Is the british goverment going to pay the fares home for all those stranded holiday makers?

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seabluekangaroo

its never been mentioned in the press,in fact this is the first time i,ve heard someone with a brain ask! the government have bankrupted this and other companies with their tax for war policies,and then havn,t the decency to help out!

shevek_v

Not directly pay fares but the collapse of XL may still cost the UK taxpayer Â£21m:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/13/theairlineindustry.travelleisure

Lucia.

Nope. But apparently Iron Maiden are!

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gJAb85O4PUp58tYZLEBdL-07vyyw

clandrootor

If they are behaving like typical drunken British tourists abroad maybe the countries they are in will pay just to get rid of them. Common you Brits party until you are thrown out on the next plane.

luddite

No. Why should they? Do you want your taxes used for that, when all but a small minority are going to be brought home under the CAA repatriation scheme.

Ade C

I doubt it. This is the government we're talking about here! Do you think they really care about anyone other than themselves?! Hope the holiday makers find a way back quickly!

phoenix2frequent

No, the government doesn't need to get involved and the holidaymakers won't be left stranded.
Most of the holidaymakers are automatically protected by the Civil Aviation Authority's ATOL (Air Tour Operators Licence) scheme. This is effectively insurance against a company going bust, and is a legal requirement for any tour operator selling flights or package holidays that include air travel.

Sadly, some of XL's customers had bought their flights directly from the airline. They don't qualify for protection under the ATOL agreement. However, if they paid with a credit card and the cost was more than Â£100, they can claim the cost of a replacement flight from the credit-card company.

Some travel insurance policies also cover their customers in the case of a holiday company going bust, so some people will be refunded that way.

But for those XL customers who don't fall into any of those categories, and will have to pay for their own flights home, the CAA is providing flights at the cheapest rates possible.

Anyone booking a holiday needs to be sure that they are protected by one means or another.
Easiest:
book with a financially-protected ("bonded") company (and check before parting with money that their membership is up to date -- see sites listed below).
Other methods:
use a credit (not debit) card to pay for more than Â£100 of your holiday (especially when buying accommodation and travel separately)
get a travel insurance policy which covers financial collapse of your holiday company/ airline etc.

Reliable bonding organisations in the UK include ATOL (for flights booked through agents and package holidays that include flights); ABTA (the Association of British Travel Agents and
AITO (the Association of Independent Tour Operators).

diamonds

funny...i asked my hubby that same question today...apparently no - it is going to be up to the holidaymakers to get home themselves...dreadful eh? what about those that DON'T have money to do it...terrible shame.

maca

why is it that the government have to pay to bring people home from a holiday abroad they payed for there holiday, when thousands of people cannot afford to go on holiday, it is not the governments fault let the holiday company`s pay to bring them home from there fat profits that is why they have insurance through abta and atol

bramble43

of course not, they are british and pay taxes, if they were foreign and needed to come here for free medical help the govenrment would probably send a private jet for them

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