Air travellers are encouraged to carefully check the details of their insurance policies, as some emergency situations may not be covered.

Disruption caused to air travel by the government raising airport security threat levels to critical may not be covered by regular insurance policies, claims a financial research company.

Defaqto explains that although policies cover travellers for loss, damage or injury caused by terrorism, in some circumstances considered related to terrorism will not be covered.

For example, although the government recently raised UK airport security levels to critical and limited hand luggage, the resulting delays for travellers are unlikely to be covered by the terms of a regular insurance policy.

"Emergencies of this type do expose the strict terms of travel insurance policies and will encourage travellers to examine their own policies to see how well they address these circumstances," said Brian Brown from Defaqto.

With normal delays in take-off, travellers need to prove that they checked in waited eight or 12 hours before making their claim.

They also need to provide a letter stating the cause of the delay or cancellation, the period of delay, schedule and the actual times of departure.

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