Hey, we're thinking about going to Cuba in April/May. What's the best way to actually buy/book flights as a US Citizen? TripAdvisor ain't havin' it.
Ideally, we'd like to get Interjet or AeroMexico from SAT and go to MEX for a few days then catch Cubana to Havana. Then, we'd come back on Cubana through Cancun for a few days then home.
Thanks for any BTDT from anyone who's done this recently or knows the drill.
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We had US permission to go to Cuba by using US based tour provider of cultural exchanges, called Cuba Explorer.
Cost about $1400 for Fri to Mon, 3 nights, 4 days. Did not include flights.
The flight MIA -HAV on American Airline miles, each way was 17,500 miles plus a dollar fee per person.
I could not book flights out of Cuba to anywhere but Miami as using a USA IP address. All were blocked.
But it was okay because of an easy connection in Miami to St Kitts.
Are you kidding me????This is really old school for 28 years! I mean...I went on a tour with a Tour Guide not too long ago last year. And it was really easy to visit Cuba! I was in the same page as you before I went to Cuba June 2024! I was really nervous nor didn't know how to get around! Till I found a tour that was really cheap! So lucky!
From Mexico to Cuba! Omg...I wouldn't risk it! Do a tour with Cuba is safer!
But I hope you went!
Cuba is an awesome location. You can fly in from Mexico. Havana and Trinidad were our favorite locations.
https://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Oeste/La-...
https://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Oeste/La-...
https://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Cuba/Centro/Tr...
try searching incognito and you might be able to book flights. when Ive been to Cuba i just went through Cancun it was quite easy. I have friends there who teach salsa...so if you need a contact let me know.
Needs to be non-US credit card.
Interesting, maybe the way I connect to the internet (thought it was just normal) makes a difference. Just now I tried Kayak on my phone and didn't get any error messages at all and could see a bunch of options, no warnings. So to further test this I switched to travel from SFO --> HAV thinking this would be more likely to run into a block - still no issue - a bunch of options came up, basically they first go to Mexico and then to Cuba from there. Went to the SkyPicker site from there to "book" and no errors. Even told me no visa is required. AeroMexico flights listed seem to be provided by through a Canadian based company - JustFly.ca. And, of course Canada has no restrictions on Cuban travel. Was also able to check flights directly from the Copa.com site right up to payment point also indicating travel originating in US. I wouldn't necessarily though risk trying to get on the flight at SFO with HAV as my announced destination. :-)
Adrienne Murray Nielsen said:
Hey Y'all, momondo.com will list flights to Cuba. But I too haven't actually attempted to purchase tix, as we diverted our April/May travel plans elsewhere.
Another option appears to be going directly through Cubana de Aviacion's site for flights from Mexico or elsewhere.
Interesting -- on my phone the Kayak app gives me this message when I search the Havana route, "Oops. We encountered an unexpected problem. Failed to start flight search." Yet searches fine for other non-Cuba routes....
Correction to what I said earlier - Expedia.com or Expedia.co.uk - it isn't listing Havana as a destination at all when I search, even with a VPN in the UK...
Skyscanner.net does list flights when a VPN is used. But for Skyscanner.com or .net without a VPN it gives this and you have to check a box to continue:-
"If you’re an American citizen or permanent resident (wherever located) or you are within the US, you may only travel to Cuba if your trip qualifies under one of 12 US Government approved categories
If you try to search any flights from an USA IP address it will be blocked, and any US registered search engines or holiday companies also won't list flights to Cuba because they aren't allowed to. For example Kayak won't work because its a US company.
The easiest way to look for the flight you want is to download a VPN programme. It effectively changes your location so that it appears you are searching from elsewhere. There are free VPN apps that can be downloaded to your phone from the Apple app store. Or more advanced desktop programmes where you can select which location/country you want to have your IP address in, for example select a country that does not block business with Cuba or Cuban content (most European nations don't). You can then search for flights as you normally would - either through flight sites such as Skyscanner or Expedia (which are Europe-based) or directly on the aeromexico or Interjet sites.
(I used VPNs on my phone and laptop when travelling in China, since I could choose a UK or US location, and get round China's great firewall which blocks newsites like the BBC or social media like Facebook and even Google and gmail.)
Or... another easier way might be to ask a friend outside the US to search and book for you. They could email you screen-grabs of the schedules, since any links they email you won't work here.
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