Travel insurance claim rejected, what the ombudsman looks at

In the year to March 2026, the Financial Ombudsman Service received about 4,500 complaints about travel insurance. More than half were about claims that had been turned down.

That comes from the ombudsman’s evidence to a House of Lords committee, reported by ITIJ on 21 October. The ombudsman upheld 30 per cent of the complaints about declined travel claims. The pressure has not eased since. Between April and June this year, travel complaints rose to 1,300, from 1,000 in the same quarter of 2025, according to Insurance Today, with disruption linked to the conflict in the Middle East named as one driver.

A travel insurer can be right to refuse your claim and still lose the complaint.

Here is the detail worth sitting with. Chief Ombudsman James Dipple-Johnstone told the committee that complaints can be upheld even where rejecting the claim was justified, if the insurer did not handle it fairly or give a proper standard of service. Delays, poor communication and a process customers could not follow were all named as sources of complaint.

So a rejection letter is not the end of the matter. Read the exact clause the insurer relies on, and ask for it in writing if it has not been quoted. Check what you declared when you bought the policy, especially medical conditions. Keep every booking confirmation, cancellation notice, receipt and email, with dates.

Then complain to the insurer first. It has eight weeks to give a final response before the ombudsman can look at the case. Set out what happened, what the policy says, how the claim was handled and what it has cost you. Keep it factual and in date order.

Most complaints about rejected travel claims do not succeed. Three in ten do, and a complaint that is easy to follow gives yours the best chance.