These airlines are waiving fees before Hurricane Florence

Hurricane Florence is coming in strong, and as 1 million residents of the Carolinas and Virginia coast evacuate, the airlines are also bracing themselves for impact. Most major airlines are waiving ticket change fees and letting passengers change their travel plans in advance of Hurricane Florence’s expected arrival on the East Coast.

While the storm is not expected to make landfall until the end of the week, Delta, United, and Southwest have already said they will waive change fees or fare differences, but it’s American Airlines that is expecting the biggest hit, as the Charlotte Douglas Airport, directly in Florence’s expected path, is the airline’s second-largest hub.

So far, American Airlines flights have not been canceled due to the storm, but it is bracing for the worst and letting travelers potentially affected by the storm change their travel dates without paying change fees, normally around $200 plus a difference in fare, as per CNBC. American Airlines is also letting travelers in the Caribbean change tickets ahead of Tropical Storm Isaac.

• Delta Air Lines said it will cap airfares in airports from Virginia to Georgia, which could be affected by the storm. It won’t charge change fees for travelers booked to and from those destinations.
• United Airlines will waive date-change fees and fare differences for travelers booked to or from 16 area airports if they were booked to fly between September 10 and September 16.
• Southwest Airlines said travelers booked to fly from six cities from Baltimore to South Carolina can rebook their flights within 14 days of their original dates with no additional cost.
• JetBlue will waive change/cancel fees and fare differences for customers traveling from September 13 to September 15 in five cities in the Southeast.
• Alaska Airlines is letting people rebook travel between September 10 and September 16 from Charleston and Raleigh-Durham, but flights booked beyond September 20 may have to pay a recalculated fare.
• Spirit Airlines is letting passengers traveling in the southeast from September 12 to 16 reschedule travel for free, although flights booked beyond September 20 may have to pay a fare difference.