Sure, the tone of what I was responding to was that it was impossible to do things differently. Kind of like an American explaining why universal healthcare is impossible.
Having bankruptcy at all is an attempt at making a situation full of inherent conflict more orderly and less disruptive, so it isn't obvious why one must execute its provisions in a disruptive manner.
In the UK if you know that are you insolvent (and knowing that you are about to be insolvent is effectively the same thing as knowing that you are insolvent) then it's illegal to trade. Using your last bit of money to do something like fly people home is illegal - it would be defrauding other creditors who have higher priority to be paid off.