Delta is waiving pet-in-cabin and baggage fees for Hurricane Dorian evacuees
- Several airlines are taking steps to help Florida residents who are trying to escape from Hurricane Dorian's path.
- Residents along the Florida coast prepared for what was forecasted to be a "major" Category 4 hurricane when the storm makes landfall late Monday into early Tuesday.
- Delta said on Thursday that it had capped fares out of numerous cities in Florida and southern Georgia, with top ranges of $299-$599 in the main economy cabin, and $499-$799 in first class.
- Delta also said it would waive all pet-in-cabin and baggage fees for passengers flying from several airports between August 30 and September 4. Those airports include Daytona Beach (DAB), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), Jacksonville (JAX), and more.
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As Hurricane Dorian continued to churn through the Caribbean on Friday afternoon, several airlines took steps to help Florida residents choosing to evacuate before the storm makes landfall in the mainland US.
Residents along the entire Florida coast prepared for what was forecasted to be a "major" Category 4 hurricane when the storm makes landfall late Monday into early Tuesday.
As of Friday, the exact track of the storm remained difficult to forecast, with predictions leaving the southern half of Florida's coastline in the firing line for the initial landfall, with the entire state potentially seeing hurricane-strength winds and heavy rainfall.
The National Hurricane Center warned Floridians to prepare for storm impacts before late Sunday, leading to a run on supplies and on flights away from the state.
Flights from cities like West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Jacksonville were in high demand, with only a few seats departure seats available on Saturday and Sunday on various airlines.
Typically, airlines use complex and nebulous computer-driven algorithms to price flights, and the surge of last-minute demand as Floridians look to evacuate, combined with the fact that the storm is arriving on a holiday weekend, would typically drive prices sky-high.
However, there were signs that airlines were taking steps to prevent what critics have previous called "gouging."
Read more: Hurricane Dorian is set to wreak havoc on air travel - here's what you need to know about flights
Delta said on Thursday that it had capped fares out of numerous cities in Florida and southern Georgia, with top ranges of $299-$599 in the main economy cabin, and $499-$799 in first class. The airline also said it added 930 seats worth of capacity to scheduled flights between Florida and Atlanta, Georgia, where evacuees could connect onwards.
Delta also said it would waive all pet-in-cabin and baggage fees for passengers flying 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)
Other airlines did not publish statements about fare caps; however, every major US carrier seemed to have last-minute flights available from Florida cities for under $600 round-trip - there still did appear to be other flights from those carriers costing upwards of $1,500.
Business Insider will be monitoring the storm throughout the weekend and next week, so check back for the latest information.