Thank you for your comments Wing Commander. No thanks to jetstream for yours. The problem was that the alternative flight offered was 5 days later than the original one. There were no flights to the UK from Italy for another 3 days. Unlike most people I do read the terms and conditions when booking. I am not looking for compensation. If an alternative flight had been offered later in the day or even the following day, I would have footed the bill for the hotel etc and accepted it. What I DON'T accept is that it's good customer service to leave 400 people stranded in Italy with no way of getting home especially those with young families. I have travel insurance but as the airport handling agents were reluctant to give written proof of the cancelled flight I doubt that the insurance company will want to cough up. I sincerely hope jetstream that this never happens to you or maybe as you think that there is no problem here and that it's just 'tough' as you so kindly put it then maybe it should!