I have a friend who is today traveling and has 3 flights to take before arriving in her final destination. Things got off to a bad start on her first leg. Because of bad storms, lightening hitting the plane and mechanical problems it was delayed. When they finally boarded, 2 hours later, it was delayed again because the destination airport had problems on the runway. As a result she knows she will most likely miss the 2nd leg and most definitely miss the 3rd leg. What are the airlines obligations? Must they offer her a hotel room for the night since it is obvious they will not be able to get her to her final destination? It is American Airlines if it makes a difference. Thanks for your help.

You mention 4 possible reasons why the first flight was having problems, and only one could be the airlines fault, and maybe not, if it was caused by one of one of the other problems, the lightning. As far as I could tell, no, she is not entitled to any compensation. Will she get AA to put her up, if she's stranded? maybe, depending on all the other circumstances. Will they be able to rebook her on later flights? Did the bad weather cause many other problems within the system, meaning, many more paxs are in need of rebooking, etc. I would not count on it, but she could always ask.
What route was(is) she flying?

Only situations that are fully controlled by the airline entitle you to any compensation/help during travel. Anything outside of their control will usually result in a bad travel day for you, but that's about it.

Weather problems are caused by God, not the airlines. She surely wouldn't want to fly in unsafe weather.

The airlines absolve themselves of blame for weather problems so they will most likely offer and do nothing.

Thanks. Thats what I figured but with the multiple problems I wasn't sure. The mechanical problem was something with a door. Next time I talk with her I will see what more she found out. I thought I would just ask and find out so next time I talk to her I could give her an answer. So far on her end she is getting no where even though it is obvious they will not be able to get her to her final destination tonight.

I am also under the impression that the problems on the runway for her destination of the first leg is not weather related. But again once I talk with her I will get an update.

The runway problem is not the airlines fault. The door sounds like a possible, but in the big picture it may have been just few minutes, and the weather was the actual culprit in the long delay.
Again, what routing is she on? I could dig up some possibilities for her so she could be prepared.

Thanks AA,
She is traveling through the midwest and her final destination is Tampa (I think). She didn't have much time to talk but hopefully I will hear from her soon as she should be landing within the next 1/2 hour. She knows I post on Fodors so I didn't know she was traveling until she called and asked if I had any advice.

Here is the update - She got into Raleigh Durham and they offered to put her up in a Hilton Gardens, gave her some $$ for food and will fly her out first thing in the morning. She is happy.

It surely wasn't her day to travel. You do know a fighter crashed at Raleigh airport this afternoon, and the runways were all closed for a while. Tomorrow HAS to be better. (For those who worry, pilot ejected is fine.)

Yes but the airlines said it was due to the mechanical problems that caused such a long delay. Not the weather and not what happened in Raleigh.

Thank you
Are you telling me she will be delayed and AA won't do anything about it?

I think AA resolved this. Gave her hotel room and money to eat at RDU, and she'll fly to her destination today (Saturday).

I wasn't saying anything about whether the airline had to do anything about delays because of the crash -- just making a side-comment that although we all have bad travel days, SuzieQ's friend had REALLY bad luck!!! ;-)

"Problems on the runway" Well, yes, a crashed F-18 would be a problem.

The pilot ejected and is okay, but the charred remains did cause a "problem on the runway" while the Navy was invetigating.

Well, now I know the terminology for a crash.