Some airlines rescind free lodging options for stranded passengers

Air travelers knocked off their plan in mid-trip by a big storm this summer might be digging deeper into their pockets.

American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and US Airways say they’re less inclined now than before the Sept. 11 attacks to give a free hotel room to passengers delayed overnight by bad weather.

It’s a delicate topic for financially struggling airlines concerned about creating expectations. But some acknowledge that they’re doing less for travelers stranded by storms.

Due to cost cutting, US Airways spokesman David Castelveter says “it’s rare that we would provide accommodations under weather conditions.” United, Northwest and Continental Airlines says they haven’t cut back.

The government doesn’t track the number of stranded fliers, and airlines don’t release figures. But what in the past might have been a free hotel stay and breakfast now is more likely to be a hotel discount coupon – or maybe nothing.

No law requires airlines to pay. Under their own policies, though, airlines usually cover lodging and possibly a meal when passengers are stranded due to a mechanical problem or something else within their control.

Before terrorism and recession turned the travel boom to bust in 2001, airlines sometimes would give free lodging for no other reason than a passenger had been polite.

“They were very generous, but they could afford to be,” says Michelle Robertson, of lodging arranger Nationwide Hospitality of Arlington Heights, Ill.

Now, she says, a free hotel stay is more often reserved for the highest-mileage fliers or the neediest passengers.

Weather recently stranded Continental frequent flier Jim Corgan, his wife and 2-year-old daughter in Beaumont, Texas. The family, from Big Spring, Texas, was left on its own, without luggage, for 18 hours. “I was very surprised at how little they did for me,” Corgan says.

Continental spokesman Rahsaan Johnson says the Corgans fell victim to the “second-wettest June on record in Houston,” which left many fliers stranded and hotels sold out.

United and other carriers generally try to help stranded passengers by arranging negotiated hotel rates at nearby hotels. That could mean 40 percent off the published rates if a room is available.