Every one of these passengers needed food and somewhere to stay. However, most of them who purchased flights on U.S. carriers were left to take care of themselves. Almost all of the stranded passengers who bought tickets from European airlines had their hotel and food bills taken care of.
Customer care in the event of airline disruptions vary widely based on the geography and citizenship of the passenger and the airline. You will need to research your own airline before buying your ticket, or be faced with the reality that whatever their policy is, is what you will be abiding by. Even the research might not help, based on our experience, it is up to the customer service representative for that airline at the airport to make the final call, as whatever they say, is what will happen.
Given the rapidly increasing world of global airline alliances, whereby allied airlines sell joint and connecting flights as if they are a single airline, global rules need to be put in place to protect passengers equally. Right now, when things go wrong, each alliance airline is often governed by very different consumer protection laws.
In order to discourage carriers from overbooking flights and thus bumping passengers, the European Union requires carriers to pay hotel and meal costs of their customers whose flights are canceled. U.S. airlines are only required to pay for stranded passengers’ hotels and meals when the cancellation is directly caused by the airline, usually the result of plane malfunctions.
