Airlines extend travel waivers due to LA wildfires

Airlines have extended travel waivers for Los Angeles airports as wildfires continue to burn in the area.

American Airlines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways and other carriers that serve the area have waived fees for flight changes for travelers booked to Los Angeles while the city grapples with power outages, water shortages and conservation, as well as the outright damage of more than 10,000 homes and other structures.

On Friday, the area’s airports were operating normally, according to flight-tracking platform FlightAware, but parts of the city were still in the grip of the wildfires. Power outages were reported across Los Angeles County and local residents in the decimated Pacific Palisades area were told to boil or use bottled water. Parts of the county were also still under evacuation orders as firefighters sought to contain the fires.

American Airlines on Friday said travelers booked to or from Hollywood Burbank Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Ontario International Airport and John Wayne Airport, which serves Orange County, can rebook without paying a change fee or fare difference if they can fly as late as Jan. 20.

Southwest said the wildfires could affect service to those airports and that customers can rebook within 14 days of their original travel dates without additional charges. It said customers could also change their trips to other California cities: Palm Springs, Santa Barbara and San Diego.

Meanwhile, a Delta Air Lines executive on Friday said sales of flights to Los Angeles, one of the carrier’s busiest hubs and a generator of high-value business and leisure travel, have declined.

“We monitor sales on a daily basis by geographic region, and we have seen a decline in sales, not a wholesale reduction or an uptick in cancellations, but a decline in sales during this period,” Delta’s president, Glen Hauenstein, said on an earnings call, in which the airline also said it had otherwise strong travel demand across its network. “As soon as the period ends, we can probably put a wrapper around how much we thought that cost us. But I don’t think it’s going to be significant to the quarter, hopefully not.”

Hauenstein said, however, that there is often an uptick in demand after natural disasters because of rebuilding.

“Our hearts go out to everybody in Los Angeles affected by this,” he said. “But from a long-term airline perspective, we faced hurricanes, we faced flooding, we faced all that. And usually, the impacts are in the beginning phases, followed by a recovery phase.”