THERE is little doubt that Brexit and the weak pound are discouraging families who might make use of budget flights to have holidays abroad next year (“Christmas comes early as airlines slash cost of flights”, The Herald, December 8). Low cost is not the only discouraging factor however, and it may be that any family that has had the experience of being stranded a long way from home, with no assistance from the airline, might be keen to avoid repeating the experience.
Cancelled flights and stranding are not unusual. In fact, they are hardly surprising, given that part of the budget airline strategy is to have aircraft scheduled to criss-cross airports all over Europe and beyond, from morning till night, with the constant risk of delays due to dodgy weather, air-traffic controllers' industrial action and airport hitches.
These things happen and one might think that they happen often enough for airlines to make sure that staff members are on hand to assist in booking alternative flights, hotels, hire cars or whatever is necessary to make sure that families are not simply stranded indefinitely. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen in most situations. As for compensation – legitimate expenses incurred may be refunded, but compensation for the stress and knock-on effects of delays which might amount to days are not considered if the airline argues that whatever delay led to the cancellation was due to circumstances outwith its control. As the airline has all the information about that and the passenger doesn't, it's obvious how that will turn out.
Thomas G F Gray,
4A Auchinloch Road, Lenzie.
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