This is not a real news story and who cares. This has happened to me a couple of times in the past. Just go to a store and buy a few clothes. Keep the receipts, claim them back and move on. Still better than AC cancelling the flight. BTW, if you can’t afford to float a couple of hundred $ for a bit, you shouldn’t be travelling half way around the world. This is just one of many simple problems/curve balls in life. First world problem, with some people think third world.
The first intercontinental trip I took as an adult was for work. I had to get my boss to check in to the hotel with me, because I wasn't sure my credit card could handle the hold they were placing on it (I seem to recall they wanted the full amount up front when I checked in). It luckily was able to handle that amount. But I was left with tens of dollars available on my credit card. Had my bag not made it, I would not have been able to go out and buy much.
I could certainly afford the trip, as I was subsequently reimbursed thousands of dollars from my employer. But as a 20-year-old student/intern, I would have had to depend on an "adult" had anything gone wrong that required more than a hundred dollars to correct.