A group of American Airlines passengers were delayed flying from Nashville to Philadelphia. They missed their connecting flight to Philadelphia. And since it wasn’t weather or air traffic control, American put them up in a hotel (and gave them $12 meal vouchers each even though they had to cover four meals while they waited for a new flight).

Delays happen in air travel, and they’re always frustrating and unfortunate. The problem is the hotel the airline put them up in. And this is common across carriers – they may be on the hook for providing a place to sleep when the overnight is their fault, but there are no real standards for what hotel they give you.

This group was put up in the Choice Privileges Quality Hotel Philadelphia International Airport. Any hotel that has to tell you that they’re quality probably isn’t. They put the property – and the airline – on blast:

A thread. @AmericanAir how dare you put my family and the teenagers we are traveling with in the sketchiest hotel in Philadelphia?! After YOU made us miss the connection for our flight to Europe, you put us up in this crack den and give us $12 meal vouchers?

— Surly Mermaid (@catcriswel) June 25, 2025

The floor is so filthy it turned the soles of our feet black so we’ve “carpeted” our room with the extra sheets they brought us bc they are so inept they didn’t know they already brought some. pic.twitter.com/O289PYZLyz

— Surly Mermaid (@catcriswel) June 25, 2025

@AmericanAir it’s midnight and I’m making my bed with the sheets FINALLY delivered to my room because the beds DIDN’T HAVE ANY! ONLY BLANKETS!! And I question the cleanliness of the sheets but I’m really out of options. pic.twitter.com/zppCPL46J0

— Surly Mermaid (@catcriswel) June 25, 2025

If an airline gives you a hotel room, it’s often after a long wait, eating into the time you’re able to sleep. Even airlines that will provide you a room automatically through their app may not have any rooms available (at their discount rate) to provide you. And the room you get may not be the kind of place you want to sleep.

When you’re given a free hotel room, often it’s worth about what you pay for it. It’s tough for a group this large to come out of pocket, but if you are in a position to do so, consider taking matters into your own hands even at your own expense (though there are ways of minimizing the expense).

If you rely on the airline for accommodation, you’re likely to wind up somewhere that you really do not want to stay.

1. Rely on your credit card coverage. Pay for your ticket with a credit card that offers trip delay coverage, book your own room and save receipts for it, along with ground transportation and meals. IYou’re assured the property you are comfortable staying in. You won’t wait. And you can look farther afield if need be. Sure, airport hotels might well all be booked. But if you aren’t spending an hour in line to get the room is a 20 minute drive away from the airport (also billed to trip delay coverage) so bad?

   Some readers might say that ‘you’re obligated to minimize the insurer’s loss, and foregoing a room offered by the airline fails to do that and obviates coverage’. I do not believe you are obligated to take any room, of any quality offered. And I have never seen coverage denied for this when claimed properly.

2. Request a distressed passenger rate. If you don’t have credit card trip delay coverage, and you can’t find a good rate on your own that you’re willing to pay, one alternative to the long line may be the baggage office. Ask there about distressed passenger rates for hotels. If the line is long at your airline’s baggage office, or it isn’t staffed, be friendly and ask at another airline’s baggage office.

3. Use points. Airline hotels often are great deals on points, with reward costs based on a hotel’s average daily rate which tends to be brought down by large airline contracts for housing crew. A few thousand points from your stash can get you a far better night’s sleep, more quickly, than relying on the airline.

Airlines may give you a free room when you’re faced with a controllable overnight delay. But you get what you pay for – you probably don’t want to sleep in the room they’re going to give you. There are exceptions, but it can be very much worth venturing off on your own rather than rolling the dice on free.