Delay, cancellation: What an airline really owes you, part 1
Winter isn’t over, neither is COVID-19 or staffing shortages, so if you’re planning to fly somewhere during the coming months, you need to know exactly what your airline owes you if it cancels or delays your flight. What you get is specified in the fine print of each line’s contract of carriage.
This part 1 covers “flight irregularities” due to weather or some other force majeure contingency. Beyond the obvious weather possibilities, airlines generally post a broad range of events that constitute force majeure. Here’s a typical list, from Delta: “Riots, civil unrest, embargoes, war, hostilities, or unsettled international conditions; Strikes, work stoppages, slowdowns, lockout, or any other labor-related dispute; Government regulation, demand, directive or requirement; Shortages of labor, fuel, or facilities; or Any other condition beyond Delta’s control or any fact not reasonably foreseen by Delta.” Clearly, that list includes a lot of contingencies Delta actually bears some responsibility to foresee.
What the airlines promise
With a problem caused by weather or other force majeure event, every airline owes you a cash refund on the value remaining on your ticket, including fees, or a seat on the airline’s next available flight to the same destination at no change in fare. Some airline contracts say little else, but a few are more specific:
Airlines that serve multiple airports in a city or region consider all those airports as a single destination. If you’re ticketed to Miami, for example, an airline can fulfill its commitment by getting you to Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach.
Alaska accommodates you on its next available seat in any class; American, Delta, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Sun Country, and United rebook you only in your original class; Avelo, Breeze (temporarily), Allegiant, Frontier, Southwest, and Spirit don’t have multiple classes.
Alaska, Avelo, Delta, Hawaiian, and United, at the airline’s sole direction, will put you on another line’s flight or on ground transportation.
On Alaska, when a cancellation or delay occurs at a connecting point on an outgoing itinerary, Alaska returns you home at no extra cost and refunds the full cost of your ticket. No other airline treats this possibility.
Although some airline contracts say the airline will assist you, none will arrange or pay for hotel accommodations in an overnight weather delay.
What you can do
You have to decide whether to accept the next seat or get a refund. If you can live with a delayed arrival, accepting the next seat may be your best option. But beware that on some low-fare airlines the next available seat may be two or three days later, and you could face a long wait even on a giant line.
Overnight delays are especially knotty. In weather or force majeure situations, no airline promises to arrange or pay for hotel accommodations. And if the next available seat doesn’t allow enough time for you to arrange a hotel room and get a reasonable sleep time, no line says you can take a later flight, although you can often arrange to do that.
If you take the refund and fend for yourself; you can buy a ticket on some other airline, take the Amtrak (if it runs where you want to go), or even rent a one-way car. Over the years, I’ve done all three, depending on the urgency of the trip. But it’s your nickel.
Instead of a refund, an airline may offer a voucher for future travel. The refund option is a no-brainer: No voucher is worth as much as the equivalent amount of cash. You might bargain for a bigger voucher, but I’m not aware that airlines are offering bonus vouchers.
If the flight is canceled because of an airline responsibility you have a lot more coming. I’ll cover that in part 2.