, unlimited cancellation quite short before so you could just cancel it. You should always talk to the provider, ask if they...
"The reason this is important to know, is if you are in that position, once you understand you have no rights and they say, 'Well, we'll give you a voucher and you can come back in six months', you suddenly realise you're doing well, not badly, right? If you didn't have free cancellation.
"And that this is going to be a problem if we get to that jet fuel shortage. The Government is saying there isn't one at the moment, and they're working on consolidating flights and doing things so there won't be one. But people's hotel costs, if they booked separately, and other knock-on costs are potentially at risk."
From The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on Tuesday 28 April 2026, courtesy of ITV. All rights reserved. Watch the full episode on ITVX.
Insurance is unlikely to cover you if the Foreign Office advises against travel
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) currently advises against 'all travel' to places including Israel, Iran or Iraq, or 'all but essential travel' to the United Arab Emirates (Dubai) and parts of some other more common destinations.
This means the Middle East conflict is classed as a "known incident" and travel insurers will automatically exclude it as a valid reason for making an insurance claim – war, invasion or armed conflict is a standard typical exclusion.
So, if the FCDO has advised against travel to a destination and you go anyway, it's almost certain your travel insurance policy won't cover you.
Very few policies offer cover for cancellations due to fuel shortages – but we've found a few options
We've reviewed over 40 travel insurance policies and our research suggests there are very few policies that will offer any level of cover in these scenarios. The general response insurers gave us was:
"It is the responsibility of the airlines and tour operators to ensure they can fulfil obligations under their contracts with customers. Where a flight is cancelled or delayed, we would advise people to speak directly with their airline or holiday provider."
We did, however, find a few possible options...
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Urban Jungle (this link takes you to our travel tool where you'll need to enter your details) says it WILL cover you for cancellation due to fuel shortages... BUT you must first exhaust trying to recover the costs from all other avenues (such as the airline, transport compensation scheme, the credit card company, the accommodation venue, car hire company, etc). This may sound exhausting but it's more than any other policy we could find.
What's included?
- Flight cancellations due to fuel shortages, plus...
- The cost of separately paid-for accommodation, car hire and excursions.
What's excluded?
- Claims relating to abandoning the trip due to uncertainty.
- Recoverable costs from a tour operator.
- Travelling against FCDO advice. -
'Travel Disruption Cover' via packaged bank accounts. The Lloyds Silver and Halifax Ultimate packaged bank accounts both provide Travel Disruption Cover (other policies offer this but not to the same level), which means some unrecoverable trip costs may be considered if the flight is cancelled or delayed after check‑in and results in a delay of 12+ hours.
Lloyds Silver costs £11.50 a month (£138 a year), while Halifax Ultimate is £19 a month (£228 a year). Both of these policies pay out up to £5,000 if you cancel your trip, or for any extra transport or accommodation costs you incur if you decide to continue your trip.
What's included?
- Family travel insurance (Europe only with Lloyds Silver, Worldwide with Halifax Ultimate).
- AA UK breakdown cover (for the family).
- Mobile phone cover for account holders.
What's excluded?
- Claims relating to abandoning the trip due to uncertainty.
- Travelling against FCDO advice.
See our Cheap Travel Insurance guide if you are looking for travel insurance.
You can't claim on your insurance for additional fuel surcharges
If these are imposed by the airline/tour operator you won't be able to claim on your travel insurance for it.
Even if it were covered, the excess on a travel insurance policy would likely have exceeded the surcharge anyway.
'Cancel For Any Reason' (CFAR) insurance isn't common in the UK
This does what it says on the tin and lets you claim money back if you cancel a trip for any reason at all, including the cost of flights, accommodation and car hire. BUT it's not commonly available in the UK due to our stricter underwriting regulations, and when it is, it's extremely expensive and comes with caveats.
The only cover of this type that we could find is...
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Revolut's (Ultra) packaged bank account at a whopping £55 a month (£660 a year).
What's included?
- You can claim up to 70% of the cost of non-refundable pre-paid bookings (including flights, car hire, accommodation, and excursions).
- There's a £2,500 limit per claim.
What's excluded?
- The holiday (and pre-paid bookings) MUST be paid for via a Revolut bank account.
- The entire trip must be cancelled, not part of it.
- Any costs that are recoverable via other means (eg, the airline, credit card company, etc).
- Countries the FCDO advice warns against travelling to.
You should still get travel insurance – but it won't cover everything
You can still buy standard travel insurance for countries that are not on the FCDO list.
New policies generally won't cover anything linked to events that are already considered "known", such as the current Middle East conflict. That's why buying travel insurance 'As Soon As You Book (ASAB)' is so important, to stay ahead of any problems that could happen after you’re insured, not ones already happening.
That said, even with the conflict ongoing, most standard policies should still cover you for any non‑conflict‑related claims. For example:
Before you go (or when at the airport), you should be covered for:
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Cancellation of the holiday. Examples would be if you are not medically fit to travel, a family emergency, jury service or you were made redundant from work (causes can't be linked to the Middle East situation).
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Delayed departure. You can usually claim an amount of £10 to £30 for each 12-hour period the flight is delayed (check your policy as the amounts can differ from insurer to insurer).
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Lost baggage.
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Abandonment of the trip. This varies from insurer to insurer but some policies will cover you if, for example, your take-off has been delayed by 12 or more hours and you can no longer proceed with the holiday.
While you are away, you would usually be covered for:
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Lost, stolen or delayed baggage.
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Delayed departure returning to the UK. You can usually claim an amount of £10 to £30 for each 12-hour period the flight is delayed (check your policy as the amounts can differ from insurer to insurer).
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Some insurers may also continue limited cover for a short period while you return home – but this varies by insurer, so check directly.
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