Will your travel insurance pay if war or an airspace closure disrupts your trip?

Does your travel insurance pay for losses caused by war?

No. Salama, GIG Gulf, AIG, Liva, Allianz Partners, Orient and Daman, and the Mastercard World card, all exclude war in their general exclusions. Some benefits have exceptions, set out below.^12345678 AIG, GIG Gulf, Liva and Orient also name invasion, hostilities whether war is declared or not, civil war, rebellion and military power. AIG defines war to include undeclared war and warlike activities.³ Daman also excludes acts of armed or security forces in peacetime.⁷

Some policies exclude whole places. GIG Gulf does not cover Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, or countries where war has been declared or the United Nations has recognised a war zone, unless your Schedule names them.² Liva adds a Specified Area of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine.⁴ The full lists are in where your travel insurance covers you.

Will your policy pay if a government or an airspace closure cancels your flight?

It depends on the policy. Most exclude some government action or aircraft withdrawals, and none says how that applies to an airspace closure. A war exclusion is one clause. Separate clauses deal with an authority grounding aircraft, closing a border or advising against travel.

• AIG. Trip delay excludes withdrawal from service on the orders or recommendation of a port authority, civil aviation authority or similar body, and a hazard made public or known before booking.³ Government advisories are excluded only for an epidemic or pandemic.
• Allianz Partners. Trip cancellation reason 8 applies where the carrier cannot get you to your destination for at least 24 consecutive hours because of a natural disaster, severe weather, a work strike or a government-mandated shutdown of airline or train operations. Travel alerts and prohibitions are excluded from that reason. Civil disorder is a named reason under travel delay and trip interruption.⁵
• Daman. The cancellation section excludes any reason relating to government advice preventing movement or the cancellation of transport, including under cancel for any reason products. Its list of events includes cancellation of scheduled transport caused by a terrorist act, bomb scare, riot or civil commotion, among others, if the event happens or is announced after you booked or the policy started.⁷
• GIG Gulf. Cancellation excludes a claim arising from government regulation or act, delay or change of the itinerary, and cancellation of the flight route by the carrier or any government. Hijack is a named cancellation event. Delayed departure excludes withdrawal of an aircraft or vessel on the recommendation of a civil aviation authority, port authority or similar body.²
• Liva. Cancellation excludes loss from any government’s regulations, control or act. Travel delay and missed departure exclude withdrawal of transport on the order or recommendation of a civil aviation authority or similar body. The wording does not mention airspace closure.⁴
• Mastercard. The terms do not mention airspace closure. Trip delay causes include operational reasons at the departure airport due to air traffic restrictions or the airline’s control. Assistance services may be restricted in regions in conflict.⁸
• Orient. Flight delay and cancellation exclude withdrawal of an aircraft on the recommendation or order of a government, civil aviation authority or similar body. Item 18 excludes cancellation, evacuation or repatriation from a border closure decided by a state, with two exceptions. One is evacuation or repatriation due to riot or civil commotion you take no part in, ending 14 days after the events begin. The other is cancellation from the closure of a border of a country you are visiting, if no alternative was offered and the closure was declared within 14 days of departure.⁶ The wording does not say whether an airspace closure is a border closure.
• Salama. The table of benefits has no trip cancellation benefit. Airspace closure and government travel advice are not mentioned. The delayed departure benefit is not limited to named causes, and the general exclusions apply.¹

A covered reason and an exclusion can sit in the same policy

Allianz Partners lists a government-mandated shutdown as a cancellation reason, excludes war, and excludes government acts except where expressly covered.⁵ Mastercard lists security reasons or a mandatory evacuation, and excludes war.⁸ Daman lists a terrorist act, riot and civil commotion as causes of transport cancellation, excludes war, and excludes any cancellation reason relating to government advice preventing movement or the cancellation of transport.⁷ None of the three says how these apply when a shutdown follows a war.

Does government travel advice affect your cover?

Yes, in five policies. None of them refers to advice from the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

• Orient excludes travel against UK Foreign Office recommendations on the date you booked. It covers areas under advice against all but essential travel, and not areas under advice against all travel. Its Terrorism Extension is limited the same way.⁶
• Daman excludes travel to a place where the UK Foreign Office, or an authority of a country you travel to or from, has advised against all travel.⁷
• Liva excludes a listed set of countries including Iran and Iraq, countries where war has been declared or the UN recognises a war zone, and areas a government or public authority has advised against. Advice is read as applying to citizens and residents of the country you travel from. The clause sets no booking date, unlike Orient’s.⁴
• Allianz Partners excludes any loss related to the reason for an order or advice against travel from your home or destination government or local authority, if you travelled against it.⁵
• GIG Gulf excludes travel against government authority or medical advice under its Chapters A to H, and its Dangerous Area clause excludes the places listed above.²

Does it matter when you booked?

Yes. Five policies tie cover to what was known when you booked or bought the policy.

• GIG Gulf excludes circumstances known before booking that could reasonably be expected to cause cancellation.²
• AIG’s trip delay section excludes a hazard made public or known before booking.³
• Allianz Partners excludes anything known, foreseeable or expected when the policy was bought.⁵
• Mastercard covers a trip only if it was bought before you were aware of circumstances that could lead to cancellation.⁸
• Daman’s list of events depends on the event happening or being announced after you booked or the policy started.⁷

Does a terrorism add-on cover war?

Not by their terms. The policies limit these add-ons to terrorism, often to injury as an innocent bystander, and none of them lists war.

• GIG Gulf’s Chapter R is optional. It covers injury, loss or damage as an innocent bystander, up to USD 100,000 per person, needs a valid claim under the relevant chapter, and excludes personal liability.²
• Daman’s Terrorism Extension is optional and covers an innocent bystander.⁷
• Liva lists optional terrorism cover up to USD 100,000 on some plans, and a separate strike, riot and civil commotion personal accident benefit.⁴
• AIG excludes terrorism unless you bought it.³
• Orient’s Section 18 extension must be selected and shown on your schedule.⁶
• Salama names a Terrorism Extension as optional.¹
• Allianz Partners excludes terrorist events except for emergency medical and emergency transportation.⁵
• Al Sagr’s product page lists terrorism compensation up to USD 100,000.⁹

When was UAE airspace closed in 2026?

From 28 February 2026, when the GCAA announced a temporary partial closure, to 2 May 2026, when it announced full resumption, as reported by outlets quoting the GCAA.¹⁰¹¹ These are past events, not current instructions.

Traffic and search data for the period are in the airspace disruption study.

Who looks after you if you are stranded?

It depends on where you are and where you live. Your policy and the airline’s duties are separate.

The GCAA’s passenger rules, CAR PWP, state no conflict carve-out. They set care, information and re-routing duties, and no cash compensation amount.¹⁷ See flight disruption rights.

The small print

• Claims in 2026. The wordings set out what the contract excludes. They do not show how any insurer handled a 2026 claim. Only Daman’s wording carries a date after February 2026, 01Oct26 in its file name.⁷
• Accounts of 17 March 2026 differ. Paddle Your Own Kanoo reported a GCAA announcement of full closure, then flights continuing, and an unconfirmed belief that it was a very brief closure for a specific threat.¹⁴ Time Out Dubai, updated at 8 am that day, described a full closure between around 3 am and 5 am, then a GCAA announcement of a return to normal.¹⁵ AeroTime, on 3 May 2026, described a partial closure in late February eased through March.¹¹
• The end date. AeroTime quotes GCAA on 2 May 2026. Safe Airspace lists “Feb-Jul 2026: UAE airspace closed and reopened several times during the Iran conflict”, and says the Emirates FIR remained open in October 2026.¹⁸ Neither dates a closure after 2 May.
• Press coverage. Gulf News published a 10 point piece, last updated 20 March 2026. It says policies often exclude war, that government-mandated airspace shutdowns fall under standard exclusions, that known event rules can limit claims, that feeling unsafe is not typically an insured reason, and that secondary delays can qualify. It attributes these to travel advisors and cites no UAE wording, insurer or claim data.¹⁹ Several wordings pay delay only for named causes, or exclude withdrawals ordered by an aviation authority.³⁴⁶
• Sukoon War Cover. It is an add-on for comprehensive motor policyholders, not a travel product.²⁰
• AIG and government advice. AIG excludes government advisories only for an epidemic or pandemic, in exclusion 41 and the COVID-19 benefit terms.³
• War clauses. AIG, General Exclusion 1. Allianz Partners, General Exclusions 18, 20 and 24. Daman, Section 3, General Exclusions d) and e). GIG Gulf, General Exclusions a) and b). Liva, War And Similar Perils. Mastercard, General Plan Exclusion 2. Orient, General Exclusions 2 and 18. Salama, General Exclusion e).