Depending on the issue ‘yes but no, and no.’
Oversold flights/bumping are very bad in the US.
Delays and cancellations are considered routine although there are some rules for refunds. I suspect the lightly lightly is from the routine seasonal bad weather that often grounds/delays flights with pervasive knock-on effects across that country.
As in Australia airlines will cover hotels and food in certain circumstances such as a flight having an overnight operational (mechanical) delay. The US technically does not guarantee schedules so in the event of late or cancelled flights, beyond the DOT rules above it is every airline doing it their own way.
A synopsis is in this recent NPR report (as close as the US gets to our ABC).
The EU probably sets the standard for holding airlines to operate on schedule with specific penalties legislated.
Choice reported 2 years ago including the comparison at the time noting Tiger is defunct absorbed into Virgin and Virgin itself has had a metamorphosis of its own so the report is aged now.
The laws and what if’s look convoluted enough from place to place that there are lots of companies happy to help with claims for a fee (30% of the refund company dependent). The process is no more and probably much less difficult than writing a Letter of Complaint and it is an opportunity for enterprising souls to skim money by providing a ‘valuable services’; with the posts about problems contacting airlines (ie QF) it might be good value if the pax is time poor or doesn’t want to deal with the frustration.
Problems with COVID-19 cancellations is the subject of other topics, this being one.
