Flying this holiday weekend? You could get freebies if your flight is delayed
If you are traveling for Labor Day weekend, you might be entitled to free meals and even hotel vouchers in the event of a cancellation or delay.
Following pressure from the federal government American, Delta, United, Southwest and JetBlue and have all updated their customer policies. To make sense of it all the DOT launched the Airline Customer Service Dashboard. It shows exactly what each airline offers when it comes to both delays and cancellation. A green “x” means an airline has committed to providing that service or amenity. A red “x” means the airline has not committed to that service but could offer it on a case by case basis.
Travelers flying with United will now receive a free meal voucher if their flight is delayed three hours or more, previously the wait needed to exceed four hours. For an unexpected overnight stay, travelers are entitled to up $200 in reimbursement in vouchers.
American Airlines will offer hotel rooms to travelers if a cancellation isn’t caused by something out of their control like weather. Same goes for Southwest.
You can find each airline's policy on their web site as well. It's good to have these pages handy as you travel, so you can refer to them if something goes wrong.
