Delta Air Lines Price Gouges Hurricane Irma Evacuee’s Plane Ticket 600%
Update — Tuesday, Sept. 6 at 1:06 p.m. EDT: After the story was published, a rep for Delta responded to International Business Times’ request for comment. The airline did not raise any prices because of the storm. “We have absolutely not been raising prices,” the rep said.
The discrepancy apparently happened after the traveler, Leigh Dow, tried to book her ticket through Expedia.com. When she spoke with Delta directly, they fixed the problem. “She was satisfied with the fare she got,” the rep said.
Moving forward, Delta encouraged anyone who wants to book a flight with their airline to go to Delta.com directly. They added extra flights from Florida and the south Caribbean to accommodate people who want to evacuate because of Hurricane Imra.
If passengers need to alter their travel plans, they will not be charged a fee because of the storm. “In addition to the waiver, the fares are stable and we have not increased them at all,” the rep said.
Finally, the rep noted Delta Air Lines has a partnership with the Red Cross “and we’re working with them to provide relief. We’re very active in those efforts,” the spokesperson said.
Original story:
Delta's in trouble again.
The airline was accused of “jacking” up the price of one of their flights nearly 600 percent after a traveler tried to book a flight out of Miami in the midst of Hurricane Irma Tuesday. Leigh Dow, a public relations executive, was trying to safely evacuate from the hurricane area and not pleased with the price gouging. She took to Twitter to vent her discontent to her nearly 19,000 followers.
Dow posted a screenshot of the price change. The photo showed her flight from Miami to Phoenix was raised from $547.50 to $3,258.50. “Jacking from $547 to over $3200 for people trying to evacuate responsibly?”
While talking to her followers, Dow said the flights out of Miami were apparently sold out. “I think they are probably sold out at this point. Seems to be the case across the industry,” she wrote when someone suggested she take another airline.
The post soon went viral on Twitter, garnering more than 30,000 reactions over 23,000 shares. Hundreds of people started to comment on Dow’s post. They slammed Delta.
Delta soon responded to Dow to try to make amends. “Leigh, can you please message me more details regarding this! I would love to try and help,” the airline wrote.
Less than a half hour later, Delta helped Dow find a solution.
“The @Delta team explained how it happened, and another airline was also involved. That wasn't obvious to me. They intervened & helped us out,” she wrote. “.@Delta reached out & helped tremendously. Note to travelers, always call airline directly if something doesn't look right.#IrmaHurricane.”
International Business Times reached out to Delta for a statement, but did not immediately hear back.
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