‘Capitalism at its worst’: The airline industry puts a price tag on human life as hurricane Milton threatens catastrophe

Hurricane Helene is barely a fortnight past as Floridians scramble to prepare for Hurricane Milton. Despite being downgraded from a category 5 to a category 4, the storm is set to be one of the most powerful to make landfall – and has left even seasoned meteorologists terrified for those in the hurricane’s path.

The storm is fast approaching, but despite Tampa’s mayor telling non-evacuees, “You are going to die,” and the National Weather Service urging the final round of evacuations, plenty of residents have opted to stay put. But as one TikToker has shown, evacuating is easier said than done. Capitalism loves a crisis, and the incoming catastrophe has so many Floridians hurrying for cover that some companies are using it to make a quick buck.

TikToker TheMaybeSeanC took to the app on October 7 to share a deeply frustrating observation. After his wife’s flight out of Florida was canceled, the couple scrambled to find a replacement. The only problem: the Fort Lauderdale airport appears to be gouging their prices.

A quick search of flights shows that the TikToker is right to be outraged. Tickets are massively over priced, regardless of destination. Every city we tried showed a 200-300% markup, from Chicago to Dallas, New York to Denver, anyone looking to flee the Hurricane are paying exorbitant markups. And he’s not the only one to see the problem. A local Tampa, Florida station ran an op-ed earlier this week, in which a disgruntled reader wrote that the cheapest flight out was $600 – but by the time she clicked the link, the flight was sold out.  

As TheMaybeSeanC points out, driving isn’t an option either. Many places are simply out of fuel, and the interstate out of Tampa has several hours’ worth of gridlock to navigate – nearly 30 miles of bumper-to-bumper traffic. As he points out, “by the time the evacuation orders are in place people who live in trailer parks, they can’t afford that plane ticket out of here. They can’t afford to be stuck in standstill traffic on I-4 and I-75, risking their life over fuel because it’s not available.”

Capitalism’s reliance on supply and demand allows for cost fluctuation on desirable goods or services. While price gouging during an emergency is illegal, it only applies to certain goods and increases over 20%. In Florida, the law states that, “commodities, household essentials, rentals, fuel, etc” are the only services counted. It does use a 30-day metric to compare the prices before the increase, but with Hurricane Helene still fresh on the books, it’s hard to say if that will show the high flux.

The airline industry has come under fire for its blatantly exorbitant price increases in the last few years, with some airlines increasing their prices by 25%. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has already addressed the crisis on X.com, writing that the Department is monitoring the Hurricane Milton situation, and takes the “allegations of airline price-gouging seriously.”