Flying over Iran - Insurance?

[MiniCoopers]

So we are due (not for 3 weeks or so) to fly to the Maldives via Dubai (who very sensibly shut their air space today). Checked our travel insurance and ‘acts of war’ do not get paid out on. I’m very conscious that peoples lives are being destroyed and homes and livelihoods but I am also worried about whether we’d get the cost or our holiday back we all (and who off?).

I’m not sure what my question is really other than worry 🤷‍♀️

If FO advise against travel it is more likely you are covered. However I doubt UAE will want to keep airspace closed any longer than necessary and routes can be altered to avoid danger zones.

The flights might have been rerouted by the time you go. Flights to Japan that used to fly over Ukraine were rerouted up over Greenland, across above Russia and then down over China for a while - the route isn't as extreme now but they still avoid the Ukrainian airspace.

Wait and see. Sorry, I know that's hard! If your flight / holiday is cancelled, you'll be offered compensation or replacement. If you're rerouted - more likely, by the sound of it - you might have to adjust your plans a little.

The insurance clause would be for if you're injured by a military attack.

Is it a package holiday or did you book things separately? A package tour operator best bet for help - I have seen online TUI allowing people to rebook other destinations though with imminent departures.

If booked separately check booking terms for hotel and flights etc. We are in a similar situation with Emirates flights to Sri Lanka and not sure what to do. We booked separately but all hotels, trips, driver and car park are currently free cancellation until just before. First deadline is 10th. Flights it looks like if you request a cancellation you will be subject to cancellation charges and seat bookings won't be refunded, that's about £1000 for us in total but if they cancel it looks likely you get paid back in full. I doubt insurance will pay out as war exclusions and when we had similar in COVID the insurance refunded nothing. I did get pretty much everything back but took over a year and Air Asia just gave half as credits and my bank refunded half. We used the credits in 2024 when we finally got to Borneo though air prices had doubled then.

Thanks. We are on a package via travel bag. If they offer us the opportunity to move it we’ve said we’d take that and possibly move it to Xmas and pay the additional. I’m not good with the not knowing what we are doing but the world is a bit crazy so I’m aware my issues are very low down the level of important 🤷‍♀️

If DXB is operating normally by then, your flight will simply re-route to avoid flying over Iran. This is exactly what has been happening for the last 4 years with Ukraine.

If DXB is still closed due to an ongoing wider war in the Middle East we will all have more important things to worry about than a holiday, sadly.

As long as you have a proper package holiday with ABTA protection you will be ok, they will move your booking or re route your flight. You won’t be flying over Iran if via Dubai anyway

I think with a package you will need to go via tour operator and they will be working through things in order of date booked. Currently FCDO has gone to only essential travel this morning but it's how long it remains at that. If you voluntarily cancel you will be subject to cancellation terms and insurance won't pay out. But if you wait and it's still same FCDO travel advice think chances are you will get a full refund but it may be right up to the wire when you hear and refund may not be back before could book something else.

I think the Japan route over the North pole (we did it last year, have a nice Finnair certificate) is to avoid Russia rather than Ukraine, because in 2022 Russia banned all European carriers and a lot of Asian ones using their airspace, because we condemned their invasion of Ukraine. It adds the best part of an extra 3 hours to the journey :(

The issue is not the flight path (which can be adjusted in real time while you're in the air), so much as whether the flight operates at all. If everything calms down by, say, Wednesday of this week then they will have cleared up the debris in the terminal and Emirates will have flushed all the knock-on effects out of their schedule in plenty of time for your trip. But if Iran is firing just a couple of drones per day at the airport then I suspect it will be impossible for them to operate while that is happening, and Dubai is Emirates' only base.

The issue with a "package" is that some of these companies are legally acting only as booking intermediaries. If you book a Jet2 holiday and Jet2 cancels your flight so you can't go, Jet2 will give you a complete refund, but that might not apply here.

We have just cancelled all our hotels / trips / driver / airport parking which were all free cancellation. No idea what will happen with the flight which is all that is outstanding - if we cancel we have to pay around £500 each in cancellation charges and seat booking charges. Its not 100% clear what happens if Emirates cancels - in theory should be full refund including seats but they are directing people to a form saying refund minus charges but appears to be a bot. We decided we would not want to go either way.

Says on Emirates website they are starting a limited number of flights today.

Emirates will begin operating a limited number of flights commencing on the evening of 2 March. We are accommodating customers with earlier bookings as a priority, and those who have been rebooked to travel on these limited flights will be contacted directly by Emirates. Please do not go to the airport unless you have been notified. All other flights remain suspended until further notice.
Emirates continues to monitor the situation, and we will develop our operational schedule accordingly. Updates will be published on our website and official social media channels.

There is an explanation of travel over the middle East atm
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/iran-flights-cancelled-dubai-advice-b2930204.html

Don’t cancel your flights.
You will be rerouted or refunded.

No idea what the deleted message said but thanks for the other feedbacks. We are on a package and we’ll have to wait and see: I can’t afford for us to cancel in any other way unless they do it for us so it’s a waiting game I guess.