JESSICA BEARD: Airlines must stop treating passengers as cargo

If you thought flying abroad hit a new low with last summer’s cancellation chaos, wait till you hear this.

Before Christmas I flew to visit family in Switzerland and booked a return flight with the airline, Swiss, on December 27th.

But on Boxing Day around 9pm I got an email. My flight was one day early to December 26th. And it would leave at 10 p.m.

Yes, you read that right – I was only given an hour to get to the airport or I would miss this new, much earlier flight.

Even if I’d been lounging eating turkey trimmings and watching festive movies at my family’s house (in fact, we were out and about), I never would have had time to pack up, head to the airport, and duck through security . And what if I had holed up in a chalet miles away in the Alps?

I called customer service. They had no idea what had happened but told me to go to the airport early the next day.

So we canceled family plans (a day in the mountains) and showed up bright and early…only to be told that my original flight no longer existed in the airline’s computer system.

After some back and forth I was put on another flight. Yet my request for compensation was answered with a firm ‘No’.

A flight delay or lost luggage is one thing. It’s incredibly frustrating, but it happens.

Still, something has gone seriously wrong if airlines find it acceptable to casually move the date of flights on such short notice.

The whole point of booking a ticket is to carefully select a date and time that fits your schedule.

Rather, if moved out of the blue, it can ruin the entire trip. If it’s moved later, you’re in for a race (and huge expense) to find an extra night’s accommodation.

It increasingly feels like airlines are treating passengers like cargo that can be shipped when it suits them.

It’s about time they started treating us like real people again, with real lives and real plans that they mess with at their peril.

Duped romantics

Most people’s suspicion would be aroused by the idea of ​​sending large sums of money around the world to an online lover with a barely believable sob story.

But a visit to Santander’s Break The Spell fraud squad in Merseyside opened my eyes to just how dastardly these scammers can be.

Victims are so ensnared by the cheaters that it can take weeks or even months for the highly trained professionals at the bank to convince customers that they are being cheated.

I wondered why friends or family hadn’t intervened. But the truth is that many victims are lured deep into relationships before they even tell others.

Some would never think of discussing their finances openly, while others are lonely and have no one to talk to about such things.

The main lesson I learned from my visit is that if you are concerned that a friend or family member has been lured in by a scammer after their money, consider reporting it to their bank.

Instead of worrying about betraying their trust, think of it as a noble act that can save them from financial disaster.

The Break The Spell team in Santander are sensitive, sympathetic and have been thoroughly trained to handle complex cases. They are on your side.

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j.beard@dailymail.co.uk