That would require our federal government to do something. As far as they are concerned, the system works so it is fine, no need to bother with it. Had two of these extra flights evacuating people from Florida collided in mid-air, I'm certain the federal government would have held hearing after hearing and written a dozen new laws before Irma even got to Georgia.

All in all, I think the system worked just well enough to get people out but any more and it would have very quickly approached unsafe. I do like the idea of some sort of federal government subsidized evacuation plan involving airlines, something not unlike the government chartering commercial aircraft for the transport of troops.

Again though, I think the airlines went above and beyond and did a hell of a job, even with ATC constraints. I did successfully make it back to FLL without so much as a delay in either ATL or FLL and my house is in mostly great shape and with power so I can't complain.

Is it true french authorities refused to evacuate stranded British and American citizens before the Hurricane hi St. Marteens? Has anyone heard about this terrible incident?

Updated with latest waiver info.

SXM is now on waiver through the end of 2017 :eek:

That's good news. AFAX TEC. Confirmed.

The only articles I've seen on this is that they authorities prioritized evacuating tourists, and any "native" islanders were left behind to fend for themselves.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/...tions-49765931

For the people living in the hurricane Irma effected area;
Have a vacation comming up, flying soonish to MCO from Europe, from there we will be driving to Fort Myers beach.
Looks like the airports are starting to operate normally and according schedule, that's nice to see. However i'm curious about the situation regarding supermarkets, restaurants and fuelstations.

Are they generally open, and if so are they well stocked? Or should i bring some supplies for the first couple of days until business is somewhat returned to 'normal'?

I can't speak for Ft Myers but here in MCO, most of our grocery stores (Publix) have reopened. Gas is a little hard to find but I suspect as more and more get their power back that this will get better.

After the storms of 2004, the big grocery chains like Publix went to requiring generator back-up for stores in high hazard areas, and pretty much all of Florida is a hazard area for that purpose. While there have been some supply chain disruptions, and you may not find everything on your shopping list, you'll find enough and the kind of things that might be missing (some fresh fruits and veg with short shelf lives, etc.) are things you can't bring through customs anyways.

I am hearing the French and Dutch refused to take on Brits and left with half empty aircraft before the Hurricane arrived. People are furious with the British Govt for not making plans to assist with the evacuations. No British C-17's were sent to help either.

Fort Myers got tagged pretty good. With that said, unless you're going to be there in the next 48-72 hours I don't think food/fuel will be an issue. Those are the quality of life type things that the state works to aggressively resolve. I'd be much more interested in whether or not your accommodations are accessible, have power, water, and whether or not they were damaged.

Thanks you all for the responses. The beach cottage is in good condition, it did not have any water damage or physical damage, power and water is working as is wifi. Cable tv is not working yet, big deal...;)
Also found out that some stores are "cash only" because the credit card readers are not working yet. I expect i can live with that :)

I need help understanding my options with the FL waivers. I have two one-ways from my home to RSW (LGA-RSW and RSW-LGA)...I do not think I will be making this trip this weekend but I don't know when I will be able to reschedule since they have no power down there and things are chaos. I probably won't go until later this fall.

What does the waiver afford me in this case? I'd like to hopefully just get an outright refund, but would be happy with banking the funds as long as it means no change fees and I can use the funds on any DL flight.

They probably won't give you a refund but they should definitely let you use the original ticket value as funds for a future DL flight until the ticket expires (1 Year after Purchase)

Palm Beach County is returning to normal. Power back on today; Publix groceries are open (and in fact opened all over Florida Tuesday and Wednesday). Power on the gulf side of Florida might be out for another week.

I would think MCO would be back to normal by Saturday or Sunday.

Quick update on baggage fees exemption: Flew MSP-TPA on Saturday and back today Traveling with 2 50lb bags. Both trips required a conversation with checkin agent to let them know about Delta's baggage waiver until 9/15 from effected airports. Today, I was told the exemption ended 9/12 until we both pulled up Delta's statement that confirms it is 9/15. It took about 30 minutes to get to that point. I saw at least 20 other paying for bags while I was there as well. The agent finished with "you know more that we do" and then charged the next person a bag fee. Good times