South Africans affected by flight suspensions and airport closures linked to the Middle East conflict should check whether their travel insurance will reimburse cancellation, delay or “stranded overseas” costs, because many policies exclude losses arising from war or armed conflict.
Travel insurance is designed to cover individual mishaps such as cancellation or interruption of travel, lost property including luggage, illness, or personal health emergencies, but it is commonly drafted to exclude war-related losses. In March 2026, a travel insurer explained that war is treated as uninsurable because it is widespread, unpredictable and can cause losses that happen simultaneously across large numbers of policyholders.
In South African law, that outcome is driven by policy interpretation. The result turns on what the policy covers, and critically what it excludes.
The exclusion that drives the outcome
In practice, the decisive issue is often the war/hostilities exclusion. A typical exclusion removes cover for losses connected to: “War, invasion, acts of foreign enemies, hostilities, or war-like operations (whether declared or not), civil war, mutiny, military rising, usurped power, martial law, state of siege, insurrection, rebellion, or revolution.”
Where wording like this applies, a traveller who incurs extra hotel and meal costs or other losses because flights are grounded or airspace is restricted may find the claim is excluded if the cause of the event is classified as war/hostilities. The legal contest is usually not whether costs were incurred, but whether those costs are sufficiently linked to the excluded peril.
Medical cover may remain, even if disruption cover falls away
Some policies may still respond to certain medical events even where disruption claims are excluded. Emergency medical and related expenses may remain covered if a traveller is injured as an innocent bystander in a war situation (provided they are not participating in hostilities), while trip cancellation and disruption losses linked to war remain excluded.
If insurance does not pay, remedies often sit with airlines and local authorities
When flights are cancelled or routes suspended, the immediate practical steps often run through the airline rather than the insurer. During March 2026, airlines were reported to be offering refunds and flexible rebooking options for affected travel dates (including date-change windows and waived cancellation charges for certain disrupted flights). There were also announcements in some circumstances of local support such as hotels and meals for passengers stranded due to airspace closures.
This division of responsibility matters because travel insurance may not be designed to replace contractual airline remedies where flights are cancelled or rescheduled, and policies may also expect policyholders to mitigate losses and pursue available third‑party recoveries.
A planning point for future travel
The practical lesson is to check wording early, separate disruption losses from medical benefits, and keep clear written confirmation of the reason for any cancellation or delay.
This note is general information for clients and is not legal advice.