With Hurricane Matthew wreaking havoc in the Caribbean and about to hit the U.S. mainland, airlines that have been busy carrying travelers away from the area now have hundreds of flight cancellations from storm-threatened airports.
Those cancelled flights are likely to cause service disruptions in other areas, especially for travelers whose tickets included routing through such hubs as Miami. Fortunately, airlines are taking a very lenient view on waiving change fees and re-routing passengers where possible.
The most affected flights involve Miami and Fort Lauderdale, with over 500 at Miami and nearly 300 at FLL. Most-affected airlines are American with 477 as of 9 pm yesterday and Southwest with 145.
Numbers of cruises have either altered their routes or been cancelled. One ship, Carnival Pride, originally swapped its Bahamas route from Baltimore for one that took in New York and Newfoundland instead; after reaching New York, it returned to Baltimore to avoid possibly heavy weather moving north ahead of the storm.
Because the Hurricane went further to the east than expected – my friends in eastern Cuba in the Holguin area told me that Matthew was just wet and windy. He wreaked none of the havoc he had promised.
I’m glad to hear good news on this front…it’s certainly a distressing time for many, including our own Travel Rob, who has had to evacuate from Saint Augustine, Florida. And there are concerns that the storm may turn and hit some areas a second time…
The causeway from Miami down to Key West is just above sea level. Even a few feet would damage the roadway. I’m sure Rob will be OK. Someone will take him in and feed him ! (only joking Rob)