Have you been affected by the Monarch collapse?

I saw this comment from someone on Reddit:

‘My son is at Gatwick right now. He booked a flight to Alicante back in April, this is his first time abroad. He literally walked into the airport only to be handed a sheet of paper informing him that all flights were cancelled. I cannot believe this, frankly. They could have to least honoured today’s flights and given a bit more notice. He’s now massively out of pocket and scrambling to get on new alternative flight today, or lose the holiday he’s been waiting all year for. I feel so bad for him.’

And their follow up:

‘Just spoken to him now, they managed to get a return flight booked with BA. They depart 10 minutes sooner than the Monarch flight was due to leave, but the return flight although on the same day, is much earlier. I guess they were lucky to be amongst the very first people to find out, so seats on other flights were available. I fear that may not be the case for lots of other people as the rush begins. I’ve told him to keep every bit of paperwork he has and all the emails, but of course who knows if they will get any compensation. He told me that at the time they were handing out typed sheets of paper at Gatwick, it was not on the Monarch website. It is now, finally.’

https://www.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/73qcqe/flights_axed_as_monarch_goes_into_administration/dnsbmd7/

Not sure how I’d react in that situation.

It is worth mentioning that the wording on the CAA website is slightly equivocal and some people (i.e. banks!) are suggesting as a result that flight only tickets booked before December 14th are all ATOL Protected and we should claim through the CAA. This is not true as most flight only tickets bought like this through Monarch’s website were not accompanied by an ATOL Certificate so the only recourse is through Travel Insurers (not likely in the most despite headline adverts of Cancellation Fees when you purchase) or the card issuers who seem reluctant to provide me with the appropriate forms etc. so far. I specifically invoked Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. I think this will run and run.

I bought 7 flights (not all from the same departure point or with the same airline) and separate accommodation for a family holiday. Santander are refusing to refund the cost of my daughter’s flight because my name is not on the booking (doh!) and they say that the debtor/creditor/supplier link is broken. I can not get them to tell me whether they think that my daughter bought this flight using my card (which she couldn’t) or that gifts are not covered by s75. Anyone else having a similar problem?