I sent this email to AirTran’s president, Joe Leonard, about 25 minutes before my folks told me they had broken down and spent an extra few hundred dollars purchasing tickets to Vegas on Saturday (thereby avoiding Hurricane Wilma’s fury).
I am writing to ask you to revisit AirTran’s current policy regarding Hurricane Wilma rebooking. I am a meteorologist with 25 years experience.
Your website’s weather update page gives latitude to Florida travelers on Monday, but the storm is not forecast to leave Florida’s East Coast until very late Monday or early Tuesday – meaning you will have planes out of position for Tuesday’s flights.
This is from the National Hurricane Center’s latest technical discussion (meteorologist-to-meteorologist):
THE SPREAD IN THE MODELS REMAINS QUITE LARGE… AND BOTH THE
LOCATION AND TIMING OF THE IMPACTS ON FLORIDA REMAIN VERY
UNCERTAIN.
Won’t you consider allowing Tuesday passengers (like my parents, on their way to Las Vegas for my dad’s 80th birthday) to rebook without additional charge? Think of your passengers… and your gate and counter employees, who will be dealing with people who were denied rebooking and then face canceled flights!
Sincerely,
Geoff Fox
The point is probably moot now. I’m curious if I’ll get an answer.