US & Cuba Commercial Flight Agreement Coming Next Week

We're visiting this summer. Will be there on July 4th actually. Flying from Mexico City with Interjet to Havana and then from Havana to Cancun. The Cancun flight was only $93.

You'll never have a problem with the licensing requirement yourself since you'd qualify as a travel "journalist."

Many of your readers may not be in the same position. One trap for the unwary is that activity for each of the authorized travel categories has to be substantially "full time."

So readers should still be careful, especially those with government licenses (e.g., law) or privileges (e.g., Global Entry) at stake.

Gaming the likelihood of prosecution is just that -- a game. But with high stakes.

We flew the inaugural flight on Air China from Montreal to Havana.
You can read about it at: http://michaelwtravels.boardingarea.com/2016/01/flying-the-inaugural-air-china-montreal-havana-flight/#sthash.p3KtaKUB.dpbs

Cuba is definitely well worth visiting and I'm glad we went when we did. Once these flights from the US get going, I can't imagine how the island will handle the demand when it comes to hotel rooms and even basic things like finding bottled water in stores.

Hopefully when the US airlines start flying to Cuba the prices aren't so high like the Copa flights you mentioned above. We paid $350 per person for our flight and that was flying in biz, home in coach.

I think there's pretty strong VFR traffic to Havana. If/when the tourism ban gets lifted, Cuba actually has some pretty strong resort infrastructure (filled with Europeans and Canadians, currently), and I could see demand to places like Varadero increasing significantly.

Lacking in tourist infrastructure?!? Tourists from Europe, Canada, and Latin America have been going there for decades! Sure, it's great to stay in hotels but staying in a casa particulare is the way to go, in my opinion.
When I went to Cuba last November, I recall in my research how both AA and JetBlue leased their planes to the Cuba charter companies. I recall a roundtrip from Miami was around $440-$500 depending on the charter company.

I am so delighted that--finally!--there will be something close to a normalization of relations between Washington and Havana. I will be anxiously awaiting the overturning of the absurd ban on everyday folk visiting Cuba; I am an architectural historian buff and am drooling at the prospect of strolling the streets of La Habana Vieja. It pisses me off that conservative hypocrites squeal about getting big government out of people's lives but then tell me that I can't go to Cuba.

Ben, I so hope that you try the CA flight from YUL to HAV. Firstly, it would sort of be like giving the finger to Ted "I want the government out of my life so I can send it crashing into yours" Cruz. Secondly, it would be fascinating to read about the soft product on that flight.

So I wonder how much the airlines are going to charge for these flights. Since it will be big on every-bodies list of places to see.

Yippee...let's all run to a communist country...sounds like fun.

NOT.

i was just in havana this week. will definitely make it easier to get there but the country cannot handle the potential avalanche of people that will want to visit once it's completely opened up for general tourism travel from the US. While Havana has a significant tourism footprint , the lack of lodging in the form of hotels that is at "Americanized" standards is definitely lacking. I stayed at a Casa which is the way to go in my opinion for an authentic experience, it definitely might not be everyone's cup of tea. Also in highly touristic cities like Vinales about 2 hours away there are a hand full of hotels the rest are casa particulares.

I live in Havana. The limited tourist infrastructure is already bursting at the seams. There is no way they can handle a larger influx of tourists in the short and medium term. It's not as if lots of hotels are being built. The beach resorts are booked solid for months and that is without Americans. The hotels in Havana are also booked solid. The lack of tourist infrastructure will put the brakes on further rapid growth of the tourism sector, and high prices for poor facilities and services just won't appeal to the American masses once the novelty factor wears off.

The (high) Copa fares from US destinations to Cuba are flights via Panama, which accounts for the cost.
None of this is new; a routing such as this has been available for a long time, and one can even construct a LifeMiles award in fact. Copa just want to get their name out there at this time of change.

@me

Doesn't seem to have stopped people visiting Mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau, so maybe it's just you!

Going to Havana on Monday. Interjet has nonstop flights from Cancun for as low as $200 round trip.

J Dee

Why visit some crappy city like Havana with ZERO infrastructure to support tourism. Their great dictator has zero interest in making the place nice, just taking tourist dollars. THAT's the difference you moron.

me

Well, tell that to all those people who have been visiting it for years!

So easy to abuse people online isn't it, dikkwit!

@J Dee - "So easy to abuse people online isn’t it, dikkwit!"

Does anyone else see the irony in this statement?

I went 23 times, mostly Miami-Nassau-Havana. That was not very expensive using Cubana Air through Bahamas. Almost always stayed in a casa particular (see Airbnb) ranging from 15-30 per night.
Often immigration would warn me saying I would be hearing from the Treasury Dept, but never happened. ACLU said if it ever did, then just forward the letter to them. It's not like the USA is going to spend money throwing their people in jail for traveling freely.

What you fail to mention in your article is the following. if you happen to be a person that was born in Cuba and want to travel to. The Cuban government mentioned will force you to obtain a Cuban passport weather you hold a an American passport or not and a an entry visa will be required by the Cuban government. In order for you to enter the country that you was born. It is confusing but intensively implemented in order to get you under their jurisdiction or law if any, the minute you set foot in Cuba. So those so call ten daily fly to Cubs applied to a segment of the population in the U S
only.