With Hurricane Melissa moving at speeds of 175 miles per hour and preparing to make landfall on the island nation of Jamaica by the afternoon of Oct. 28, governments are warning their citizens to put off travel, while airlines and cruise lines are calling off trips.

The “big three” American airlines — Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and American Airlines — have all activated their free change policy and are encouraging travelers scheduled to fly into Norman Manley International Airport (KIN) in Kingston or Sangster International Airport (MBJ) in Montego Bay in the coming days to reschedule their travel.

FlightRadar data shows that nearly 200 flights from destinations across North America were canceled on the morning of Oct. 28 both on mainstream airlines and low-cost and regional carriers such as Southwest Airlines and Caribbean Airlines.

Have a flight to Jamaica? Airlines tell travelers to reschedule

“When rescheduled travel occurs beyond November 2, 2025, the change fee will be waived,” Delta Air Lines said in its statement on Hurricane Melissa. “[…] If travel is not able to be rescheduled within these guidelines, customers may cancel their reservation and apply any unused value of the ticket toward the purchase of a new ticket for a period of one year from the original ticket issuance.”

Other airlines have put similar policies in place, with differing windows during which changes can be made for free. In all cases, travel needed to have been booked before the immediate onset of the hurricane at the end of October.

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Some airlines have also temporarily canceled flights into airports such as Providenciales International (PLS) on Turks and Caicos and Lynden Pindling International Airport (NAS) in the Bahamas.

The Icon of the Seas is one of the ships that had to revise its itinerary in response to Hurricane Melissa.

Image source: Royal Caribbean International

Cruises also reworked sailings due to Hurricane Melissa: what you need to know

On the cruise end, several lines sailing into the Eastern Caribbean region had to adjust their itineraries in response to the hurricane.

Royal Caribbean reworked a sailing taking place between Oct. 25 and Nov. 1 to avoid the St. Maarten and Saint Thomas ports. It will instead stop in Roatán in Honduras and Cozumel in Mexico.

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“Our Captain, along with our Chief Meteorologist, Craig Setzer, has been tracking Tropical Storm Melissa that is expected to move through the area of our sailing,” the last-minute email sent to guests aboard the ship reads.

“To safely avoid the impacts of the developing storm, we have decided to switch our itinerary to the Western Caribbean instead of the Eastern Caribbean for this sailing.”

Celebrity similarly rerouted its Beyond ship’s itinerary away from the Eastern Caribbean by replacing port stops in Puerto Plata, St. Thomas, and St. Kitts with ones in Costa Maya, Belize, and Roatán. Other major cruise lines to adjust sailings include Disney, Margaritaville at Sea, and Carnival.

“Following assessment of the storm’s path and weather conditions, Captain Theo has made the decision to adjust our current sailing schedule,” Margaritaville at Sea said in an email sent to the guests aboard its Islander ship set to sail to Jamaica’s Ocho Rios.

The Orlando-based cruise line was the first to call off its sailing to the region in advance of the storm.

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