Flight canceled. Are airlines required to pay for hotel?

[Jerry1]

My daughter went to Florida this week and today after she boarded her flight, they were asked to de-plane due to an electric issue. After trying other options to complete her trip home, all options came up blank. Her next chance is the first flight in the morning which they said she’s booked on (should be all set). But, they are giving her the run around about paying for a hotel. Of course, I told her to take matters into her own hands and just get a room and fight the battle later.

Question - don’t airlines have a requirement to put people up, especially if it’s due to their equipment versus something out of their control like bad weather? I’ve never had anything like this ever happen (thankfully).

 

[aja8888]

When I traveled for business for 35 years, weather delays were not covered as for a hotel stay. When it was their equipment that failed, they usually paid for a room.

 

[geeky_grrl]

There is no legal obligation unless it is in the ticket contract. It is worth a shot asking the airline. Also if the ticket was bought on a credit card their might be some sort of travel insurance on it that will compensate her.

https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/flight-delays-cancellations
My flight is delayed - am I entitled to money or other compensation from the airline?

No. There are no federal laws requiring airlines to provide passengers with money or other compensation when their flights are delayed. Each airline has its own policies about what it will do for delayed passengers. If your flight is experiencing a long delay, ask airline staff if they will pay for meals or a hotel room. While some airlines offer these amenities to passengers, others do not provide any amenities to stranded passengers.

 

[Aerides]

what rinky dink airline is that? I think it's mostly the airlines own policies...

 

[jollystomper]

When I traveled for business for 35 years, weather delays were not covered as for a hotel stay. When it was their equipment that failed, they paid for a room.

In my experience, weather delays were an "it depends" situation based on the airline. Once when flying to Beijing, a weather delay on the first leg caused me to miss the second leg (Chicago to Tokyo) and my only option was a flight the next day, United paid for the overnight hotel. Another time a connection on American in Dallas was cancelled, American paid for my overnight stay in the Big D.

In general, I do not believe there is any federal requirement to pay for a hotel for any delay, so airlines may or may not do it based on a situation (e.g. number of passengers affected). It is worth raising the issue (politely) with customer service. They may not pay for hotel, but, for example, give you something like a voucher towards a future flight, or (if a member of their rewards program) additional miles.

 

[cathy63]

They do owe her a refund for the return flight if she is able to find another way home and she cancels before they close the door tomorrow morning. Otherwise, they owe her nothing except what's described in their "Conditions of Carriage" which you can find on the airline's website.

If she's on a major carrier, I'm a bit surprised that they won't give her a hotel voucher. If she's on a line like Spirit or Frontier, I'm not surprised. Even if she is on a major, they're unlikely to do anything for her after the fact, so "fight[ing] the battle later" is probably a wasted effort. If you don't get a voucher before you leave the airport, they don't reimburse you later.

 

[CardsFan]

My experience has been almost any airline will give you a hotel if you are delayed making a connection, but few airlines will pay for a room if you are starting the flight there. Can't really blame them on that one, though I might be unhappy.

 

[Jerry1]

Thanks. Unfortunately, the trip went bad in other ways and I’m more willing to pay for the hotel than watch my daughter go through any more stress so I just told her to get out of the airport and get a room. Even at her age (maybe especially), dad doesn’t know a better way to deal with daughter crying. The flight situation just rubbed salt in a wound that was wide open due to a family situation. Without going into details, an alcoholic was involved.

We can try the after the fact even though it might not amount to anything. The airline was American but they told her there were no hotels that hey could give her a voucher to within 30 miles of the airport. Though there was a Hampton Inn a half mile from the airport which is where she is now. As I said, my dad gene kicked in and I just told her to get the hell out of there and go to the hotel before that gets booked up and she’s at the airport gate for the evening. They did give her a website to fill out a form for reimbursement. I’ll also see what her ticket said and what credit card they used.

I’ve flown plenty of times before, but I’ve never had an issue anything like this. The rest of the family has flown very little. We usually drive. It’s killing me not to say “I told you so”, but I do know better. I told her I’d drive her down there, but she had to get down there right away to help this person who is, unfortunately, beyond help at this point. Sad and now expensive too.

 

[jollystomper]

If she's on a major carrier, I'm a bit surprised that they won't give her a hotel voucher. If she's on a line like Spirit or Frontier, I'm not surprised. Even if she is on a major, they're unlikely to do anything for her after the fact, so "fight[ing] the battle later" is probably a wasted effort. If you don't get a voucher before you leave the airport, they don't reimburse you later.

Not necessarily. We had a situation when returning overseas that the last leg of flight was cancelled, and alternative flights (such as flying into another airport from which folks could pick up) were also cancelled. The airline (United) gave us vouchers for Amtrak to get us where we could be picked up. Long story short, the Amtrak folks had no clue about these vouchers, and I ended up spending over an hour on the train with both Amtrak and United customer service to get it straightened out and avoid me and my family being kicked off the train. I wrote letters and emails to both United and Amtrak customer service detailing the situation and my reasons for the complaint. While I never heard back from Amtrak, United did respond with an apology and sent $200 electronic vouchers for me and each of my family members who were on on the trip, good for any flight within the next year.



I am also a United Mileage Plus member so that might have been a factor... but it cannot hurt to try.

 

[Jerry1]

My experience has been almost any airline will give you a hotel if you are delayed making a connection, but few airlines will pay for a room if you are starting the flight there. Can't really blame them on that one, though I might be unhappy.

Yeah, this was the start of her trip home. There will be a connecting flight. I can only hope nothing happens that she misses that tomorrow. The good news is she’ll only be about 8 hours away and we’ll just get her a rental car and get her home.

 

[cathy63]

Not necessarily. We had a situation when returning overseas that the last leg of flight was cancelled, and alternative flights (such as flying into another airport from which folks could pick up) were also cancelled. The airline (United) gave us vouchers for Amtrak ... Amtrak folks had no clue about these vouchers ... United did respond with an apology and sent $200 electronic vouchers for me and each of my family members who were on on the trip, good for any flight within the next year ... but it cannot hurt to try.

Having a voucher that doesn't work is a different situation than not having a voucher at all.

I agree it can't hurt to try, and filling out the refund request form is a minimal effort, but I would keep the expectations really low. I do hope Jerry's daughter gets a refund of at least as much as the voucher would have been worth if they'd given her one.

Here's where AA says they don't have to do anything about this situation in their Conditions of Carriage: https://www.aa.com/i18n/customer-service/support/conditions-of-carriage.jsp

If we or our airline partner fails to operate or delays your arrival more than 4 hours, our sole obligation is to refund the remaining ticket value and any optional fees according to our involuntary refunds policy, subject to our policy for rebooking your delayed / canceled flight.
...
If the disruption is our fault or you're diverted to another city, and we don't board before 11:59 p.m. local time on your scheduled arrival day, we'll arrange an overnight stay or cover the cost of an approved hotel, if available. We don’t guarantee reimbursement for hotel expenses if you book directly without written authorization from American Airlines.

 

[RunningBum]

When I flew last month and it looked like an equipment issue would make us miss our connection (last flight of the day) in Chicago, the agent said if we missed it they would give us a hotel voucher "because it was an equipment problem". We wound up making the flight, so I don't know what would have happened in Chicago. This was United.

 

[youbet]

I’m more willing to pay for the hotel than watch my daughter go through any more stress so I just told her to get out of the airport and get a room.

There ya go..... That's why we were good stewards of our money and lived frugally and blaah, blaah, blaah....... It's good to be able to step in and fix a low cost, nuisance situation like this without wondering where next week's groceries are coming from!

If all this costs you is a room for one night at a Hampton Inn, you've done well Dad!

In the situation I had five years ago, DW was traveling between Bangor and Chicago and got stranded at Laguardia due to weather. The entire airport was shut down. Hotel rooms vanished within minutes and DW wound up spending the night on the terminal floor with an airport furnished blanket. (Oh boy..... !) I would have paid [-]double[/-] [-]triple[/-] [-]quadruple[/-] whatever amount more to have her in that Hampton Inn for the night! Count your lucky stars!

 

[donheff]

My understanding has always been that delays or cancellations that prevent you from making a connection get you a hotel voucher. But problems at the origin don't.

 

[Winemaker]

Whenever I have experienced a non weather cancellation, I paid for hotel, and was issued a $150 voucher for inconvenience. Whenever I've had a weather cancellation, I was given a discounted rate for hotel.

 

[Jerry1]

The good news is that she just boarded her connecting flight in DC to be home around noon.

 

[OldShooter]

My understanding has always been that delays or cancellations that prevent you from making a connection get you a hotel voucher. But problems at the origin don't.

Well, never say never. We were booked on Delta and live about $75/cab ride from the airport. When we got to the airport they told us the flight was cancelled but without much haggling IIRC, they put us up at the Radi$$on Blu across the street and had us on the first flight out in the morning. This cost us a full day enroute to South Africa but not much to be done about that. We contacted our guide and gave him the new information and he met us accordingly. The price of the trip was not adjusted, of course. Not his fault we were late.

 

[Jenna]

My credit card covers that. Chase sapphire reserve. You need a cancellation notice from the airline and they will reimburse * Trip delay reimbursement: Up to $500 per ticket for reasonable expenses during a delay of more than 6 hours or overnight. You must currently be on a round-trip from your primary residence of 365 days or less. The cardholder, cardholder’s spouse and cardholder’s dependent children under 22 are covered. Can be 2 one way tix

 

[SecondAttempt]

IIRC, if the cancelation/delay is related to safety issues (weather, equipment problems, air traffic control issues) the airline does not have to pay for hotel or anything else. If you think about it this makes sense. You do not want an airline making decisions under financial pressure of paying for a couple of hundred hotel rooms for a flight full of passengers.

Most domesic flights only make a few thousand dollars after fuel, landing fees, labor, and so forth. So even a small flight with 100 passengers at $100 per night (airlines do get super cheap rates) would be deeply in the red for any overnight delay.

Usually your chance of getting a room is better if you are loyal to an airline even if you are not in a high tier. I stick with one airline as much as possible and have a lounge membership. I usually just go to the customer service in the lounge and have always been treated great with room, meals, and luggage pulled so I have it with me. I have the membership through a credit card. It's not worth it if you fly once or twice a year but 4 or more times, by my estimation and the chance of a major hassle can make it worth it. It can also depend on where you fly. When I joined I lived on the (US) west coast and was flying to the east coast a lot (~monthly). In the summer thunderstorm delays were so common that it was something like 50/50 whether I would get home. I'd usually get on a flight but it would be late to LA and I would miss my flight to home and need a hotel. Lounge people always did me right. For many years my job paid for it but I have kept it up because of the great service when something goes wrong, which these days is far too common.

 

[SecondAttempt]

Security issues also let the airline off the hook. I was on a flight from Edinburgh SCotland back to the US a few years ago. We sat on the ground for 9 HOURS while they fixed it. Initially the pilot said we going to take off anyway then about half an hour later he said they could not because it was a security issue (?). But when I missed my flights the rest of teh way back to Hawaii they put me up in 2 different hotels.

 

[athena53]

The airline was American but they told her there were no hotels that hey could give her a voucher to within 30 miles of the airport. Though there was a Hampton Inn a half mile from the airport which is where she is now. As I said, my dad gene kicked in and I just told her to get the hell out of there and go to the hotel before that gets booked up and she’s at the airport gate for the evening. They did give her a website to fill out a form for reimbursement. I’ll also see what her ticket said and what credit card they used.

I'm very glad you were able to get her a room and I'd have done the same thing for my DS.

The weasel words I see are "that they could give her a voucher for.." So, if it's not one where they can get an El Cheapo rate, you're SOL. And that doesn't always work, either. Two experiences, also with AA- in one I was stuck in ORD overnight and they gave me a voucher- but I called the hotel and they said they had already had a ton of people check in with vouchers and there were no more rooms. So, the voucher was useless and I found another hotel on my own. Another time, also stuck in ORD, I had a voucher for a Best Western. It was past midnight before we could get our luggage and I kept calling the hotel. Yes, their shuttle would be there in 20 minutes...yes, the shuttle would be there in 20 minutes...after an hour I got fed up and checked into the Hilton across the street. It was the wee hours of the morning and they gave me a day rate! Both times I was traveling on business and my employer picked up the cost but I'd gladly have paid for it out of pocket for personal travel.

And now you know why I'm DRIVING from KC to SC for Dad's funeral. About 3 hours left to go this morning.

 

[ncbill]

shoot, we got a room and meal vouchers from American after the last commuter flight of the day was canceled.

still can't believe how nasty some of the other passengers were to the ticket agent...if they really had to be back "first thing in the morning" as they claimed they could have hoofed it on down to the rental car counter to cover the same ground in under 6 hours.

 

[ivinsfan]

a53...may you find comfort saying goodbye to your Dad..