You just described the usage pattern of a pilot with a family, a truck driver, a seaman, etc.
It’s only unusual if your definition of usual is “relatively rich, computer power user”.
I travelled a lot for work, and never had issues with account access. Nor did my wife ever have issues related to accounts. We don't share Google accounts though. It sounds like that user has personal accounts being used by three people for business use... Which isn't "A seaman and his family".
Google's login protection mechanisms seem to be satisfied by TOTP usage, and you won't be locked out anymore (or at least much less likely to be).
Or a more recent example: my father forgot to bring his Android phone back abroad which subsequently locked him out of his account/services; had to wipe it for him to get his access back.
Yes. Everyone having their own distinct accounts is a property of high computer literacy in the family.
Many of my older extended family members have a single email account shared by a husband and wife. Or in one case the way to email my aunt is to send an email to an account operated by a daughter in a different town. Aunt and daughter are both signed in so the daughter can help with attachments or “emails that go missing”, etc.
> Which isn't "A seaman and his family".
The seaman in this scenario has a smartphone with the email signed in. It’s also signed in on the family computer at home. Both the wife and him send email from it. Maybe a kid does to from a tablet. This isn’t that difficult.
If you don't own your own device and rely on third-party devices to access the service, good luck to you...
As usual with the "personas" scenarios, people creates their unrealistic scenario (just like when talking about UX or design). These personas you are describing will probably fall back to low-tech methods in most of the cases, they won't fail to take a plane because GMail locked them out due to unusual activity when they are trying to show the ticket QR in the airport. They will just print it (or have someone print it for them) beforehand.
> The seaman in this scenario has a smartphone with the email signed in. It’s also signed in on the family computer at home. Both the wife and him send email from it. Maybe a kid does to from a tablet. This isn’t that difficult.
You just missed to add that they use their shared email to communicate between them by using the "Sent" folder. To be more realistic, the seaman right after buying his Android phone will create without realizing a new Google account because he doesn't probably know that he could use the email account he is already using at home. But, enough with made-up examples to prove our own points.
> They will just print it (or have someone print it for them) beforehand.
Yes, they will do that precisely because they do not trust technology to work for them because it frequently does not! I have family members like this. I log in to their accounts on my devices for various reasons. Even worse, I run Linux. We run in to these problems frequently. Spend time helping technically illiterate people with things. While doing so, make a concerted effort to understand why they say or think some of the things that they do.
Edit to add, I find it amusing that you make fun of his seaman example. Almost that exact scenario (in terms of number of devices, shared devices, and locations) is currently the case for two of my relatives. Two! And yet you ridicule it.
Much appreciate the suggestion!
And for many of the SaaS that we use, TOTP doesn't help you avoid the security lock outs.