Several major airlines are offering to waive change fees for travelers flying in and out of the Southeast U.S. and the Caribbean, where residents are hurriedly preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Matthew.
The deadly storm is expected to make landfall in the U.S. later this week, but governors in four states—Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina—have already declared states of emergency and initiated evacuations in some areas that could be among the hardest hit. Not surprisingly, the storm is expected to disrupt the travel plans of thousands of would-be airline passengers throughout the week. As such, several airlines announced that they will waive fees for travelers flying in to, or out of, certain areas on the storm’s path.
As of Wednesday afternoon, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, Silver Airways, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and United Airlines all said they will waive flight change fees for certain customers traveling through various airports in the Caribbean and the Southeast U.S. over the next few days. For full details on which airports are covered under each airline’s policy, travelers should check the airline’s website. Each airline’s offer contains specific fine print, but the airline offers will vary depending on the date the ticket was booked as well as travelers’ willingness to not change their planned origin or destination city.
The U.S. State Department issued travel warnings related to Hurricane Matthew this week advising U.S. travelers in parts of Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, and the Bahamas to leave those islands ahead of the storm.