What do you mean "they were stranded?" They finished their flights and were due to go home and ACASS told them to FO or the airplane broke or ???
Usually the entire crew does not go home at once. The entire time I flew with them they had one person rotate out at a time, not the entire crew at once.
Every time I headed home I was given a choice of the airline and many times routing or departure time. One or two times they were having troubles finding a flight and I did it on the internet, paying for it with my personal credit card. Always was paid for when I submitted my expenses.
A little more info would be nice here. Something does not seem right.