F3G and
Rusland please play nicely together guys
sassypilotswife you do raise some valid points here.
Uk airlines (I don't know about the rest) have a duty of care to their pax and crew. They have to provide accomodation/food allowances for delays downroute....for however long they are!!
We all know that some are better than others at this but by now they should all be grasping the nettle on this.
In normal circumstances most airlines will do this outbound as well for unexpected delays. However the airlines are now bending over backwards to keep UK departing pax informed. If you then turn up at the airport despite being told not to I suspect if you can find an airline rep they may not be that sympathetic
With regard to the crew the CAA lay down minimum standards of accomodation for operating crew and they are pretty good.....even the loco's can't skimp on these. We are also paid flight allowances for being stuck down route although again airlines vary on these but we would get by. It's family/childcare commitments that would become an issue for prolonged unplanned periods away from base especially for crews on short haul.
Rest assured that although some companies would like us to fly the minute we touched down in the UK we cannot do this either. The CAA have strict rules on adequate rest, aclimatisation etc.