Picture this: It’s right before Thanksgiving, and you’re ever-so-patiently navigating the scene at an airport. People are everywhere—but you expected that. What you didn’t expect, however, was for your flight to be delayed. So you wait it out, pushing stuffing and mashed potatoes from your mind as you sit patiently, only to discover much later that your flight has been cancelled.

What do you do now? Air travel is always filled with obstacles, but the particular hurdles of a delayed or cancelled flight can be uniquely stressful. And when you add the pressure of Thanksgiving in, this scenario becomes even more complicated. After all, no one wants to arrive late (or not at all) to Thanksgiving dinner.

While we wish that this wasn’t so common, the fact that it is makes knowing your options a necessity. So if you’re planning on traveling ahead of Thanksgiving, be sure the credit card you booked your flight on has travel delay protection. “Travel delay protection is a benefit offered by several credit cards, ensuring you won’t be responsible for additional reasonable expenses when your trip is delayed for a given amount of time,” says Emily McNutt, news editor at The Points Guy.

Although travel delay protection won’t clear the skies or kick other passengers off overbooked flights, it does provide a safety net for your unforeseen expenses as you await takeoff. We asked McNutt for more details about travel delay protection so you can have it in your back pocket this holiday season. And because there are dozens of credit cards that offer this benefit, we also offered nine examples to look into as you do your research.