Hurricane Dorian: How these airlines and cruises are preparing for the storm
Fox News’ Phil Keating on how Floridians are preparing for Hurricane Dorian.
Hurricane Dorian is heading toward Florida’s east coast, while airlines and cruise lines are preemptively warning their customers of changing routes and itineraries.
On Thursday evening, Dorian was centered about 330 miles east of the Bahamas, its winds blowing at 85 mph as it moved northwest at 13 mph.
Forecasters believe the storm will strengthen into a dangerous Category 3 hurricane by Friday, staying well east of the southern and central Bahamas before making a turn toward Florida by Sunday afternoon, by which time it’s expected to be a Category 4.
In the meantime, cruise ships are re-routing and airlines are issuing waivers and stipulations for customers traveling to the Caribbean and Puerto Rico area.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAL | AMERICAN AIRLINES GROUP INC. | 13.19 | +0.20 | +1.54% |
| SAVE | SPIRIT AIRLINES INC. | 2.51 | +0.16 | +6.62% |
| DAL | DELTA AIR LINES INC. | 58.29 | +1.41 | +2.48% |
| LUV | SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO. | 30.63 | +0.70 | +2.34% |
| RCL | ROYAL CARIBBEAN GROUP | 210.88 | +6.41 | +3.13% |
| DIS | THE WALT DISNEY CO. | 96.66 | +0.87 | +0.91% |
To see if your trip might be affected, here are five airlines and two cruise lines that have released warnings and travel changes ahead of the storm.
American Airlines
American Airlines said it plans to waive change fees for customers traveling through Florida, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Barbados, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Saint Lucia, as long as customers don’t change their origin city and can travel up to Sept. 5.
The airline’s information was updated on Aug. 29, its website said.
Delta Air Lines
Delta customers traveling through locations in Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Saint Lucia are allowed to alternatively cancel their trip altogether with the refund credited to a future flight, the airline said on its website.
Southwest Airlines
Southwest customers visiting Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos from Aug. 26 through Aug. 30 must rebook a new trip within 14 days of their intended travel date.
The same opportunity is available to customers flying to the Bahamas between Aug. 27 and Sept. 1 and customers flying to certain Florida locations from Aug. 31 through Sept. 4.
Spirit Airlines
Similarly, Spirit is allowing passengers to rebook canceled flights with fee changes waived for those traveling to Florida, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Customers flying through Florida must be traveling between Aug. 31 and Sept. 3 to be eligible, while customers flying through the other locations had to have their travel scheduled for Aug. 27 through Aug. 30.
Frontier
Frontier passengers traveling through the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and several Florida locations have the option of making one itinerary change with fee charges waived, though officials warned that some Aug. 29 trips have been canceled altogether.
Royal Caribbean Cruises
Royal Caribbean’s ships Allure of the Seas, Harmony of the Seas and Symphony of the Seas will all now alter the route from an eastern to a western Caribbean path to avoid Dorian’s anticipated track, according to USA Today.
Royal Caribbean also announced on Thursday that they are preemptively closing their private CocoCay island for safety reasons.
Disney Cruise Line
Disney Cruise Line’s (DCL) ship Disney Fantasy will also alter its route similarly to Royal Caribbean’s ships, USA Today reported.
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Reps for DCL said that they do not anticipate any more changes being made to the Fantasy's scheduled departure on Aug. 31, while they continue to monitor the weather for the Dream ship sailings on Aug. 30 and Sept. 2.
Fox News’ Janine Puhak, Travis Fedschun, Danielle Wallace and The Associated Press contributed to this report.