U.S. airlines are offering travel waivers to people impacted by the deadly New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans’ French Quarter. The waivers are meant to help travelers sort out their travel plans following the early morning incident, which authorities call an “act of terrorism” that killed at least 14 people and injured 30 others. Thousands of college football fans in New Orleans to attend the Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame saw their travel plans scuttled once the game was postponed for a day following the attack.
The specifics for the travel waivers vary depending on the airline, but essentially if you bought your plane ticket to New Orleans before Jan. 1, 2025, and your travel window was between Jan. 1-3, 2025, you will be eligible for a travel waiver. Be sure to contact your airline by Friday, Jan. 3, to ensure you can make the necessary adjustments to your travel itinerary.
The waivers are especially helpful for the thousands of fans who traveled to New Orleans for the College Football Playoff quarterfinal game. Delta Air Lines, whose hub is in Atlanta and flew a number of Georgia Bulldogs fans to New Orleans for the New Year’s Day football game, announced on its website that passengers can rebook their flights and change fees will be waived, provided the new ticket is in the same class as the previous booking. The rebooked flight must depart by Jan. 6.
American Airlines and United Airlines announced similar travel waiver policies for their passengers who traveled to New Orleans.
Southwest Airlines is offering customers the ability to reschedule their travel plans within 14 days of their original reservation date for those with flights initially booked between Jan. 1 and Jan. 3.
In addition, JetBlue announced it was waiving change/cancellation fees and fare differences for impacted passengers who need to rebook their travel. If you booked a JetBlue ticket to New Orleans on or before Jan. 1, you will be able to rebook at no extra cost for travel through Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025.
Because of the ongoing investigation into the attack and the disruption to the travel network, anyone traveling in and out of New Orleans should expect longer-than-usual delays.
This is not the first time airlines have issued waivers for terror-related incidents. In 2013, all U.S. airlines put waivers in effect after the Boston terror bombings. More recently, international airlines, including American, Delta and United, issued travel waivers and suspended flights to Israel after the Hamas terror attack in October of 2023.
