My lot give £22 per overnight/CC. And the per diems will go into their salary, they don't get the money straight away.I have friends stranded all over Europe.
They might get B&B, fair enough, but £22 is not going to cover lunch AND dinner.
We are also required to carry ONE set of over night clothes in our Crew Bags; we don't have space for more, and these people have been away from their homes for 5 days. They had to go out and buy more clothes.
Added to that, there are people with young children at home who don't have the fortune of "grandparents" looking after the little one. Extra arrangements (and money) for nurseries/friends had to be made.
The airlines are struggling to get their own crew and pax back; not because they don't have a "duty of care", but because it is impossible to have any sort of control in this situation.
Some of my colleagues are in places where internet connection is rare, they don't speak the language, the phone reception is close to non existent and the locals are not very helpful (they charge 50 euros for a fax to be sent!).
So you see, crew have it as bad as pax. I feel sorry for both, and hope they manage to get back to their homes very soon.
In the mean time, can we stop saying that "crew have a hell of a good time"; they don't. Don't forget, crew are human too...