FlyerTalker39574

Tafflyer

LTN Phobia

In the absence of an extenuating circumstance such as a sudden illness that resulted in expending an inordinate amount of funds or other kind of events that are not easily foreseeable, I doubt many people are actually forced to max out their credit card while they are on holiday. It would be their choice how they spent the money, and then if they sleep on the airport floor because they ended up spending too much while they are on holiday - just a simple matter of priority in allocation of funds, i.e. keeping something for contingency or spending.

Excessive reliance on the system/other people/companies is not the best policy because it's the fact that businesses/other people/system do not always operate how they should or how we want.

We also seem to be forgetting that a family holiday to Florida, no matter what class it takes place in, is luxury regardless, and not some kind of a basic living requirement. If you are engaging in a luxury activity, then a reasonable contingency plan should be in place to cover unexpected expenses to a reasonable extent.

It is no different from allowing extra time to get to the destination in case of a traffic jam.

You are quite welcome to swap and work up to 120 hours a week and "forced" to work on flights and thus needing to provide privacy and needing to avoid affecting other people on board (CW screen lets the light through from the laptop and can annoy the neighbour), resulting in needing to fly F. You are also welcome to spend thousands of hours volunteering to defend people who have been affected by true mistreatment with no fault or even adverse contribution of their own at the same time as carrying multiple medical conditions and injuries.

cauchy

I see a ticket on an EU airline as coming with a bundled-in EC261 'insurance' package. I often book an EU airline, and then skimp on the travel insurance I purchase, because I'd rather not pay twice for the same thing!

beachmouse

I know a good number of people who have maybe a $2-3K limit total on their lone credit card. It's all they need in everyday life, but it's easy to bump up against that limit on trips, especially for a hotel bill still being processed or if they're waiting for a rental car hold to come off the card.

Blueboys999

A reasonable expectation that whomever I pay my hard-earned money to will keep their side of the bargain and comply with their legal obligations doesn't feel like "excessive reliance" to me.

simons1

LTN Phobia

Would you say the same if it is a disruption of a train for instance, necessitating an unscheduled overnight stop?

thijsseh

Your line of defence is getting weaker and more absurd with every new post. Probably better to stop now.

TheJayHatch

LTN Phobia

What's so special about flying that removes personal responsibility towards preparedness though? There are so many aspects of travel and obviously travelling is not limited to flying, but even if you limited it to flying, not all carriers and not all situations are covered by EU261? And not all 'extra expenses' during travelling are directly to do with transportation, e.g. what about if a child in the travelling party gets injured and needs a minor treatment that needs to be pre-paid? Would they have no funds for the treatment? That is clearly not a good idea.

This particular situation of BA messing up was covered by it but they appear to have been unable to arrange for hotel accommodation for everyone, although some passengers appear to have found their own, which I am sure they will be able to claim back from BA (and so they should).

But to say that some were 'forced' to sleep on the airport floor because they had no money to pay for a hotel seems rather ill-prepared for things that may go wrong during travel. Obviously BA should have had the hotel room ready and waiting for every single passenger before they even landed at JFK but things do not always work out perfectly (I'm sure they would pay for this dearly through adverse publicity).

That is the last thing I shall say on this thread on the matter.

botham

Most of have travel insurance and most complete their travels without needing to trouble their insurers, but in the event of unforeseen circumstances, everyone needs to be aware of a few basics.

1). Try and remain calm.

2). Keep receipts for everything

Many inexperienced travellers, typically those on holiday, aren’t used to claiming expenses, unlike business travellers. Sadly airlines won’t pay out without receipts even though stranded pax need to eat and sleep.

My extended family were caught up in the BA IT failure, but didn’t keep all their receipts, not realising that they might get reimbursed. Easily done when stressed.

DYKWIA

They shouldn't really need to keep receipts, as BA should be providing "Duty of Care". This includes hotel accommodation, transport to the hotel and meals at the hotel.

V10

There's some assumption going on here that the standards of experienced travellers can be applied to everyone. Sage advice regarding insurance and so on, but when things go wrong not everyone does retain the presence of mind to calmly sort themselves out with some alternatives. EC261 exists for a reason, and it's not because the EU hates airlines. Rather, it was a very specific passenger protection response to airlines themselves pretty much abandoning their passengers at the first sign of problems.

I'm used to travelling a bit (though not to c-w-s standards), but even last week I completely forgot to obtain a receipt for 60 euros worth of parking at Brussels airport after a disrupted journey that started out 12 hours earlier in Lisbon. Easily done and tiredness, stress and so on all plays its part.

peck