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How to Find Out if a Travel Insurance Plan Includes Catastrophe Cover
In recent years, the reality of travel has shifted as extreme weather events become more frequent and severe. From the devastating European wildfires in Greece and Sicily during the 2024/25 seasons to the widespread disruption caused by Storm Herminia, 'catastrophe' is no longer a remote possibility for UK holidaymakers. While travel insurance can provide a vital financial safety net against these disasters, protection is not universal. To ensure you aren't left stranded or out of pocket in 2026, it is essential to verify that your policy explicitly includes 'Natural Disaster' or 'Enhanced Travel Disruption' cover.
Find Answers in the Policy Wording
You should be able to tell if an insurance policy includes cover for events like earthquakes and hurricanes in a plan's "Policy Wording." The Policy Wording is a document explaining what is specifically covered and excluded regarding an insurance policy.
If you already have a travel insurance policy, you may have received the document by email when you signed up. If you have not purchased a policy yet but are considering a new policy should read through that plan's Policy Wording before signing up, to be sure you're getting a plan that covers your needs.
Note, the Policy Summary (now standardised as the Insurance Product Information Document, or IPID) highlights the key features of a policy. Thanks to the FCA’s Consumer Duty regulations implemented in recent years, these documents are now designed to be much clearer. Insurers are legally required to ensure you understand exactly what is—and isn't—covered, meaning major catastrophe exclusions should now be more prominent in the IPID. However, for a 2026 audience, the full Policy Wording remains the only place to find the specific legal definitions and 'limit of indemnity' for catastrophe-related claims.
Here are some ways to find a Policy Wording document:
- Get a new quote for the specific policy you're after—during the quote process you should see links to the Policy Summary and Policy Wording
- Google the name of the insurance provider, the plan name, the term "travel insurance" and the term "Policy Wording" (e.g., Admiral Platinum travel insurance policy wording); it doesn't matter if you use caps or lower case to search
If you use a search engine to locate the Policy Wording, you're more likely to get current information by clicking on a general "policy documents and booklets" type of page (e.g., the first result in the image below) as opposed to a specific document page (e.g., the 6th result below). Links to a specific document may lead you to the most up-to-date information, but they sometime lead to older Policy Wordings that contain out-of-date information. But if you head to a company's general policy documents page you should find the most up-do-date information there.
Insurance providers do update their terms from time to time and there's no guarantee that a search engine will show you the most recent document first. On occasion we've noticed that the top search results pointed to older documents, which can be very misleading.
How to Find the Information You Need in the Policy Wording
Once you have the Policy Wording in front of you, it can be a chore to find the information you need—does the plan really cover natural disasters? As the documents can be 70 pages long, or more, we find it useful to search an electronic version of the Policy Wording (as opposed to a hard copy) when looking for specific information.
With the document open, use Control+F on your keyboard to open the search bar. In the search bar, type in key words and phrases to find the relevant section of the Policy Wording. Unfortunately, each insurer uses different terminology to describe the same types of events. To quickly navigate a digital policy document in 2026, use the 'Find' function (Ctrl+F) to search for these essential terms:
- natural disaster
- travel disruption
- wildfire (Crucial for European summer travel)
- catastrophe
- earthquake
- storm
- volcan (which captures both "volcano" and "volcanic ash")
- pandemic / infectious disease (To verify current health-related disruption limits)
In 2026, many "standard" travel insurance policies still treat wildfires differently than storms. Always check if your policy requires a government "evacuation order" to trigger a claim, as simply wanting to leave a region due to smoke or nearby fires may not be covered under basic catastrophe clauses.
From there, have a read. Once you're in the correct section, hopefully you'll find the language is clear and understandable. Any further questions can be directed to an insurance provider's customer service line. If you're interested in cover for natural disasters, it's crucial to read through the Policy Wording of a prospective policy, as these events are not covered on many travel insurance plans.