Evacuation flight fees from Bahamas to Washington, DC

I went to the American Airlines website and tried to book a one-way
trip from Nassau International to Dulles for Monday.

The cheapest Economy Super Saver fare available is $215. If you want
to go from Nassau International to BWI, it's even cheaper. That fare,
of course, is predicated on other people paying more for their tickets
-- in fact, I suspect that they often lose money on Economy Super
Saver tickets, but less money than they would have lost if they'd
tried to sell those flyers full-price tickets.

All fares besides the Economy Super Saver to Dulles are between $720
and $899. BWI offers a wider range: some flights under $600 and
others over $900.

I might be up for American charging full-time Bahamians less than
people who booked vacations knowing when hurricane season is, but I
can't think of any other way to charge some people the economy super
saver fare and other people the full price that seems fair to me.

I suspect that, given that there was a fixed number of passengers and
no prospect of attracting more, given that this was something that was
set up last-minute and therefore probably involved calling in people
who were supposed to be off work to staff the flight, and given that
they probably don't like to keep planes sitting around waiting just in
case they are needed, a fare of "over $800" did not result in enormous
amounts of profit for the airline.

Did they come out a little ahead? Maybe. But I highly doubt that
they made $550 profit per person, after paying all the costs
associated with the flight, which seems to be what you are saying.

But I don't really think that other people on other flights -- no
matter why they are flying, and some have important, last-minute,
reasons to fly -- should have to subsidize evacuation flights from the
Bahamas for people who chose to take a vacation in the Bahamas during
hurricane season. You don't say whether you were there as a
vacationer or for some other reason, and it's possible that if I knew
why you were there I'd think it would be nice for the airline to give
you a bit of a discount.

$2200 off so your party of four can get the Economy Super Saver fare,
on the other hand, does not seem fair to me. The only way the airline
could do that is by giving you special treatment unavailable to the
majority of travelers, and unless you were there delivering transplant
organs or something I would not think that a reasonable thing to do.

In instances of high demand, prices are always higher. You were not
ripped off, the airline simply did an excellent job of minimizing any
consumer surplus.

Consider yourself lucky to have made it to Washington D C.

I was in Egypt when the revolution broke out, on business. I and 34
other Americans had to stay in the lobby of a Sheraton (this was after
the news here stated all Americans had been evacuated) for six days,
until a evac flight arrived. We had to make our own way to the airport
- through streets where fighting was still going on.

They took us to Germany, dumped us out, and we were on our own from
that point on.

Was this a "forced" evacuation? Or did you feel that you "had" to
evacuate due to the hurricane?

You do realize that you chose to visit a Caribbean nation during
hurricane season, right? Things like hurricanes tend to happen in
that region in late summer/early fall. Every single year.

Did you purchase trip insurance? That might help out.

It was an unforseen weather emergency. What else were they supposed
to do, hunker down in a foreign country and hope the hurricane didn't
sweep them away?

But as others said, you knew the charges up front and agreed to them
(not that there was any time to negotiate them!) so there isnt much
that can be done now.

But I do agree with you that its really crappy of American to take
advantage of travelers in such a precarious position and profit so
egregiously for it!

Don't forget you have to pay for the EMPTY plane that had to fly down
to fetch you and for the insurance on that flight both down and back.


You were not required to take the flight, you chose to. You agreed to
pay it.

Emergency flights are often more expensive; though I agree that the
airline may have been scalping due to the emergency evacuation. I
doubt you'd get a full refund but it would be reasonable to get the
difference between the normal fare (or your existing ticket price) and
the evacuation rate you had to pay.

your tickets, you pay. Simple as that.