The ombudsman received 1,390 travel‑related complaints in Q3 2025, making travel the third most complained‑about product line in UK general insurance.
This represents one of the highest quarters on record for travel complaints, with the exception of the period immediately following the Covid‑19 pandemic, when the market experienced an unprecedented wave of disruption and disputes.
The pace of the latest increase suggests that, even with pandemic‑related pressures long behind the industry, significant friction remains in the travel customer journey.
There is also a notable level of concentration within the data. More than half of all travel complaints referred to the FOS over the 12 months to the end of September 2025 relate to a single insurer.
While this skews the aggregate figures, it does not fully explain the scale of the increase. Travel has moved firmly into the upper tier of complaint volumes across UK general insurance, underlining the level of dissatisfaction still being experienced by customers.
Upheld rates reinforce this picture.
Over the last five years, upheld rates for travel insurance complaints have topped 40% in more than half of all quarters, highlighting how frequently the ombudsman concludes that the insurer made the wrong decision.
While there has been some improvement more recently, the upheld rate still stood at 35% in Q3 2025, down from 42% a year earlier. Even after that reduction, this means that more than one in three travel complaints were resolved in favour of the customer.
This surge in travel complaints means that the travel insurance market now accounts for around 12% of all general insurance-related complaints making it to the ombudsman.
In total, some 11,250 cases reached the FOS over the quarter, representing a 13% year-on-year increase and taking total complaint volumes to their highest point since early 2023.
Taken together, the latest data shows that travel insurance remains a pressure point for the industry. Rising complaint volumes combined with persistently high upheld rates point to ongoing weaknesses in claims handling and policy communication.
For insurers, the challenge is not just reducing complaints, but preventing them from escalating to the ombudsman by delivering clearer decisions and more consistent customer outcomes.
How Insurance DataLab Can Help
Insurance DataLab’s market intelligence platform tracks quarterly FOS complaint volumes and upheld rates, broken down by insurer, product line and complaint type. Combined with our wider insights on claims performance and customer experience, this enables firms to benchmark performance, identify emerging risks and evidence good customer outcomes.
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