Weather waivers for tropical storm Ernesto

SOME US airlines have made provisions for passengers with tickets who do not wish to travel due to tropical storm Ernesto. The storm made landfall on Haiti and was at that time graded as a hurricane. It is now headed towards the US Gulf coast and is expected to be upgraded from a tropical storm to a hurricane before it reaches the US coast. US Airways says passengers flying between August 28 and 30 on any US Airways or US Airways codeshare flight travelling to or from Montego Bay, Kingston, Grand Cayman, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, West Palm Beach, Fort Myers and Key West may amend their plans. US Airways said if the flight was cancelled due to weather conditions, it would provide customers with the following options at no extra cost: • Reschedule travel to origin up to seven days later. • Re-accommodation on alternate flights on US Airways or on another airline if an alternative flight does not depart within four hours. • Customers en-route can return to their origin and reschedule travel to originate up to seven days later. • Receive a refund for the full value of the ticket. United says passengers travelling between August 28 and September 1 (with tickets purchased on or before August 28) to or from Montego Bay, Jamaica; Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; Fort Lauderdale; Fort Myers; Key West; Miami or West Palm Beach may make changes to their tickets. For customers who have not started their journey, they may make one change to travel plans without change fees or advance purchase requirement for the same itinerary. Northwest Airlines has also issued a weather waiver for passengers with confirmed tickets for travel to, from, or through Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, Key West, Miami, Orlando or Palm Beach between August 28 and 31. Lucy Siebert (lucys@nowmedia.co.za)