If air travel suffers from major delays and cancellations from a storm or natural disaster, you may wonder if the airlines will cut travelers any slack.

Here’s what the rules really say.

Spirit Airlines actually has a program called the Weather Buster Policy.

It’s something the airline will enact in cases of major delays caused by hurricanes or blizzards.

That means they’ll waive the change fee and fare difference for for travel to, from or through affected locations for certain days.

After the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, we saw a number of airlines offer the same waiver for travelers going through Narita or Haneda airports.

But what’s important to understand is that these policies aren’t set in stone, and are certainly not in the contract of carriage.

In fact, situations like weather or natural disasters are classified under Acts of God, which means the airlines have no responsibility to cover your costs. Always read the fine print.

When these waivers are enacted, they usually apply to very specific dates of travel, and have strict re-booking deadlines.

Stay on top of it with your airline’s email alerts which are updated as situations evolve.

Get more information in our Natural Disasters section.

And check out the rest of our Daily Travel Tips here.