I've always wondered this. Sometimes airlines give vouchers, sometimes they don't, and sometimes you have to wait in line hours to get a voucher. At what point do you just book a hotel yourself and request reimbursement for the food, hotel, cab, etc from the airline? Are they generally guaranteed to pay something like this out?

Assuming flights within the US...

If the delay is beyond their control (a claim they can often make, whether or not common sense agrees), they aren't obligated to provide much of anything. If it is clearly under their control (e.g. broken airplane), I don't think you have much legal right to redress either, but many airlines have customer service commitments that facilitate duty of care.

My approach is to book hotels myself in such situations (unless they are handing out vouchers in an efficient manner), and then submit receipts after the fact. About 50% of the time, I get reimbursed, and when that doesn't happen, some miles or travel credits often show up in my account.

I'm not really bummed if I don't get reimbursed though because getting good sleep is worth paying for IMO. But, this means that I try to keep the hotel cost reasonable (e.g. Hampton Inn instead of Grand Hyatt). This, austerity, itself increases the likelihood of reimbursement.

I like this. It's a healthy approach where you don't fret too much and take the path of least resistance while recognizing this is just potentially "cost of doing business"

The point where I get a hotel room is when I realize I'm not getting home that night and need a place to stay. I solve my immediate problem first and worry about the paperwork later. I don't need airline vouchers as I always travel with sufficient room on my credit cards to cover the cost of a flight disruption including booking a flight on a different airline.

Assuming the delay/cancellation is the fault of the airline not until either the flight is cancelled or you would miss a connection. That's assuming you're not starting from your "home airport. Also, in the event of a missed connection the gate agent may tell you to fly to the connecting airport and get hotel/food vouchers there, never a good idea. If your flight is massively delayed you may be given the opportunity to rebook the next day without fee/refare but hotel and food would be your responsibility.

Does this apply when only one leg of the flight is international?
What happens when you go to a flight, and it's cancelled/delayed and you just take the refund and book a different airline the next day? I assume in that instance, it's not eligible? Not even the uber ride back home? Or is it again just a try and see situation.

Can you ever ask the airline itself to put you on another flight on another airline?

I was thinking about this more with the delta 4+ day crowdstrike incident. And I saw it happen with southwest in the past.

I guess the voucher is a guaranteed payout though whereas requesting isn't? Unless it's the case that when an airline gives vouchers, they also honor hotel refund requests.

Definitely was thinking a rebooking to the next day to due cancellation would result in them potentially covering the hotel. Now I'm confused. I was under the impression that a different confirmation number wouldn't matter, as I believe it doesn't with credit card protection for trip delay / cancellation.

Itineraries that include international segments often get more leeway, sometimes documented by official airline policy (e.g. United for Premier members), but never assume you're going to get reimbursed.

Everything is case-by-case; if your request passes the smell test, there's a good chance of it getting covered.

Sure, you are free to ask for anything your heart desires. As such, it's often a good idea to prepare a list of desirable alternatives when seeking reaccommodation. Chances are, you'll find something that evaded the (overworked) airline person who is tasked with helping you.

In theory, you're correct, but in situations when many flights are delayed at the same time, hotel inventory tends to get sucked up quickly, meaning those who wait around for vouchers are unable to use them. If you sense this might be the case, taking matters into your own hands is prudent. A potential snag with self booking, though, is that you'll end up paying far more than the airline's contracted rates at its voucher hotels (e.g. $150 v $60), so there might be some reluctance to make you whole. As I suggested in my other post above, this is something I'm willing to accept (i.e. possibly being out $100 is preferable to sleeping in an airport terminal).

It's not the main reason, but it is ONE of the reasons I get an annual travel insurance policy. Often, the delays and cancellations are due to storms or other factors that the airlines won't cover. So I just try to rebook online and get a hotel and submit the information to my insurance provider for reimbursement. I think my plan has about $600 in travel delay insurance (and more in cancellation insurance).

That way, I skip the voucher lines, I rebook online and get a good night's sleep in a hotel instead of a gate. I submit the expenses to my policy online. They reimburse me. And I still get the hotel points.

Even if they are offering vouchers, and would reimburse a hotel request, the amount they will reimburse is usually very low. When I can, this has been a good time to make points & cash reservations. Airline hopefully covers out of pocket cash and I burn a few points.

Or this is a good time to check your CCs for travel disruption insurance. Coverage usually kicks in between 4 - 12 hours. Sometimes filing with both will cover my costs

Which travel insurance provider? I use CSR card, but I believe it requires I book the given leg of the flight using that card, not just 1 of the N pieces of the trip. So it would be easy to mess up if churning or something.

I'm not sure what you mean? The PNR and ticket number remain the same. If the gate agent is agreeable to allow you to fly the next day they simply do a ticket re-issue. In fact you might be able to do it on the airline's app. But again it would have to be an extreme delay. Like you were scheduled to depart at 4PM and the flight is now delayed to 11PM and you don't want to wait around.

I guess I didn't understand you

Why does home airport matter versus not being at home airport? For all they know you drove 3 hours to get there.
Why would rebooking the next day change whether or not they cover accomodation? That's the only case I would expect them to cover accomodation.

I am aware that I may look at this from a very "european" perspective, where the airlines are in any case obliged to provide you with a hotel night and meal vouchers if a flight is cancelled or delayed overnight and ADDITIONALY, if it is their fault, they also are obliged to pay compensation of up to 600 EUR per passenger.

After reading this thread, AA was therefore correct to tell to my +1 that has been stranded in MIA yesterday night because AA2008 to EWR has been delayed from 9:40PM to 6:00AM that she will neither receive a hotel voucher nor a meal voucher as the delay has been caused by bad weather in EWR? Interestingly, all other airlines were operating out of EWR just normal yesterday evening. As she is not a very experienced traveller, she ended up sleeping on the floor next to the gate and is now hoping that the flight will actually leave in 40 minutes. I guess not much we can do about receiving any kind of compensation or voucher even if the "bad weather" excuse seems to have been a lie (see below: all other flights arrived normal to EWR)?