In Reply to: Just posing a question.. posted by beceth on Saturday, 18. February 2012 at 09:18 Bali Time:
airlines could take more care in ensuring they are financially viable before granting any long-haul carrier flying rights - or at the very least set-up a scheme similar to the Travel Compensation Fund (TCF) of which membership is compulsory for a licensed travel agent, to provide protection to passengers in the event of an airline's collapse.
In the litigious society in which we live, a travel agent would need to exercise caution in providing customers with negative advice based on rumours only.
Following the Air Paradise fiasco in which I was badly burnt, I - as I know a number of other travel agents did - insisted that clients requiring reservations on any airline in which I did not have complete confidence and trust, sign an Indemnity Form absolving my agency and me personally against any losses the passenger may occur in the event that an airline in which I had issued tickets at their request, collapsed. I was totally inflexible in this regard. If a client refused to sign, I would not proceed with their reservation.
Nothing will convince me that Air Australia's owners were totally unaware of their precarious financial condition. Phuket authorities must have already been owed substantial sums of money by Air Australia to make them refuse sufficient fuel to enable the aircraft to return to Australia. No airport authority wants the burden of having a foreign aircraft stranded in its facilitiy - nor would they want to consciously and deliberately inconvenience overseas travellers. I suspect this situation has been "brewing" for some time and the airline continued to sell tickets in the hope they could pull-through.
At least with Air Paradise, there was the impact of passengers requesting refunds for travel following Bali Bomb 2 to consider. Both Garuda and Qantas gave their ticket-holders a period of grace in which they could either defer or cancel their travel without any penalties. Air Paradise naturally had to follow suit - but their problem was that unlike Garuda and Qantas, they did not have the cash reserves to meet this commitment. I am not in any way excusing what I consider unconscionable mis-management by Air Paradise in using monies paid for travel down-the-track for day-to-day operational expenses.
However, in the case of Air Australia, there were no such mitigating circumstances, so blame must be levied fairly and squarely on the airlines owners.