The war in West Asia is one such event that is disrupting businesses around the world; the airline travel segment, especially, quite harshly.
The month of March saw flight cancellations aplenty. Over 5,500 flights were cancelled during the month.
April is a month of holiday travel for a lot of Indians, given that schools and colleges tend to have scheduled vacations.
Many also opt to travel to international destinations. As many as 3.27 crore Indians travelled abroad in 2025 alone, according to data from the Ministry of Tourism.
With no end to the war in sight, overseas travel plans may have to be worked upon smartly, and being a bit more prepared becomes very important for various situations.
Travel insurance is critical and compulsory when travelling to most developed nations and even for many emerging economies.
In the current war situation, it is important to know what your travel insurance will cover and what it would exclude. Additionally, you must be aware of the likely premiums you may have to incur for buying the cover.
Coverage only for normal exigencies
Broadly, travel insurance covers five different types of emergencies for those flying abroad.
These include loss of baggage, loss of passport, trip cancellation, medical expenses and personal accident.
Loss of baggage or passport are commonly covered. The former is covered for $300-1,000 across insurers, while the latter has coverage of $200-300.
The trickier parts in the present circumstances pertain to trip cancellations due to flight disruptions.
If your trip has to be cancelled when already abroad due to reasons such as sickness, medical emergencies, flight disruption/cancellation due to technical issues or bad weather, natural calamities (earthquake, flooding), accidents or even a strike by airline or airport staff, your insurer may offer coverage.
Usually, insurers offer coverage of up to $1,000 for trip cancellations due to the above reasons.
In the case of medical expenses, coverage is offered from $250,000 to $500,000 across insurers, provided at least 24 hours if hospitalisation is required. Cashless service is provided in such cases.
Most insurers may not cover pre-existing diseases, or may levy a much higher premium if you want coverage of existing ailments while travelling abroad.
All such claims are honoured under circumstances mentioned earlier.
However, the scenario changes if claims arise due to war.
If trip and flight cancellations are directly attributable to the war – drones attacking airport, bombs hurled, runways closed due to conflicts etc. – then the travel insurance will not cover any of the claims. Wars and other such events are expressly excluded in most insurance policies.
In such cases, the airline company would be your only recourse for rescheduling, refunds and so on. Even stays at hotels due to war disruptions would have to be arranged by yourself or the airline when you are stranded in a conflict zone.
Similarly, medical expenses directly attributable to a war — situations such as getting hit by a shrapnel, hurt by debris from a blast, wounds as collateral damage (innocent bystander) due to attacks of warring parties and so on — would have to be dealt at the government level or whatever medical help you yourself can get. Insurers would not cover medical expenses arising due to war-related accidents or events.
There are workarounds to avoid conflict zones in your air travel. Currently, popular tourist locations such as Japan, China, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Hong Kong and so on have flights uninterrupted.
Even for travel to the West Coast locations in the US (and perhaps from there to other locations), there are flights from Hong Kong.
Some international airlines are also looking to avoid West Asia and land at locations such as Munich for taking travellers to Europe and beyond.
Tourists to West Asian countries itself, however, would have to play it by the ear and take decisions based on the evolving situation.
Premiums to pay
Several insurers including Tata AIG, ICICI Lombard, HDFC Ergo, Digit, Bajaj General, Zurich Kotak, Niva Bupa and National Insurance, among a few others, offer travel insurance.
Loss of baggage and passport are covered for amounts as indicated earlier.
Medical expenses are typically allowed with policies offering $250,000-500,000 coverage. Personal accidents are covered in the range of $20,000-30,000.
A travel cover for a family of four with parents in their 40s and two teenage kids would cost ₹6,500-10,000 for a Schengen trip. The travel insurance cover would cost Rs ₹10,000-24,000 for a US trip.
Insurers typically offer 24*7 claim support. Usually, their apps can be used to lodge claims or via secured links shared via WhatsApp.
Published on April 4, 2026