Deja vu for airlines, cruise lines as Hurricane Maria approaches

It’s a bit of deja vu for airlines and cruise lines as their operations could face possible disruptions again this week from another major hurricane barreling through the eastern Caribbean.

In recent weeks, Hurricanes Irma and Harvey forced operators to pull out their bad weather playbooks to offer travelers rebooking contingencies and stay out of harm’s way.

Now Hurricane Maria, a category 4 storm with maximum winds of 160 mph as of 8 p.m. Monday, is expected to pay Puerto Rico and other islands a nasty visit.

JetBlue, Southwest and Spirit — the top three airlines at Fort LauderdaleHollywood International Airport — are waiving reservation change fees and/or fare increases for passengers who travel Monday through Friday to destinations likely to be in Maria’s path.

Some airlines are refunding airfares for canceled flights booked by a certain date.

Destinations likely to be impacted include Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Antigua, Barbados, St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. Maarten and St. Kitts, among others.

In a travel advisory on its website, Southwest warned of possible disruption of its flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, from Monday through Friday. That could mean delays, diversions or cancellations, the Dallas-based carrier said.

In the run-up to and aftermath of Hurricane Irma, thousands of flights were canceled to and from South Florida airports and affected Caribbean destinations, and more could be on tap this week.

“The public is always on notice that schedules are not guaranteed, and there is little passengers can do to obtain legal redress for the inconvenience and loss they may suffer,” said attorney Mark Atwood of Cozen O’Connor in Washington, D.C., who specializes in aviation regulations. “If an airline cancels the flight, it is responsible for a refund — and that’s about as far as the contractual liability goes.”

As of Monday, local airports, which had expected to be at full pre-Irma operations over the weekend, were seeing relatively minimal disruptions compared to a week ago, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.com.

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport had six cancellations and 39 delays by 4 p.m., due to a number of reasons including bad weather. Palm Beach International Airport had two canceled flights and five delays. Miami International Airport had 25 cancellations and 45 delays.

Most cruise lines monitored Maria while some revised itineraries for this week to avoid its projected path.

Royal Caribbean International changed itineraries for the Adventure of the Seas and Allure of the Seas “to keep our guests and crew well out of the path of the storm,” the Miamibased operator said in a website statement. The line intends to give its passengers a minimum 48 hours’ notice before departure of any changes.

Royal Caribbean also said it would avoid destinations including St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Key West until they “have fully recovered.”

One positive sign: government officials in Key West expect the destination to reopen to tourism by Oct. 20, the cruise line said.