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-   TravelBuzz (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travelbuzz-176/)
-   -   Using miles for Cuba? (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travelbuzz/811265-using-miles-cuba.html)

expatinglasgow Apr 10, 2008 10:06 am
if you get a guidebook, cuba is easy to navigate on one's own (a little spanish will help, of course). i found the people quite welcoming.

nor4 Apr 10, 2008 10:30 am
US citizens can't go there
 
Originally Posted by APW Girl (Post 9549587)
The US government sells a license to certain operators for travel to Cuba. I know when I went there were 9 flights a day between Miami and Havana. I saw a United sitting on the tarmac when I arrived. I was on a Continental flight, that was classified as a charter. Cuba is expensive for the operators of these trip because of the restrictions our wonderful government puts on them related to financial transactions and of what the operators cost of doing business in Cuba runs them. To me it was worth it. Off the top of my head, Eldertreks was a company that had trips going to Cuba, check with them...it would be much cheaper than a huge fine if you were caught going illegally. When we came back to the US, customs gave us no problem, just their usual welcome home.
I'm curious how you got past the prohibition on the Eldertreks web site: Please note that at time of printing, the government of the U.S.A. prohibits U.S. citizens from visiting Cuba.

Did you travel with Eldertreks or another company? Any idea why customs didn't questions you? Did you go before the increased vigilance and fines that kicked in a couple of years ago?

LagunaBeach Apr 10, 2008 11:05 am
I went to Havana last week for a couple of days. Flew SNA-PHX-CUN using UA miles on US, then Mexicana from CUN to HVN and back HVN-CUN on Cubana. We stayed at the Hotel Nacional (5*)for $120 per night and booked the hotel, Mexicana and Cubana flights thru a Canadian Travel Agent called www.wowcuba.com with a US credit card. It was very easy

I highly recommend seeing Cuba before things change and it becomes another Cancun.

YVR Cockroach Apr 10, 2008 12:09 pm
Originally Posted by nor4 (Post 9549892)
I'm curious how you got past the prohibition on the Eldertreks web site: Please note that at time of printing, the government of the U.S.A. prohibits U.S. citizens from visiting Cuba.
The site's misinformed.

aSiAnRiCk Apr 10, 2008 2:16 pm
Originally Posted by APW Girl (Post 9549307)
I'm just curious as to why you would want to go there illegally? Since they are going after people they find going through other countries and sticking them them with very hefty fines ($22,000. is hefty in my book), why not go the legal route?
Please explain to me the "legal" and "illegal" methods.

I'd like to visit Cuba in the near future and always thought the way to do it is to fly to a Central American country and take Cubana or other airlines from there.
Would this be the "illegal" method you speak of?

YVR Cockroach Apr 10, 2008 2:18 pm
Originally Posted by aSiAnRiCk (Post 9551410)
Would this be the "illegal" method you speak of?
Spending any money that will get into Cuban hands.

aSiAnRiCk Apr 10, 2008 2:26 pm
Originally Posted by YVR Cockroach (Post 9551427)
Spending any money that will get into Cuban hands.
Okay .. it's obvious that I need to look into this further but can you tell me if this law only applies to US' "citizens" or also extended to residents (green card) as well?

graraps Apr 10, 2008 2:40 pm
You can most definitely use miles for an award ticket to Cuba, as long as they are not from a US FFP. I was able to find business class award availability on NYC-PTY-HAV (a through ticket that cannot be bought for money) on COPA. The funny thing is that COPA frequent flyers aren't able to buy award tickets to HAV, as their "home" FFP is that of Continental!
Having said that, I wouldn't buy that ticket if I were a US citizen...It's just asking for trouble. Go from Canada on AC miles or something.

nor4 Apr 10, 2008 2:48 pm
Misinformed no, poorly worded yes.
 
Originally Posted by YVR Cockroach (Post 9550568)
The site's misinformed.
The Office of Foreign Assests Control in the Dept of Treasury says you cannot "spend money related to travel to, from, or within Cuba" unless you have a specific or general license to travel there.

How can anyone travel to Cuba without spending any money related to travel to, from or within Cuba? And, no, you can't pay a third party who then pays for your travel.

So unless you swim or sail there and live on "the kindness of others", it appears you'll be breaking the law with fines up to $50,000 (not $22,000) possible.

blahter Apr 10, 2008 3:33 pm
Originally Posted by nor4 (Post 9551651)
The Office of Foreign Assests Control in the Dept of Treasury says you cannot "spend money related to travel to, from, or within Cuba" unless you have a specific or general license to travel there.

How can anyone travel to Cuba without spending any money related to travel to, from or within Cuba? And, no, you can't pay a third party who then pays for your travel.

So unless you swim or sail there and live on "the kindness of others", it appears you'll be breaking the law with fines up to $50,000 (not $22,000) possible.
Would dual citizens get into trouble if they enter Cuba with a different passport and re-enter the US using their US passport?

YVR Cockroach Apr 10, 2008 3:46 pm
Originally Posted by nor4 (Post 9551651)
The Office of Foreign Assests Control in the Dept of Treasury says you cannot "spend money related to travel to, from, or within Cuba" unless you have a specific or general license to travel there.

How can anyone travel to Cuba without spending any money related to travel to, from or within Cuba? And, no, you can't pay a third party who then pays for your travel.

So unless you swim or sail there and live on "the kindness of others", it appears you'll be breaking the law with fines up to $50,000 (not $22,000) possible.
Well, the U.S. government doesn't explicitly prohibit its citizens to go to Cuba (per the Eldertreks site) but it makes it practically impossible to do so (see above) unless perhaps one is visiting relatives who are picking up the tab.

Would dual citizens get into trouble if they enter Cuba with a different passport and re-enter the US using their US passport?
If the U.S. government finds out, yes.

Okay .. it's obvious that I need to look into this further but can you tell me if this law only applies to US' "citizens" or also extended to residents (green card) as well?
Extends to U.S. permanent residents.

See the overview at this site:

http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/enfor...uba/cuba.shtml

APW Girl Apr 10, 2008 5:08 pm
Originally Posted by nor4 (Post 9549892)
I'm curious how you got past the prohibition on the Eldertreks web site: Please note that at time of printing, the government of the U.S.A. prohibits U.S. citizens from visiting Cuba.

Did you travel with Eldertreks or another company? Any idea why customs didn't questions you? Did you go before the increased vigilance and fines that kicked in a couple of years ago?
When I travelled to Cuba, it was with a company called WorldGuest and it was through the Washington University Alumni Association. I received a catalog from Eldertreks and saw the trip to Cuba listed in there. These trips are classified as "Cultural Exchages" and when you travel legally, customs knows you are carrying a copy of the license you travelled under and did not bother anyone.

AlmostEuropean Apr 10, 2008 5:11 pm
Cuba Sanctions
 
Everything you ever wanted to know about the US sanctions about Cuba:

http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforce...uba/cuba.shtml

Happy Reading!

APW Girl Apr 10, 2008 5:16 pm
Originally Posted by aSiAnRiCk (Post 9551410)
Please explain to me the "legal" and "illegal" methods.

I'd like to visit Cuba in the near future and always thought the way to do it is to fly to a Central American country and take Cubana or other airlines from there.
Would this be the "illegal" method you speak of?
If you are going to Cuba legally, you do not need to go through another country. Its about an hour and half flight from Miami. The one thing that makes a cultural exchage different from a vacation is that you can't go the beach! When they run these exchanges to Cuba, the company is suppose to report if you skipped any part of the tour.

APW Girl Apr 10, 2008 5:19 pm
Originally Posted by aSiAnRiCk (Post 9551485)
Okay .. it's obvious that I need to look into this further but can you tell me if this law only applies to US' "citizens" or also extended to residents (green card) as well?
Actually, we were allowed to bring back $100.00 of anything. Yes, the law applies to people with green cards.


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