Originally Posted by trooper

Fair call for YOUR specialist practice. I should have made it clear I was referring to a GP conducting standard consultations.

By all means then leave ALL medical practices out of it. You made a good point about that area...specifically. What about the other examples I gave? It still remains a simple fact that airlines (in certain parts of the world) are being made to pay for delays that other industries are not. Tell me why a tradesman can turn up 4 hours late...or call 4 hours late and say he won't be there at all, (but can rebook for tomorrow) and that is somehow "OK", but if an airline in Europe affects me the same way, they owe me a wad of cash. Why do only airlines have to "manage " their resources to achieve certain punctuality standards? Why no "deterrent" on other businesses "running things too close to the line"?