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- Derick Andrew and his brother were stranded in Dallas for two days after their flight was canceled.
- Andrew said American Airlines refused to give them hotel or food vouchers despite the long delay.
- The brothers had to spend more than $500 of their own money for a rental car, hotel, and food.
Two American Airlines passengers were left stranded for two days and had to pay for their own hotel and food after their connecting flight was canceled.
Derick Andrew and his brother were due to fly from Dallas, Texas to Boise, Idaho on Thursday but their flight was cut due to bad weather.
The brothers, both 35, found out their flight got canceled when they got to Dallas Fort Worth International airport. They'd been traveling for more than 36 hours after a vacation in Reykjavik, Iceland and had a layover in Helsinki, Finland as well as Dallas. Insider has verified their flight documentation.
They joined a customer service desk queue to book another flight to Boise but were told there wasn't one until Saturday. When he asked if he could get a refund or vouchers for food and a hotel room, Andrew was told that it wouldn't be possible.
"We were told unambiguously 'no,' that we would not get a refund for a flight canceled due to weather," Andrew told Insider. "That was really frustrating."
The brothers were forced to pay for a hotel for two nights and a rental car themselves as a result.
Airlines are not obliged to offer vouchers when flights are canceled, but some opt to do so if the cancellation is their fault.
They checked online to see if there were any earlier flights and found one on Friday, but were told by American Airlines customer service that it was already fully booked, so they'd been booked on a flight Saturday.
"I contacted AA through the app again and said regulation shows I should be reimbursed for the canceled flight and they said we could get a refund if we didn't rebook another flight."
Andrew said the airline apologized for the cancellation but hadn't offered any compensation for the hotel, food and rental car, which cost them more than $500. Insider has viewed receipts of their payments.
A customer service agent told Andrew in a message Friday via its app, seen by Insider, to keep receipts of all their expenses and to ask for a reimbursement from its customer relations department via an online form.
"The ticket number they provided me this morning does not work when I navigate to the Receipts and Refunds section of their website so all I've been able to do is submit feedback and tell them the issues I've had but nowhere to send receipts," he said.
The brothers finally got back to Boise Saturday, two days later than planned.
American Airlines didn't respond to multiple requests for comment from Insider.