If You Buy Travel Insurance After a Strike Hits the News, It’s Already Too Late to Claim

If you buy travel insurance the same week a strike makes headlines, you have almost certainly bought it too late to claim on that strike. That is the known-event exclusion buried in most Australian travel insurance policies, and this month’s stoppages at Sydney Airport are the live example forcing insurance brokers to explain a clause most travelers have never read.

What is a known-event exclusion, and how does it decide your claim

A known-event exclusion means an insurer won’t pay a claim for a disruption that was already public knowledge before you bought the policy. “It’s essential to purchase travel insurance as soon as you start making payments towards your trip,” says Natalie Smith of Comparetravelinsurance.com.au, because the trigger is the purchase date, not how big or how unfair the disruption turns out to be. Buy your policy before a strike is announced, and a comprehensive product can cover the extra transport, accommodation and meal costs, missed connections and some prepaid bookings it causes. Buy it after, even by a single day, and that same strike is specifically excluded from what you just bought.

Did the Sydney Airport strikes actually trigger this exclusion this month

Yes, twice over. On September 24, roughly 400 Certis security screening staff walked out for two separate two-hour stoppages, 7:30–9:30am and 6–8pm, while Qantas Ground Services staff at two freight subsidiaries stopped work for a full 24 hours. A further three-hour Certis stoppage is scheduled for September 28, plus a separate Work Health and Safety walkout from 10pm that Monday to 1am on September 29. Every one of those dates is now public. A policy bought today can still cover a disruption nobody has announced yet; it cannot cover the September 28-29 action, because that strike is already known.

How many Australians are already flying with zero cover

About 14% of Australians took their most recent overseas trip with no travel insurance at all, and among under-30 travelers that rises to 23%. Of the people who went uninsured, 65% say it was a deliberate choice — 31% judged their destination safe enough to skip it, and 27% called insurance poor value for money. Complaints haven’t slowed either: the Australian Financial Complaints Authority logged 34,231 general insurance complaints in 2024-25, up 17% on the year before, with travel policies a regular contributor.

What this means if you already have a flight booked this month

What this means for you

Check the date on your policy schedule against the date each strike was first reported, not the date it actually happens — that comparison is what decides your claim. If you haven’t bought cover yet and nothing is currently in the news about your route, buy it today rather than waiting for departure week; the next disruption, once it’s announced, is instantly excluded from anything you purchase afterwards. The same logic reaches well past Australian airports: trekkers who waited to buy Nepal insurance until after the Rasuwa flood made headlines in August found the identical clause working against them. Our own bookings require proof of a policy covering high-altitude helicopter evacuation before departure, precisely so a client is never caught relying on cover they bought too late.

Common questions about travel insurance and strikes

Does travel insurance ever cover strikes?

Yes, but only a strike that wasn’t already public when you bought the policy. A comprehensive product bought early enough can cover extra accommodation, meals, alternative transport, missed connections and some prepaid costs the strike causes.

What if I bought my policy weeks before the strike was even threatened?

That is exactly the scenario the exclusion is designed to still pay out on. The test is whether the disruption was public knowledge on your purchase date, not whether you personally knew about it.

Does the same rule apply to trekking insurance in Nepal?

Yes. A named-peril or known-event clause works the same way regardless of country: a flood, a strike or a border closure that has already made news before you buy is excluded from that policy. Buy trekking insurance when you book your trip, not the week before you fly.

Cover photo: Chris Olszewski via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Section photos: Yender Fonseca via Pexels (Pexels licence); Braeson Holland via Pexels (Pexels licence); Anna Shvets via Pexels (Pexels licence); Jake Ryan via Pexels (Pexels licence); MART PRODUCTION via Pexels (Pexels licence).