Airlines Get Rid of Change Fees As Tropical Storm Elsa Nears Florida

As domestic travel picks up, we can all say goodbye to cheap airline tickets and the ability to change tickets for free. But on Tuesday, US airlines waived change fees for travelers headed to or from multiple cities in Florida as Tropical Storm Elsa nears the state.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday, expect heavy rains and strong winds in western Florida by Wednesday. Tropical Storm Elsa has maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour according to the agency.

Tampa International Airport already suspended flights from 5 pm EDT on Tuesday and will resume flights on Wednesday at 10 am.

Waived Change Fees

American Airlines announced that it is going to waive change fees for most tickets that are headed to or from Fort Myers, Key West, Sarasota, and Tampa until July 7. However, travelers will need to travel no later than July 12.

Delta Air Lines also waived their change fees for the same cities but only allowed travelers to change their tickets until July 10. For United Airlines, the airline will also not charge any change fees on the same cities but also added Fort Lauderdale, Miami, West Palm Beach, and Orlando.

Scrapped Change Fees

Last year, airlines tried to lure people to travel by scrapping the ticket-change fees on standard economy tickets and up. Southwest was the only airline that never charged change fees even before the pandemic.

Since the travel demand picked up, airlines started a new policy that won’t cover non-refundable and non-changeable basic economy tickets.

Airlines can predict tropical storms, blizzards, and hurricanes since they get advanced warnings for these weather changes. However, between tropical storms and summer thunderstorms, the latter is known to cause more disruptions. Last week, thunderstorms delayed and even canceled hundreds of flights.

But apart from weather problems, some airlines are currently dealing with labor shortages that eventually led to numerous flight cancellations and delays.