Originally Posted by
kicking_cans
I'll be traveling the day before; but for my return flight, what happens when plane 1 is delayed by weather, and plane 2 takes off before you arrive, thus causing you to spend the night in a random city. Do the airlines put you in a hotel, or do they blame it on the weather and make you pay for the hotel bill?
It depends, primarily on the cause of the delay and whether you have elite status.
Weather-related delays don't get you freebies (hotel room, bonus miles, etc) as easily as maintenance-related ones, since the latter is more directly the airline's "fault." Likewise, your chances of compensation are always better if you're an elite flyer. As others have stated, the key to the latter is to focus your travels on one airline, or at least one alliance.