Finance

With Hurricane Helene disrupting travel, here’s what fliers need to know

Published

8 months ago

October 1, 2024

Men inspect the damage from flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Sept. 28, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina.

Sean Rayford | Getty Images News | Getty Images

As the Southeast U.S. recovers in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene’s destruction, consumers looking to change their air travel plans to or from affected areas without taking a financial hit may be out of luck, experts said.

“The big-picture issue that happens in U.S. air travel: When there is a significant disruption, air passengers have very, very limited rights” when it comes to compensation, said Eric Napoli, chief legal officer at AirHelp, an online service that assists airline passengers.

‘Catastrophic damage’

Asheville Mayor on Helene damage: No neighborhood has been spared, entering a 'desperate' situation

The North Carolina Department of Transportation urged people to avoid unnecessary travel in the western part of the state due to hundreds of road closures from downed trees, landslides and “catastrophic damage.”

What airlines owe passengers

Amid that destruction, travelers hoping to change flights for free or cancel their plans for a refund may find airlines unwilling to grant that financially flexibility.

Airlines do generally owe “prompt” refunds to passengers if they cancel or make a “significant change” to a flight, regardless of the reason, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. That’s true even for consumers with non-refundable tickets.

However, weather-related events like Hurricane Helene are generally considered to be outside an airline’s control, meaning passengers have relatively few rights to compensation, experts said.

The airline’s duty in such cases generally depends on a passenger’s specific fare, such as economy or business class, Napoli said.

“There’s nothing [airlines] will do for you” if your conference was canceled and you don’t have a ticket that grants free cancellation or comes without fees for changes, he said.

Airlines make concessions in some cases

Damage to a store in Valdosta, Georgia, from Hurricane Helene.

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Some airlines are making concessions tied to Hurricane Helene, though they vary by carrier and geography.

“All the rules are different,” said Sally French, a travel expert at NerdWallet.

Many major U.S. carriers have dedicated webpages for travel alerts outlining their policies around specific events, she said.

For example, American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines have alerts about flooding in the Southeast. Many focus on areas around Asheville, North Carolina, and some parts of Georgia like the city of Valdosta.

United is waiving change fees and fare differences for passengers whose flight was affected by flooding and who choose to reschedule their flight, for example.

United’s policy comes with parameters: Passengers must have purchased their ticket before Sept. 26, for travel between Sept. 30 and Oct. 31, 2024; the new flight must be a United flight leaving by the end of 2024 and between the same cities as originally booked. Those who cancel can get a full refund.

American Airlines is also giving leeway to passengers scheduled to travel through Augusta, Georgia, between Sept. 29 and Oct. 4. They must book changes by Oct. 4.

Delta passengers scheduled to fly through Asheville or Valdosta must travel on rebooked flights by Oct. 18 to avoid paying a fare difference. Change fees would still be waived past that date, however.

Read the specifics of insurance policies

Travel insurance isn’t always a fail-safe in the event consumers can’t get reimbursed from the travel provider for a flight, hotel or other travel expenses, experts said.

If you didn’t purchase a cancel-for-any-reason policy, your trip problems typically have to fall under specific, covered reasons. Plus, policies bought after Helene became a named storm generally won’t cover claims related to it.

“Make sure you read the fine print and what the insurance is actually covering,” Napoli said.

Consumers who purchased their trip with a credit card may get certain travel reimbursement benefits from their card issuer, sometimes even in the case of severe weather, French said. Credit-card companies generally require a “quick turnaround” on a claim, often within 21 days, she said.

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Swiss government proposes tough new capital rules in major blow to UBS

Published

2 days ago

June 6, 2025

Business Finance News

A sign in German that reads “part of the UBS group” in Basel on May 5, 2025.

Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty Images

The Swiss government on Friday proposed strict new capital rules that would require banking giant UBS to hold an additional $26 billion in core capital, following its 2023 takeover of stricken rival Credit Suisse.

The measures would also mean that UBS will need to fully capitalize its foreign units and carry out fewer share buybacks.

“The rise in the going-concern requirement needs to be met with up to USD 26 billion of CET1 capital, to allow the AT1 bond holdings to be reduced by around USD 8 billion,” the government said in a Friday statement, referring to UBS’ holding of Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds.

The Swiss National Bank said it supported the measures from the government as they will “significantly strengthen” UBS’ resilience.

“As well as reducing the likelihood of a large systemically important bank such as UBS getting into financial distress, this measure also increases a bank’s room for manoeuvre to stabilise itself in a crisis through its own efforts. This makes it less likely that UBS has to be bailed out by the government in the event of a crisis,” SNB said in a Friday statement.

‘Too big to fail’

UBS has been battling the specter of tighter capital rules since acquiring the country’s second-largest bank at a cut-price following years of strategic errors, mismanagement and scandals at Credit Suisse.

The shock demise of the banking giant also brought Swiss financial regulator FINMA under fire for its perceived scarce supervision of the bank and the ultimate timing of its intervention.

Swiss regulators argue that UBS must have stronger capital requirements to safeguard the national economy and financial system, given the bank’s balance topped $1.7 trillion in 2023, roughly double the projected Swiss economic output of last year. UBS insists it is not “too big to fail” and that the additional capital requirements — set to drain its cash liquidity — will impact the bank’s competitiveness.

At the heart of the standoff are pressing concerns over UBS’ ability to buffer any prospective losses at its foreign units, where it has, until now, had the duty to back 60% of capital with capital at the parent bank.

Higher capital requirements can whittle down a bank’s balance sheet and credit supply by bolstering a lender’s funding costs and choking off their willingness to lend — as well as waning their appetite for risk. For shareholders, of note will be the potential impact on discretionary funds available for distribution, including dividends, share buybacks and bonus payments.

“While winding down Credit Suisse’s legacy businesses should free up capital and reduce costs for UBS, much of these gains could be absorbed by stricter regulatory demands,” Johann Scholtz, senior equity analyst at Morningstar, said in a note preceding the FINMA announcement.

“Such measures may place UBS’s capital requirements well above those faced by rivals in the United States, putting pressure on returns and reducing prospects for narrowing its long-term valuation gap. Even its long-standing premium rating relative to the European banking sector has recently evaporated.”