Cover For Strike and Industrial Action

Many of us have experienced strikes during our travels, whether it’s an airline strike, baggage handlers striking, or air traffic control strikes. So it’s always a good idea to understand exactly how travel insurance works, just in case the industrial action disrupts your holiday plans, and then you’ll know exactly where you stand and what to do.

Sort your travel insurance when you book

When it comes to cover limits and terms relating to strike action it will vary depending on your travel insurance provider. It is very important you carefully check the level of cover an insurance provider is offering.

It’s a good idea to buy your travel insurance as soon as you’ve booked your holiday. This is even more important if you haven't booked a package holiday and organised things like your flights, accommodation, and car hire separately.

Unless you book your holiday and purchase cover before the strike dates are announced, you will find that you will not be covered for things like flight delays, or other strike-related travel issues.

It’s safer to buy your travel insurance sooner rather than later, because you never quite know when a strike may happen.

Flight delays due to strikes

Providing you have checked in for your flight and that your travel insurance policy includes cover for travel delay, you can look to claim for compensation once your flight has been delayed for a certain number of hours.

You'll find that travel delay is usually a fixed benefit, meaning that your insurance provider will pay a fixed amount for each hour of delay over the initial period.

The limit can vary, and the compensation amount will depend on the level of cover you have, so do check your policy wording.

Travel delay benefit should apply to both your outbound and return journey to the UK.

Travel abandonment

If you are facing a long flight delay due to strike action you may want to abandon the trip altogether. It’s usually, 12 to 24 hours before your trip that you can abandon it altogether and claim for unused travel costs.

It’s unlikely you will be able to claim for both travel delay and abandonment, so it’s worth checking your policy terms to see what your specific policy details are before you make any decisions.

Another common policy rule is that you have to have checked in for your flight in order to prove your intent to travel and that you may need to get a letter from your airline carrier to confirm the reason for you needing to abandon your trip if you wish to submit a claim.

Flight cancellations

When an airline cancels your flight, it’s their duty to offer you a full refund or an alternative flight to get you to where you need to be.

Because of this, it’s unlikely you will be able to claim for cancellation on your travel insurance policy.

However, you may be able to claim for other losses, such as missed hotel stays and car hire reservations. But this will depend on the level of cover you have in place, so make sure you check those policy details.

You can read more in our guide to Cancellation Cover.

Airline or travel provider failure

If your airline, or travel provider (such as your hotel) goes into administration and ceases trading, then you may be covered by your travel insurance. But not all insurers will cover for this, so make sure you check your policy details.

If your airline goes into administration and you find yourself stranded or you’ve lost your flights, then if you have scheduled airline failure insurance included in your cover then you should get your money back for your cancelled flights.