When your flight doesn’t take you where you want to go, don’t rely on the airline to put you up in a great hotel. Instead, book it yourself.

Sometimes flights get delayed or canceled, forcing a flight the next day

It happens to everyone: you want to spend a day at work or doing something more fun and you want to fly in the evening. But the sad truth is that late flights that are more likely to get impacted. Airlines try to utilize their planes to the max, which means running flights with shorter turnarounds. But that means a major delay earlier in the day will impact each route after. Airports have curfews, where no flights can depart or land, and crews might also time out.

It doesn’t have to just be a late-night flight that gets impacted. Perhaps you’re flying a route that doesn’t have many flights a day. Or maybe the airline doesn’t have spare planes at the airport to swap out with the one that has problems. Or severe weather hits that brings the airport to a crawl.

Nothing is guaranteed in travel, so plan accordingly.

If flights appear at risk of material delay, search for alternatives

We’ve talked about this separately, but it bares repeating here. Some delays are foreseeable (especially if you know the right tools to look at). Knowing your options and being first to the line might help you avoid an unplanned overnight stay. The best tactic to getting the best overnight sleep is just to get where you’re going, right?

To boost your chances of getting along your way, it’s helpful to do the following:

• Identify alternative flights not just on the airline you’re flying and its partners, but also its competitors. (However, low cost carriers like Southwest might not have interline agreements with other airlines.)
  • Doing a simple Google search to see what flights are selling is an option.
  • Booking your own last-minute award flights can also be cheaper than paying a walk-up cash fare. This works if you want to just refund your ticket, but don’t do this if you have other flights on that same reservation. Missing one flight will cancel all later flights.
• Call the airline and ask to be protected on an alternative flight or just outright switch to something else.
  • This is where having elite status will come in handy, as airlines might be more willing to save you a seat if you give them a lot of business.
• If phones are tied up and you have lounge access, consider heading to the lounge to see if someone could help. You just might find shorter lines or agents not as stressed about the source of the delay.

Some people will get saved from an overnight stay, and those most prepared are more likely to get out in time.

Airlines might give hotel vouchers, but don’t expect much

Once you get that dreaded notice that you need to stay overnight, you’re going to see a long line of people at the desk waiting for vouchers. Airlines might hand out meal, hotel, and taxi vouchers to customers for an overnight stay. And then people still need to get rebooked on another flight. This is where the lines can get lengthy, especially if customers have a complicated routing involving partners.

Again, you could try accessing the lounge to find someone wanting to issue the vouchers, but there can be a line there too.

Besides, airlines tend to be a little cheap when it comes to places where they send guests for an overnight. Years back before we knew better, Jenn and I were stranded in Las Vegas overnight. We thought American Airlines would put us up at a cheap property on or near The Strip. After all, the south end of The Strip is (somewhat) walkable to the airport. Unfortunately for us, the contracted place was more of a rundown motel that didn’t feel clean. I didn’t record the name of the property, but was certainly not close to The Strip. It felt unsafe and unclean.

The quality of the property that you get is a bit of a roulette. And sometimes the property might be oversold. Moral of the story is that you don’t want to leave this in someone else’s hands.

Also, keep in mind that airlines will not hand out hotel vouchers for things they consider outside their control. The most prominent example of this is severe weather. They would consider this to be no one’s fault (or specifically not theirs) and the onus is on you to pay for your own overnight hotel.

Using the right credit card or having travel insurance is important

This is where having the right credit card or purchasing travel insurance comes in handy. We’ve also discussed this separately, but to summarize it succinctly, you can take unplanned overnight stays into your control. If you have a travel insurance policy, you should be all set. You’ll want to read the terms of the policy to make sure you’re covered and if there are any restrictions, like limits per expense.

If you plan to use a credit card, you’ll also want to know the relevant rules as each card works differently:

• American Express
  • Applies to The Platinum Card, Delta Reserve, Bonvoy Brilliant, Hilton Aspire
  • Eligible flights: roundtrip fares booked fully on your card
  • Not eligible flights: one-way flights and award flights (taxes and fees only)
  • Provides up to $500/trip for delays exceeding 6 hours
• Capital One
  • Applies to the Venture X
  • Eligible flights: flights booked with cash or awards (taxes and fees only)
  • Provides up to $500/ticket for delays exceeding 6 hours or needing an overnight stay
• Chase
  • Applies to Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Preferred, The Ritz Carlton Card
  • Eligible flights: flights booked with cash or awards (taxes and fees only)
  • Provides up to $500/person for delays more than 6 hours (Chase Sapphire Reserve & The Ritz Carlton Card), 12 hours (Chase Sapphire Preferred), or needing an overnight stay (all three)
• Citi
  • Applies to the AA Executive Card
  • Eligible flights: flights booked with cash or awards (taxes and fees only)
  • Provides up to $500/ticket for delays more than 6 hours

There is typically a clause in their terms that state something similar to coverage only applies if you don’t get reimbursement from the airline. But if you don’t stay in line and ask for a room, you never received anything from the airline, right? That clause is really just there to prevent you from profiting off an overnight stay.

But booking your travel with the right card is only half the battle. Bring along your credit card on the trip! You’ll find that if you do run into trouble, it’s going to be hard to get reimbursement if you don’t also use that same card to make your purchases. Otherwise how will they reverse out those charges?

We’ve also heard anecdotally that American Express is marginally easier to work with than Chase to get reimbursement. However, if you book a lot of award flights or one-ways, you’ll get nothing from American Express anyways. So, matching up your flight patterns with the right card first is the most important thing for you to do.

Keep all relevant documentation

It might seem like common sense, but save your receipts. Every expense you charge back to your card including hotel bills and meals.

But you might also need proof of delay from the airline. How do you get that? While you could just wait in line like everyone else, that sort of defeats the purpose of avoiding the line in the first place. Thankfully, some airlines have dedicated websites that make things run a bit smoother:

• Alaska: contact them on Twitter/X at @AlaskaAir
• American: https://www.aa.com/contact/forms?topic=CR#/
• Delta: https://www.delta.com/contact-us/cancellation-verification
• JetBlue: https://www.jetblue.com/contact-us
• Southwest: contact them on Twitter/X at @SouthwestAir
• United: email delayletter -at- united.com

A quick Google search should suffice for finding other methods to contact airlines.

The benefits of booking yourself

One of the most immediate benefits is just getting your time back and saving the stress for another night. We’ve been there, and just accepting the situation and moving on with our lives is much better than waiting in line to see what happens. You’ll need to eventually figure out the reimbursement with insurance, but it’s better to do that another day when you have a clear mind.

Taking ownership of the hotel you book will also allow you to choose what best fits your needs. Do you need a place close to the airport for an early morning flight? Or want a place that feels safe and secure? How about a fridge for medication you might need to take? Good luck ensuring these if you leave it up to the airline to find a place for you. It’s better to just take it into your own hands.

On top of that, one nice thing by booking yourself is that it will count as a cash stay. Book directly with the hotel and you could earn some extra points. Chasing elite status with the chain? Well, you might also earn elite night credit for the stay too. And if you already have status, might as well take in the benefits you earned. You won’t get benefits if you’re staying on a voucher.

Where this doesn’t work

Before you start thinking this will work everywhere, you might need to know that it doesn’t work in some international destinations. Think places that have exit immigration controls. If you have already “departed” the country by exiting security, you might not be allowed back in. This is especially true where you need a visa to enter the country. If you’ve exited the country but your flight doesn’t depart as expected, you might be stuck sleeping at the airport in a lounge until the flight can depart (yes, this sadly happened to us before).

In the event of an unplanned overnight stay, don’t use hotel points to book your hotel if you want it reimbursed. This isn’t the time to find out if you can successfully argue that your points are worth a high value. In all cases we’ve heard of, we’ve never heard of a successful reimbursement of expenses when points were used. It’s far easier for the insurance company to say points have no value. Don’t even try it.

Where this process fails is if you don’t understand the rules on what is reimbursable or what documentation is needed. When you’re on your way from the airport to the hotel you booked, take a look at the rules so when you do file a claim, nothing takes you by surprise.

Suggested reading:

• Quick Hit: Pocket That Airline Meal Voucher for Later
• Keep or Cancel: How to Handle Too Many Credit Cards
• The Citi Strata Elite Blacklane Credit is Easy to Use