Delta’s team of meteorologists in the airline’s Operations and Customer Center continue to actively monitor the projected path of Hurricane Florence as it makes its way toward coastal North Carolina.
In anticipation of Florence’s arrival, the airline has added cities and expanded its weather waiver to include markets from Savannah, Ga. (SAV) to Charlottesville, Va. (CHO) and has also implemented a baggage fee waiver for checked bags for customers flying from select cities. Delta is also waiving pet in cabin fees, to and from select cities, from September 10-17.
This weather waiver applies to customers traveling to, from or through these cities will be able to make changes to their currently booked flights without incurring a change fee.
The storm is projected to make landfall late Thursday night or early Friday morning, according to current forecasts, and is expected to linger in the area through the weekend, dumping significant amounts of rain, before making its way inland on Monday of next week.
As of approximately 12:30 p.m., Hurricane Florence was making its way through the southwestern Atlantic Ocean, approximately 400 miles to the south of Bermuda and 900 miles east of North Carolina moving in a west-northwest trajectory as a Category 4 storm with winds of close to 150 miles per hour.
Decisions regarding flight cancellations or other disruptions at airports along the coastal Southeast are expected approximately 24 hours prior to the storm making landfall. In addition to flight disruptions caused by the storm’s impact, cancellations may also be driven by conditions on the ground at airports in Florence’s path, such as severe flooding, power outages or other infrastructure constraints. Delta also continues to monitor for any updates from state and local officials as evacuation warnings are issued.
As always, Delta’s top priority is ensuring the safety of our customers and employees.
For more information on actions that Delta takes during major storms, please see our story posted this morning to the Delta News Hub.
Sept. 11 at 9:30 a.m.
As Delta’s team of meteorologists continue to monitor the projected pathway of Hurricane Florence, the airline has proactively issued fare price caps for select coastal and inland cities from Savannah, Ga., up to Richmond, Va. Fares range by cabin, flight distance and market from as low as $299 in Main Cabin up to $799 in the forward cabin.
Delta has also proactively issued a weather waiver for affected airports ahead of Florence’s landfall, which was recently upgraded to a Category 4 hurricane.
Airports covered by the waiver include:
- Charleston, SC (CHS)
- Fayetteville, NC (FAY)
- Greensboro, NC (GSO)
- Jacksonville, NC (OAJ)
- Norfolk, VA (ORF)
- New Bern, NC (EWN)
- Myrtle Beach, SC (MYR)
- Newport News, VA (PHF)
- Raleigh-Durham, NC (RDU)
- Richmond, VA (RIC)
- Savannah, GA (SAV)
- Wilmington, NC (ILM)
This weather waiver allows customers traveling to, from or through the affected cities through Sept. 16, to make a one-time change to their travel plans without incurring a fee. As always, customers are encouraged to check Delta.com or the Fly Delta Mobile App for their latest flight status.
This article was updated Tuesday morning to add Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., to the waiver list.
Original, 4 p.m. ET, Sunday
Delta’s teams in the Operations and Customer Center are keeping an eye on Hurricane Florence as it moves west-northwest towards the U.S. East Coast.
The airline’s team of meteorologists has been watching the storm since it first developed in the Atlantic last week causing en route weather concerns for flights between the U.S. and Africa. Current, long-range forecasts predict Hurricane Florence will continue to strengthen and gain speed as it moves west towards the U.S. East Coast. Earlier forecasts were tracking the storm to move east of Bermuda, keeping it in the sea.
On the forecast track, the center of Florence will move over the warm waters of the southwestern Atlantic Ocean through Wednesday and is expected to make landfall late Thursday night into early Friday morning of next week.
At this time, it is too soon to determine the exact location, magnitude and timing of Florence’s impact to the airports and communities Delta serves. This level of detail typically is more predictable within 48 hours of the storm reaching landside. Delta’s meteorology team uses a combination of satellite data and a number of storm models created by government agencies worldwide to storm monitor trends.
As always, customers are encouraged to check Delta.com or the Fly Delta Mobile App for the most up-to-date flight status information.