Airlines say they’re capping fares in the hurricane’s path as Biden warns against price gouging

Follow AP’s live coverage of Hurricane Milton and the 2024 hurricane season.

A few airports in Florida began closing and airlines canceled hundreds of flights on Tuesday ahead of Hurricane Milton’s arrival. Government officials from President Joe Biden on down warned companies not to overcharge people fleeing the storm’s path.

“I’m calling on the airlines and other companies to provide as much service as possible to accommodate evacuations, and not to engage in price gouging — to just do it on the level,” Biden said after a hurricane briefing.

Airlines defended their actions, some saying they had imposed fare caps in the last couple days.

By midafternoon Tuesday on the East Coast, airlines had canceled more than 700 U.S. flights, compared with fewer than 200 cancellations on Monday and fewer than 100 each of the two previous days, according to the FlightAware tracking service.

About half of Tuesday’s cancellations were at Tampa International Airport, which shut down in the morning as Milton approached.

Travelers packed the airport on Monday, hoping to catch one of the remaining flights out of the storm’s predicted path. Cerina McQuillan was trying to get her 17-year-old daughter on a flight to New York.

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