Given how laborious and time intensive travel was during that period, imagine having purchased a ticket on Titanic only to find out that when you arrive in New York, the ship you intended to sail on would not be departing for its return voyage to Europe--ever.
I imagine that this resulted in many a stressful trip where passengers had to re-arrange their travel plans, and book passage on a different vessel as soon as they arrived in New York.
Does anyone know how long it took White Star to refund tickets sold for Titanic's return voyage, or whether or not White Star merely transferred passengers to another White Star liner?
If someone booked passage on a Titanic they might be pretty irritated to find White Star trying to force them to take a smaller slower liner with less amenities than an Olympic class vessel, and seeing as how Olympic was in transit to Europe and once there, a crew strike occurred, a passenger would have to wait weeks if they wanted to sail on Olympic.
I am guessing that, much like today's airline industry, companies like White Star had agreements with other lines to transfer passengers when, for one reason or another, White Star could not provide the berth passengers had paid for on a White Star vessel.
