Best Travel Insurance Plans for UAE Residents

Message us on WhatsApp at +971 42 202 133 with five things: your destination and any countries you transit through, your exact travel dates, the age of every traveller, any medical conditions treated in the last two years, and anything active you plan to do on the trip. Those five details are what actually determine both the price and whether a claim would be paid, so a quote given without them is a guess. We come back with a firm figure for the tier that fits, and tell you what the cheaper tier leaves out.

You can buy travel insurance directly from most UAE insurers and comparison sites online. Buying through a travel agency instead gets you a person who checks the policy against your actual itinerary — the destination zone against your transit points, the number of days against your real return date, the traveller ages against the policy’s age caps. Those are the three things that most often invalidate an online purchase. We arrange cover underwritten by Qatar Insurance Company with emergency assistance from AXA Interpartner Assistance, and issue your certificate the same day.

Yes. The United Kingdom sits inside the policy’s Europe zone, which covers 47 named countries including the UK, Turkey and the Schengen states. A single trip policy is priced by that zone and by your trip length, with options from 5 days up to 92 days. If your itinerary connects through the United States or Canada on the way, you need the Worldwide zone instead — a claim outside the zone printed on your certificate is not paid, and transit counts. Send us the full routing and we will price the right zone.

Tell the airline, hotel or tour operator the moment you know you have to cancel — the insurer calculates your claim from the day you knew, not the day you told them, so any delay comes out of your own pocket. Then register the claim with the insurer within 31 days of the trip ending. If you are cancelling because of illness or injury, get a medical certificate immediately rather than afterwards. Note that trip cancellation is not included on the Standard plan at all, and on Premier and Elite it pays for four specific reasons only — see the exclusions question below.

On the Premier and Elite plans, yes: personal possessions are covered up to USD 5,000 on Premier and USD 7,000 on Elite, with a per-bag sub-limit of USD 1,000 and USD 1,750 respectively. The Standard plan has no baggage cover at all. Two deadlines decide whether a claim succeeds: you must report the loss to the airline or transport company within three days and obtain a Property Irregularity Report and luggage tag number, and any claim against the airline itself must be made within seven days. A USD 100 excess applies.

Yes. A family rate covers two adults plus up to four children under 16 on a single policy, which is normally cheaper than buying four separate ones. One thing to know before you rely on it: children under 16 have their personal accident benefit capped at USD 10,000 regardless of which tier you buy. Everything else applies at the plan’s normal limits. Tell us the ages of everyone travelling when you ask for the quote.

They pay for different things at different moments. Trip interruption — called curtailment in the policy — applies when you have to cut a trip short and go home, and it reimburses the unused travel and accommodation you have already paid for plus reasonable extra travel costs. It pays for four listed reasons only and carries a USD 100 excess. Travel delay applies when you are stuck waiting and the trip still goes ahead: after four hours it pays USD 50 per hour up to USD 1,000. You can claim for a delay or for abandoning the trip, but never both. Neither benefit exists on the Standard plan.

On Premier and Elite, a delay of more than four hours pays USD 50 per hour up to USD 1,000. Three limits matter more than the figure. The delay must be caused by strike or industrial action, poor weather or mechanical breakdown. It applies only to the outward and final return legs of your international journey — connecting flights later in the trip are not covered. And a delay caused by a natural disaster, or by an event already publicly announced before you bought the policy, is excluded outright. The Standard plan has no delay cover.

Yes, up to age 75 — you must be under 76 on the date the policy is issued. Travellers aged 66 to 75 need the Senior Age Extension, which carries an additional premium, and this is the part that is rarely explained: benefits are then capped at 10% of the plan’s sum insured. Emergency medical pays up to USD 100,000 and personal accident up to USD 10,000, whichever tier you buy. Buying Elite at 68 does not give you the USD 1,000,000 headline figure. Tell us every traveller’s age up front and we will quote what you would actually receive.

The ones that catch people out most often: natural disasters are excluded from every section of the policy, so volcanic ash, hurricanes and floods are not covered for delay or cancellation. A known event — a named storm or a strike already voted on — is excluded once it is public. Simply not wanting to travel is an explicit exclusion, and cancellation pays for only four reasons: death, serious illness or injury to you or a close relative, business associate or travel companion; or fire, storm, flood or burglary at your home or business. Work reasons and failing to obtain a visa are not covered. Pre-existing conditions are excluded unless the add-on is arranged. Travel to or through sanctioned countries is excluded on every plan. And certain activities — skydiving, scuba beyond 30 metres, trekking above 5,450 metres, off-road motorbiking, all motor sport — are excluded even if you offer to pay more.

Many consulates require proof of medical cover as part of the visa application, and the requirement differs by country and sometimes by consulate. We check the current requirement against your specific application and confirm in writing before you buy, rather than assuming a policy qualifies. Separately, the Premier and Elite plans include a small USD 100 benefit that reimburses your visa application fee if the consulate refuses the visa — that is a refund of the fee, not cover for the trip you can no longer take.

There is a five calendar day cooling-off period from the date of purchase. If the policy does not meet your needs, contact us or the insurer in writing within those five days and it will be cancelled with a full refund — provided the trip has not started and no claim has been made or is intended. After that window, or once the trip has begun, the policy wording does not set out a refund entitlement. If your circumstances change, talk to us before you assume anything either way and we will get an answer from the insurer.

The order matters. For anything lost in transit, report it to the airline or transport company within three days and get a Property Irregularity Report plus the luggage tag number. For theft, report it to the local police within 24 hours and get a written report listing exactly what was taken. Then register the claim with the insurer within 31 days of the trip ending, with receipts or proof of value for the items. If your baggage is delayed more than four hours you can claim for necessary clothing, medication and toiletries — keep the receipts and get written confirmation of the delay length from the airline. Anything paid for a delay is deducted if the bag is later declared permanently lost.

We confirm that against your specific application before you buy rather than claiming it here. The policy wording itself contains no Schengen compliance statement and quotes no minimum medical figure for visa purposes, so a reliable answer has to come from the insurer’s certificate for your particular trip. Send us your appointment details and the consulate you are applying to, and we will get it in writing. What the policy does cover, on Premier and Elite, is emergency medical treatment abroad and repatriation — the two elements consulates typically ask about.

The premium depends on five things: which of the three tiers you choose, your destination zone, how many days you are away, the age of each traveller, and any extensions such as pre-existing conditions, winter sports or hazardous activities. An annual multi-trip policy usually works out cheaper than three or more separate single-trip policies, provided no single trip exceeds 92 days. Rather than publish a “from” price that changes once we know your details, message us on WhatsApp at +971 42 202 133 with the trip and we will send the real figure. You can pay by card, bank transfer or cash, or spread it with Tabby, Tamara or a UAE credit card instalment plan.