Absolute nightmare dealing with a very simple travel cancellation claim. For a flight cancelled due to Covid in May 2020 we have finally received a settlement from Direct line in January 2021 of about half of our claimed amount. The original bookings were made long before Covod had even been heard of. Policy excesses aside, they have given no explanation of how they reached they amount of their 'full and final' settlement. Just a cheque in the mail. I've had to make dozens of phone calls and sent even more messages with Direct line trying to wriggle out of the claim at any and every opportunity. Fortunately I keep very good records but I imagine most people would just give up. They asked for copies of email correspondence with the owners of the holiday apartment we had booked, copies of bank statements, copies credit card statements, copies of paypal statements, declarations form the airline (you try getting an airline to declare anything!!) , declarations from the apartment owners. They questioned exchange rates between Euro and GBP payments. They even wanted to see my marriage certificate! This has been the single most frustrating insurance company I have ever had the misfortune to have had to deal with. If I added up all the hours I have wasted dealing with Direct line trying to get them to even deal with our claim, it has actually cost me a lot of money. Even at basic minimum wage rates it wasn't worth submitting our £800 claim for the aggravation Direct line cause. We will certainly not been renewing our building, contents or travel insurance with Direct Line and the quote we have recent requested for insurance on a second property we are buying is going straight into the bin. This company appears to have a clear strategy to delay and frustrate any claim. Our claim was really quite simple so heaven help anyone who had a complicated large value claim. They couldn't have made the claims process more drawn out and frustrating if they had tried. My recommendation is avoid this company and spend your money wisely; elsewhere.