Originally Posted by
simons1
Sorry that is complete tosh.
My daughter (aged 21) has just come back from a holiday in Thailand. She wouldn't immediately have £200 available, nor would she have known what to do in such circumstances.
Many families operate to tight budgets.
The whole 'I would have booked myself a hotel and left it to the next day' routine is frankly nonsense for such people. 90% of passengers wouldn't know the rules, or that £200 is the accepted amount. Not to mention the risk of BA then denying the claim with their usual excuses. Why don't the airline just do the job properly? You do have to laugh at some of this 'defend BA at all costs' forum content.
I know it's often trotted out on FT, but if you know that your travel insurance covers you for this type of thing then surely you book what your policy would allow and then let your insurer sort it out with BA. One doesn't need to know the rules or whether £200 is usually accepted.
Whilst I appreciate that many families operate to a budget, not travelling with a credit card that has at least a few hundred pounds of credit on it for emergencies is pretty foolish. Many responsible parents give their kids a credit card for exactly this type of situation.