A: What a nightmare! Your initial flight delay was caused by weather, and, unfortunately, your airline's contract of carriage — the legal agreement between you and the airline — says that the airline owes you nothing for the inconvenience.

Is that right? No, but when you buy a ticket, you agree to those terms, and they can't really be renegotiated after a flight delay.

Here's where your problem happened: A representative told you to rebook your flight, and you took that to mean you should buy new tickets on American. That's not how it works. The airline will rebook you on the next available flight at no charge. Instead, you made a brand-new reservation and then asked to be reimbursed.

If this ever happens to you again, your best option is to wait and let the airline rebook you. Otherwise, you could spend a lot more money, and you might not get a refund.

You could have appealed this to an executive at American Airlines. I list their names, numbers and email addresses on my consumer-advocacy site: www.elliott.org/company-contacts/American.

Your first round of appeals yielded a more generous offer: $600 in travel vouchers. But American refused to refund the money you had to spend on the new tickets. American should bear some of the responsibility for giving you information that led you to believe you could make a new reservation. Our team of advocates contacted the airline on your behalf, and it agreed to refund the $2,157.

Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine and the author of “How to Be the World's Smartest Traveler.” You can read more travel tips on his blog, www.elliott.org, or email him at chris@elliott.org.