Originally Posted by
florens
Surely people who travel (longhaul) would have either a credit card, cash or a bank card to get some money at the next ATM for any unexpected expenses.
Is not a question about money, is a question about duty of care.
You are assuming everyone is an experienced traveller who speaks fluent english and knows how how to move around in London.
But most probably at least half of the people in the flight travel just 1-2 times per year, some of them would not speak to much english (some of them none at all) and I would not be surprised if for some it was the first time in London (especially if they were connecting from EU).
So 'book a hotel by yourself and go to LHR tomorrow' is NOT a good way of handle things. Even when IB overbooked by 40 my MAN-MAD christmas flight last year and made a big mess on the rebooking, at least the handling agents stayed with us until 2am to be sure everyone have an hotel room (they booked us hotels 45min from the airport as all the hotels nearby the airport and the city).