Hurricane Dorian is set to wreak havoc on air travel — here’s what you need to know about flights

busy airport terminal passengers

Hurricane Dorian is on track to reach the continental United States in the next several days.
Air travel is likely to be severely affected, regardless of the storm’s exact track, and flights across the US could be delayed or canceled.
Airlines including American, Alaska, Delta, JetBlue, Frontier, Southwest, Spirit, and United have issued travel waivers letting some affected passengers change their flights without any fees. Scroll down for details on the waivers, and check back here for updates.
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A dangerous tropical storm in the Caribbean strengthened Wednesday to become Hurricane Dorian.

The Category 5 hurricane caused “unprecedented” damage in the Bahamas over the weekend, according to the Bahamian Prime Minister, and is expected to make landfall in the continental US as a “major hurricane” — Category 3 or stronger — at some point between Monday evening and Tuesday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center.

While the storm was initially forecasted to slam into the Florida coast, shifts over the weekend led to uncertainty about its exact course and suggested it would move further north, possibly remaining off the coast.

However, the slightest shift in track could lead to “catastrophic” impact in Florida, and regardless of where the storm’s eye makes landfall — or whether it does at all — it’s likely that most of the South-East will feel tropical storm and hurricane-strength winds.

Air travel is expected to be impacted, though as in many cases of severe weather, effects could ripple across the US as aircraft are repositioned or delayed because of the storm.

American, Alaska, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit, and United have issued travel waivers, allowing people with flights that may be directly affected to change their itineraries without a fee.

Those waivers initially applied mostly to airports in Florida and the Caribbean, although airlines extended waivers to cover parts of Georgia and the Carolinas.

Multiple airlines also announced it would waive pet-in-cabin and baggage fees on flights from certain airports in order to help with evacuations.

Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach International airports planned to suspend operations at noon on Monday, leading to hundreds of cancelled flights into or out of Florida, according to data from FlightAware, with more than 1,000 flights cancelled nation-wide.

Scroll down for full details, and keep checking this article — we’ll be updating it as necessary.

If you’re traveling this weekend, check this page for updated travel waiver information.

American Airlines
REUTERS/Mike Blake

Passengers flying to or from or connecting through the following airports on August 29-September 4 are eligible for travel waivers:

Daytona Beach, FL (DAB)
Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL)
Fort Myers, FL (RSW)
Gainesville, FL (GNV)
Jacksonville, FL (JAX)
Key West, FL (EYW)
Melbourne, FL (MLB)
Miami, FL (MIA)
Orlando, FL (MCO)
Sarasota / Bradenton, FL (SRQ)
Tallahassee, FL (TLH)
Tampa, FL (TPA)
West Palm Beach, FL (PBI)

The waiver applies as long as you reschedule your flight for August 29 to September 10 and between the same cities and in the same cabin.

Passengers traveling through the following airports on September 1–7 are also eligible for waivers, as long as travel is rescheduled for September 1–15:

Charleston, SC (CHS)
Greenville, NC (PGV)
Hilton Head, SC (HHH)
Jacksonville, NC (OAJ)
Myrtle Beach, SC (MYR)
New Bern, NC (EWN)
Savannah, GA (SAV)
Wilmington, NC (ILM)

Passengers traveling through the following airports on August 30-31 are also eligible for waivers, as long as travel is rescheduled for August 28–September 7:

Freeport, Bahamas (FPO)
George Town, Bahamas (GGT)
Marsh Harbour, Bahamas (MHH)
Nassau, Bahamas (NAS)
Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands (PLS)

Also, passengers traveling to, from, or through the following airports August 26-29 are eligible for travel waivers under the same terms (as long as they rebook their flights for August 26 to September 5):

Bridgetown, Barbados (BGI)
Cap Haitien, Haiti (CAP)
Fort de France, Martinique (FDF)
Port Au Prince, Haiti (PAP)
Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic (POP)
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (PUJ)
San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU)
Santiago, Dominican Republic (STI)
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (SDQ)
St. Lucia, Saint Lucia (UVF)

You can also cancel any eligible flights and get a refund in the form of a travel voucher, good for one year from the date you originally purchased the ticket.

To change your flight, contact airline reservations at 800-433-7300, or make the change online yourself by clicking “change trip” when you pull up your flight details.

Delta
Benjamin Zhang/Business Insider

Travel waiver applies for passengers flying to or from or connecting through the following airports on September 1–7:

Brunswick, GA (BQK)
Charleston, SC (CHS)
Fayetteville, NC (FAY)
Hilton Head, SC (HHH)
Jacksonville, NC (OAJ)
Myrtle Beach, SC (MYR)
New Bern, NC (EWN)
Savannah, GA (SAV)
Wilmington, NC (ILM)

The full waiver applies as long as you reschedule your flight for a date on or before September 15 between the same cities and in the same cabin. You can reschedule your flight for later — as long as it’s within a year of the original purchase date — but you may have to pay a fare difference.

You can also cancel your flight and get a refund in the form of a credit. You’ll have to use the credit to purchase a new ticket for travel within a year of the original purchase date.

There’s also a waiver for passengers flying to or from or connecting through the following airports on August 30–September 4:

Daytona Beach, FL (DAB)
Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL)
Fort Myers, FL (RSW)
Gainesville, FL (GNV)
Jacksonville, FL (JAX)
Key West, FL (EYW)
Melbourne, FL (MLB)
Miami, FL (MIA)
Orlando, FL (MCO)
Sarasota/Bradenton, FL (SRQ)
Tallahassee, FL (TLH)
Tampa, FL (TPA)
Valdosta, GA (VLD)
West Palm Beach, FL (PBI)

For the full waiver to apply, flights must be rescheduled for a date on or before September 10 between the same cities.

The airline is also waiving all pet-in-cabin and baggage fees from the following airports from August 30–September 4, to help people looking to evacuate:

Daytona Beach, FL (DAB)
Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL)
Jacksonville, FL (JAX)
Melbourne, FL (MLB)
Miami, FL (MIA)
Orlando, FL (MCO)
West Palm Beach, FL (PBI)

A travel waiver is in place for the following airports for travel between August 26-29, as long as travel is rebooked for September 5 or earlier:

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (PUJ)
Port Au Prince, Haiti (PAP)
San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU)
Santiago, Dominican Republic (STI)
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (SDQ)
St. Lucia, Saint Lucia (UVF)
St. Thomas, Virgin Islands (STT)

Also, passengers traveling to, from, or through the following airports August 30-31 are eligible for travel waivers under the same terms (as long as they rebook their flights for September 7 or earlier):

George Town, Bahamas (GGT)
Marsh Harbour, Bahamas (MHH)
Nassau, Bahamas (NAS)
Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands (PLS)

To change your flight, click “My Trips” in the Delta app or on the website.

JetBlue
J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Travel waiver applies for passengers flying to or from or connecting through the following airports September 4–5:

Charleston, SC (CHS)
Savannah, GA (SAV)

Flights must be rebooked September 13 or earlier between the same cities and in the same cabin for the waiver to apply.

There’s also a waiver in place for these airports August 30 to September 3:

Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL)
Fort Myers, FL (RSW)
Jacksonville, FL (JAX)
Orlando, FL (MCO)
Palm Beach, FL (PBI)
Sarasota, FL (SRQ)
Tampa, FL (TPA)

Travel must be rebooked for September 10 or earlier.

The waiver also applies for passengers traveling to, from, or through these cities August 28-29:

Aguadilla, Puerto Rico (BQN)
Ponce, Puerto Rico (PSE)
San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU)
St. Thomas, Virgin Islands (STT)

The waiver applies as long as you reschedule your flight for a date through September 1.

And these cities August 30–September 2, as long as travel is rebooked for September 7 or earlier:

Nassau, Bahamas (NAS)

To change your flight, contact airline reservations at 800-538-2583, or make the change online yourself by clicking “manage flights” when you pull up your flight details.

If your flight ends up being canceled, you can also opt for a full refund.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider