flyerCO

Question - Does AA provide hotels for EXP even during weather delays? I know that at DL DM will get a hotel regardless of if it's within airline control or not. Have no clue on AA, but may be needing to know tomorrow.

arlflyer

Nope.

Uzzar

I have been set up with a hotel on 2 occasions when a weather related delay caused me to miss my connection and the next flight was not until the next day. However, I have also had multiple times where they told me it was out of their control.

The worst case was this past January when one of the big snow storms shut down both CLT and my Regional home airport. They totally stopped even booking me on any more flights after 18 hours (I was able to get a rental car eventually). All expenses for that were out of my own pocket.

brewdog11

I've never been set up with a hotel--even when it was the airline's fault.

IMHO, sometimes you're better off not going to the Days Inn or wherever the hell they end up sending you. Recently got stranded at DFW overnight on an airline-caused delay, and the rates at the DFW Grand Hyatt were semi-reasonable (disclaimer: I had CC trip insurance). I didn't even bother to see where AA was going to send me.

Stripe

AA did it once for me, during a bad round of thunderstorms at DFW, with the agent mumbling something like "to heck with it". Since then I have used my credit card benefit to get reimbursed for hotel and other expenses while stranded and haven't even asked AA.

JDiver

Some of us have had AA put us up or reimburse us for lodging during weather OSO / IROPS, but it's the exception and not the rule. Some believe the higher your Helix score / "Eagles rating" (perceived value to AA) the more likely it is you might be granted an exception.

The AA Conditions of Carriage indicate weather is clearly a "Force Majeure" issue, and an event they are not responsible for.

"Force majeure events (link)

American may, in the event of a force majeure event, without notice, cancel, terminate, divert, postpone or delay any flight or the right of carriage or reservation of traffic accommodations without liability except to issue an involuntary refund. The involuntary refund will be made in the original form of payment in accordance with involuntary refund rules for any unused portion of the ticket. American will also reserve the right to determine if any departure or landing should be made without any liability except the afore mentioned involuntary refund.

Force majeure event means:

Any condition beyond American's control including, but without limitation, meteorological conditions, acts of God, riots, civil commotion, embargoes, wars, hostilities, disturbances or unsettled international conditions - actual threatened or reported. Also, because of any delay, demand, circumstances or requirement due, directly or indirectly to such conditions; or

• Any strike, work stoppage, slowdown, lockout or any other labor related dispute involving or affecting American's service; or
• Any government regulation, demand or requirement; or
• Any shortage of labor, fuel or facilities of American or others; or
• Any fact not reasonably foreseen, anticipated or predicted by American

"

AANYC1981

never had AA cover a hotel (never needed a hotel now that I think about it)....but they have put me on different airlines (even non OW) in premium cabins to get me to my destination in wx/IRROPS.

xliioper

I've been denied a hotel voucher at ATL as a DL DM due to a claimed ATC delay. So not all DM's get this benefit.

javabytes

Then they've violated the CoC on you.

cova

Problem is they blame it on ATC when no weather when they cancel a flight.

Some cancellation are due to a mechanical on another aircraft and they cancel you flight to use the aircraft for the other flight.

And I have never received any hotel accommodations from AA. Basically AA is as bad as UA for hotels.

brewdog11

There is one instance where I'm positive they did. After dealing with an agent who had no clue what they were doing, I just gave up.

I've seen these bogus cancellations before. In one instance, the flight was re-routed through a city with WX so the delay could be changed from MX to WX. There were a lot of int'l travellers on that flight. Maybe that had something to do with it. Hmm...

I always make note of these to the DOT.

Rebob

I have not enjoyed the hotels I've been given when it happened. I'd rather use the credit card or points to get something decent

rasheed

I've had no issue getting a hotel when it was non-weather related (causing a missed connection), but no one really wants to be in the situation anyway.

For weather (diversions to airports as an example), I have been on my own and find that sites like priceline are valuable for that purpose.

Rasheed

flyerCO

DM are entitled. The one big problem/sometimes major plus for DL is that no two DL agents will give the exact same answer.

BThumme

I suppose I should be thankful that AA covered a hotel for me, but the last time I had a maintenance problem lead to a missed flight in DFW, they put me in that Days Inn (with everyone else). It was awful.

To answer the question, the answer is no, they won't. This is one of the single best benefits of a good Credit Card. The last weather delay I had at ORD that I needed a hotel for, I was able to choose pretty much any hotel. The insurance budgets are really high.

Even if AA did cover a hotel for me in weather, it wouldn't be anything above a days inn in terms of quality.