Airlines are canceling many Florida flights that are in the path of Hurricane Irma as it approaches the U.S. East Coast, on track to hit Florida by early Sunday.
American Airlines says it will begin wind down operations in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Sarasota and West Palm Beach by Friday afternoon and cancel flights through the weekend. The airline has canceled more than 2,000 flights Sept. 7-11.
JetBlue Airways said Wednesday afternoon that it had canceled about 130 flights.
United said in a statement that it offered additional flights out of Florida on Thursday and Friday to allow more customers to leave the area.
American, JetBlue, United and Delta also offered waivers letting customers change travel plans to Florida and the Caribbean without the usual charges for changing a ticket. Dates and covered locations varied.
Some airlines are even altering prices for customers fleeing Florida. JetBlue told Yahoo Finance it will charge a maximum of $99 up to the last available seat for direct flights and a maximum of $159 up to the last available seat for connecting flights, including government taxes.
American Airlines said in a statement it would cap pre-tax fares out of Florida for direct, single-leg flights at $99 in the main cabin.
Delta is reducing the price level of its highest fares, a spokesman told Yahoo Finance.
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United said in a statement it "did not change how we priced our seats for flights out of Florida," but added that for the additional flights the airline added, fares were reduced "beyond what a regular last minute fare would be."
FlightAware.com reported that about 170 flights, roughly two-thirds of those scheduled, were canceled by late Wednesday afternoon at Luis Munoz Marin Airport International Airport near San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Cancellations at Miami International Airport were minimal on Wednesday but already topped 300 flights for Friday, according to the tracking service.
