Austin787

I get the impression that if weather contributes any part to a delay or cancellation, the entire delay/cancellation gets coded as weather. Airlines (not just AA) seem to go to any lengths to blame IRROPS on weather so they can get out of paying compensation.

xliioper

Please show me where in the CoC they are obligated to "pay" you compensation for non-weather related delays or cancellations? The reality is there is no such rule in the CoC or law in the US that requires any compensation in these cases. The only thing the CoC obligates is providing accommodations in the event of an overnight delay when it is not a force majeure delay. It allows that they "may" provide alternate transportation at their discretion, but that does not obligate them to reimburse you should you go off and find something on your own. The DOT does a pretty good job of explaining this --

https://www.transportation.gov/indiv...-cancellations

Often1

This is one of those threads where the use of terms such as "compensation" and examples which have nothing to do with what happened here are unhelpful and simply confuse.

OP was ticketed SLC-LGA and weather intervened at PHL to cause at least a 2-day delay in completing the ticket. Under the COC, OP had three options:
#1 - Wait for the next flight with availability.
#2 - Declare a trip in vain and be returned to SLC (where his ticket would have been refunded).
#3 - Cancel the PHL-LGA segment (or the remainder of the ticket if wished) for a full refund of the value of the segment(s) cancelled.

OP effectively chose #3 and is due a refund (not compensation) of the value of the PHL-LGA segment, which is likely to be very little, but nonetheless is the contract which OP agreed to.

There is no compensation due. Period. People who confuse customer service gestures with compensation cause themselves all manner of problems and this is one of those. For what it is worth the entire mechanical vs. other issue is a red herring.

OP is free to ask AA to pay for anything he wishes and it is possible that AA may do so. Anything AA does pay for is solely a customer service gesture.

The Practical

The initial delay at PHL was 7 hours for a micro-haul which is roughly a 2-hour drive. Presuming that it takes OP an hour to get himself organized, let's call it 3-hours to NYC which is still 4 hours ahead of the initial delay. While I understand that Amtrak tickets can be costly at the last minute, especially if the NE Regional is sold out and you must purchase Acela, MegaBus runs the route for <$15 per person and there are numerous other alternatives as well. The rental approach is fine, but getting it reimbursed rather than simply offsetting the ticket refund is between OP and his travel insurance.

AA's obligation was to get OP to LGA on its next available service or to return him to his origination point, e.g. SLC. If there were no seats for 2 days, then there were no seats for 2 days.

jbarm

Thanks for the inputs folks. At the moment they've offered me two credits for about $35 each. No idea why two credits when I had three tickets. Asked for clarification on how they arrived at the number.

I would guess they just want to give me something to make me go away.