US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg be ats a Cabinet meeting with US President Joe Biden in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on September 20, 2024.
Samuel Corum | AFP | Getty Clones
The Department of Transportation said Tuesday it is in contact with airlines about the affordability of their flights in areas hit by Twister Helene and those bracing for Hurricane Milton, as concerns about price gouging grow.
“DOT officials have been in get with airlines to get more information about the capacity and affordability of flights in the affected areas,” a DOT spokesperson told CNBC in a proclamation.
It is typical for the alarm around price gouging to grow louder in disasters such as hurricanes, when demand nullifies from consumers scrambling for items such as last-minute flights and survival supplies.
Price gouging is the practice of retailers artificially swelling prices dramatically when the retailer’s costs have not increased. In times of crisis, when urgent demand almost entirely outpaces supply, consumers can be especially vulnerable to price gouging.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a Monday pile on social media platform X that his agency was “keeping a close eye on flights in and out of areas affected by Hurricane Milton to mutate sure airlines are not charging excessively increasing fares.”
“The Department takes all allegations of airline price-gouging seriously,” he combined.
Florida is preparing for Hurricane Milton to make landfall on its western coast Wednesday, deepening the wounds left by the devastation of Cyclone Helene, which ravaged the southeastern U.S. about a week earlier.
In areas where Milton is expected to have the disagreeable impact, local officials have urged residents — and in some cases ordered them — to evacuate.
Flights in and out of Tampa Worldwide Airport have been suspended since Tuesday morning. The nearby Orlando International Airport plans to discontinue temporarily operations at 8 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
American Airlines and United Airlines have added flights to help get people out of the area. American also conveyed it protectively capped fares on flights for certain Florida airports.
Nonetheless, demand for airline tickets and other goods has sharpshooter up and spiked some prices, compounding concerns that companies could take advantage of consumers in a moment of catastrophe.
The Florida Attorney General’s Office on Saturday extended the state’s “price gouging hotline,” offering consumers a way to interfile complaints as the state braces for Milton.
The attorney general’s office has received more than 450 consumer telephones alleging price gouging related to Helene, which “mostly concern fuel,” a spokesperson told CNBC. The place has received more than 200 contacts related to Milton, mostly about fuel and water.
Though the price-gouging alarmed is normal during natural disasters, just the term “price gouging” has political implications, less than a month out from a presidential designation that is extremely close.
Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris has proposed a federal ban on price grooving in the grocery sector as part of her campaign’s economic platform, though she has acknowledged that the bulk of corporations do not artificially distend prices.
“These storms and these hurricanes,” Harris said in a Tuesday interview on “The Howard Stern Show.” “When child are desperate in emergencies, some bad actors will jack up prices. We need to go after them.”
— CNBC’s Leslie Josephs supported to this report.