Essentials like water, gas, and lumber have become hot commodities as Hurricane Milton approaches Florida and as people scramble to prepare, federal and state officials are warning of reports of price gouging.
According to the Office of the Florida Attorney General, the state’s price gouging hotline has received 200 complaints, mostly related to fuel and water and coming from Highlands, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
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In Miami-Dade County, officials are offering their own warning.
HURRICANE MILTON
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“If you suspect that there is price gouging there is an easy way to capture that information, take a picture of the receipt, take a picture of the price, take a picture of the sign, invoices, and bills,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said at a Tuesday press conference.
She is asking consumers to take pictures of items and locations they believe are overcharging for essential commodities.
At the federal level, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg took to X Monday night after people started questioning prices for flights out of areas bracing for impacts from Hurricane Milton.
"The department takes all allegations of airline price-gouging seriously," Buttigieg wrote. "We are keeping a close eye on flights in and out of areas affected by Hurricane Milton to make sure airlines are not charging excessively increasing fares."
When NBC6 took a look at same day flights from Orlando and other available airports, we saw varying flight prices but limited availability.
“When it comes to natural disasters and the movement of people in a very short window of time, you're going to see prices increase due to the mere fact that last-minute flights by definition when we're specifically looking at airlines or airfare are going to be expensive,” said Katy Nastro with Going.com. “And there's another factor here at play, you know with so many people looking to move out of an area, there are not an a endless supply of flights to be able to manage and handle the amount of people looking to move.”
But it's demand airlines have worked to handle.
American Airlines and United Airlines both added seats departing from Tampa and Sarasota late Monday and Tuesday to help people evacuate.
Delta, Southwest, Spirit, United, American Airlines, JetBlue and others are offering travelers the chance to change their tickets at no extra cost if they are flying to or from a Florida airport.
To find each airline's exact policy, it’s best to check each specific airline’s website for their policy regarding itinerary changes related to Hurricane Milton.
“This is really where airlines are doing right by consumers or try to do right by consumers and give them the options,” Nastro said.
If you suspect price gouging of essential commodities, you can report it to the state’s price gouging hotline at 1-866-9-NO-SCAM.
The Florida’s AG’s office told NBC6 they are currently investigating 190 complaints related to price gouging during Hurricane Helene.
