That sounds like a horrible experience. I'm sure they did the best they could do but I think today airlines are so limited in how they can remedy these situations.

My concern would be for children who are traveling to meet their other parent. I remember when my nephew had to travel alone when he was young and the other parent waiting to pick him up when he got there. Something like this would be terrible for him, not having credit cards or too much extra cash and then getting stuck. Good thing for cell phones today though.