JetBlue offers $99 flights for Hurricane Irma evacuees returning to Florida
JetBlue (JBLU) is offering $99 airfare for direct flights to Florida, a spokesperson tells Yahoo Finance. The fare is intended to help evacuees from Hurricane Irma but will be available to the public.
As airports come online and flight crews return to Florida, JetBlue plans to resume service on some of its flights in Florida cities starting on Tuesday. They plan to work up to their full schedule by the end of week.
“We are working closely with local authorities to determine airport conditions and ramp up flights in cities impacted by Hurricane Irma,” the spokesperson said in an email, noting that the airline had cancelled approximately 900 flights through Friday.
“At this time, flights through Friday will be made available only to accommodate customers with previously cancelled JetBlue flights,” a spokesperson said in an email. “Any remaining seats for Florida flights departing Saturday, Sept. 16 through Monday, Sept. 18 are available on jetblue.com for new bookings at a reduced fare of $99 for direct flights and $159 for connecting flights. Fares are for one-way direct flights with seat availability from Sept. 16 through Sept. 18 in select markets including CHS, DAB, FLL, RSW, JAX, MCO, SAV, SRQ, TPA, and PBI. We will update markets and dates available as conditions change.”
JetBlue was the first to cap its ticket prices in every city in Florida last week to help people evacuate cheaply. The airline also added 90 additional flights and waived cancellation fees as well as change fees.
Other airlines followed JetBlue’s lead by capping airfare and adding more flights. This came after Yahoo Finance highlighted travelers complaining of steep airfares as they scrambled to book tickets to flee the storm.
Here’s a schedule of the planned service, which could be subject to change:
Flights to Resume
MCO
limited operations resume as of 6:47 p.m. on 12SEP
FLL
limited operations resume as of 6:29 p.m. on 12SEP
TPA
limited operations resume as of 4:07 p.m. on 13SEP
SRQ
limited operations resume as of 12:13 p.m. on 13SEP
JAX
limited operations resume as of 7:37 p.m. on 12SEP
DAB
limited operations resume as of 10:17 p.m. on 13SEP
RSW
limited operations resume as of 11:32 a.m. on 13SEP
PBI
limited operations resume as of 7:11 p.m. on 12SEP
SJU
limited operations resume as of 7:00 p.m. on 07SEP
BQN
limited operations resume as of 2:33 a.m. on 08SEP
PSE
limited operations resume as of 4:01 a.m. on 08SEP
PLS
Restart TBD (pending infrastructure assessment)
SXM
Restart TBD (pending infrastructure assessment)
STT
Restart TBD (pending infrastructure assessment)
STX
limited operations resume as of 4:55 p.m. on 08SEP
ANU
limited operations resume as of 1:33 p.m. on 10SEP
NAS
limited operations resume as of 11:42 a.m. on 11SEP
HOG
Restart TBD (pending infrastructure assessment)
CMW
Restart TBD (pending infrastructure assessment)
SNU
Restart TBD (pending infrastructure assessment)
HAV
limited operations resume as of 9:15 a.m. on 13SEP
ATL
limited operations resume as of 8:49 a.m. on 12SEP
SAV
limited operations resume as of 9:15 a.m. on 12SEP
CHS
limited operations resume as of 9:16 a.m. on 12SEP
Julia La Roche is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.
