Originally Posted by C17PSGR

What airline is your friend flying on from JAI to DEL? Its not AA and I didn't see any codeshares to/from JAI on AA (could be missing one). If so, I don't see how any airline would have an obligation to provide food/lodging on an interline connection.

As for the overall rule on AA flights, I've done overnight connections at JFK/ORD/DFW/STL and never though AA had any obligations to me, unless it was a misconnect. On some of those occasions, for example, I've taken the last flight into a hub and the first flight out in the morning so I could have full business days on both ends.