Hurricane season has been a heartbreaking one this year. After the traumatic effects of Hurricane Harvey, another hurricane by the name of Irma is suiting up to hit the Caribbean and South Florida. Irma has strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane and continues to strengthen. People have been ordered to evacuate as Governor Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency. 

For people trying to evacuate by plane out of Miami, imagine their surprise when prices have soared through the roof. 

So there have been occasions when I have been forced to pay a little bit extra due to poor planning on my part or last minute changes. BUT where the hell does the buck stop?! 1700 for an economy ticket to NYC from miami?!!! That's straight up highway robbery. We've been so distracted by the news cycle these past few weeks and fixated on the governments attempts to disenfranchise or straight up deport hundreds of housands of POC basically for "stealing" from us red blooded Americans. And before you come at me for drawing parallels between two very different issues; my point is that we are being distracted from real issues that affect us in our daily lives with ones that will literally not directly impact you in any meaningful way as to cause harm. Meanwhile you got folks like @americanair over here taking advantage of the ignorance and capitalizing off of what could be a devastating situation for the state I live in. Last week I read numerous articles bemoaning the price gouging at Houston area Best Buy's and hotels and gas stations. But when it comes to the airports nobody says a thing; it's just an accepted practice at this point, but ask yourself why? Why during times of emergency do basic services such as travel suddenly experience 50% spikes and higher? And better yet ask yourself why doesn't the government step in and cap these things? I mean does jet fuel cost that much more than it did last Thursday? Did New York City suddenly move 1000 miles further from Miami? No all that changed was demand, and I'm all for a free market but not when it puts out of reach of thousands the ability to reasonably and fairly evacuate. Maybe it's something that FEMA could step in and help regulate if its funding wasn't about to be slashed by nearly a billion dollars. ????????????

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In the same way, it's like when stores in Houston were seen inflating the price of water to ungodly amounts per case. It's disgusting and inhumane.

One woman who complained about the price influx has now spoken of a solution in calling the airline directly.

However, that seems to be an exception rather than a rule. An American Airlines spokeswoman gave a statement to Yahoo Finance:

We have not changed our fare structures, and, in fact have added capacity to help get customers out of the affected areas. We have added several extra flights – from St. Maarten (SXM), St. Kitts (SKB), Providenciales, Turks and Caicos (PLS); and San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU) – in addition to upgrading aircraft when possible. In addition, we have 33 airports included in our waiver program so customers will not be charged change fees or difference in fare with tickets for passengers who already held tickets. Full details on the waiver can be found at www.aa.com/travelalerts.

Not everyone can afford these prices, and in a way, airlines are putting a price on a person's life and well being. This is awful, and moreover, it's illegal. We're hoping for the safety of everyone affected. These airlines should be ashamed.