Cubana Airlines

Montreal to Santa Clara with Cubana Airlines. 11 hours of delay from Montreal to Cuba, 7 hours of delay from Cuba to Montreal. Worst experience ever, not just because of the delay, but the flight turned out to be night flight because of the delay - but all the lights in the cabin were on for the total duration of the flight. I was travelling with my boyfriend, at first we were seated next to each other but it turn out that in both cases they assigned more than one person to the same seat.

✅ Verified Review | CU977 from Holguín to Havana scheduled for check in at 2100, flight at 2300 on Sunday 17 April 2016. Taxi was early so we arrived to check in about 19:20. At 2100 uproar as about 120 passengers advised that the flight was delayed. About 2230 advised that plane would not be arriving but two other smaller planes would be sent. Allowed to check in then sent to sit in freezing cold departure lounge (in middle of Cuban heatwave) - aircon thermostats set at 16 deg and no amount of requests to staff would persuade them that the thermostats could be comfortably raised to about 21deg. At about 0230 on 18th April a lonely Aerocarribean ATR 42 arrived and there was a mad undisciplined scramble for seats. The one in front of me was broken and the seat back was down onto my leg. I have a bad knee - not good. The very tired looking Stewardess was helpful and swapped our seats with a mother and short legged child, safety apparently was not a priority - the seat had obviously been broken a long time as were several others! Eventually got to Havana where we waited for luggage. Our booked taxi had long gone home! One good note, the landing in the dark at Jose Marti Havana was superb, hardly felt contact with the runway. Big thanks to pilot for safe uneventful flight in a smelly and poorly maintained cabin.

✅ Verified Review | Departure from Toronto March 31st started off with the check in desks not being ready when I arrived, but they set up a little later. Didn't appear to be any issues with the departure time of 12.50. Flight ok, service ok, basic, notice no movie screens, no ear phones issued, no pillows or blankets provided. Flight went smoothly and arrived at SCU on time. Return was another story entirely. I've noted from other reviews that Cubana appears to have developed a steady pattern, which may now be a practice, of not being on time, major delays, and very poor to no information being communicated to passengers. Yes, airlines experience delays and equipment problems. But in this day and age what continues to happen with both of these companies is not acceptable. So, for the return. The 6.05 departure on April 7th from SCU was originally on time, but then it was delayed. No explanation as to why. At approx. 7.30 or 8 an official came into the departure lounge and passengers went to speak with him to find out what was going on. We were told the flight wouldn't be leaving until 3 am. We asked about being taken out of the airport and accommodated for more comfort etc. due to the length of the wait and were told no. We asked about food and refreshments and were told that was being organized. The timing of the departure changed 3 more times after that, moving to 10pm and 11pm that night, and then finally an empty jet arrived at 12.20. Rumour had it that there was a problem with the flight coming down from Toronto and it had to turn back. Same thing with a flight that was allegedly coming from Havana. We were also told that they had to get permissions in place for our plane to land at Toronto in the wee hours of the morning (eg: 2.30am). Once the empty jet landed and we loaded, we took off at 1.30 am. Service even more basic than the flight coming down - drinks and a snack were served but nothing else. No duty free offered. And, again, no earphones, no movie screens, no pillows or blankets. We flew without any incident, landing in Toronto at 5.30 am. A lot of passengers had to miss work / school that day because of the toll all of that drama took. Again, by this point in time Cubana and Hola Sun seriously need to pull up their socks and change their ideas and approach towards their schedules and their approach, especially with regard to providing better communications and information, to the travelling public. There are limited airlines that fly into Santiago. But that doesn't mean Cubana has any sort of monopoly and can treat passengers like that.

Montreal to Havana with Cubana Airlines. My husband and I arrive 3 hours earlier to give our tickets and to be place for seats on the flight. We were there first in line for an hour at least. It took so much time to get our seats on the flight that we were the last ones to have our seats for the travel and were seated at the very back of the flight. To go to Havana our flight was reported late for 3 hours. The day we came back we arrive 3 hours earlier again at the Havana airport. When it was time to register the guy couldn't find our name on the flight. They made us wait in front of the booth and I had to sit on my suitcase for 2:30hrs. All that to have a confirmation half an hour before our flight left. No one said sorry for the confusion. Never again will I go with Cubana.

✅ Verified Review | Toronto to Cayo Coco. I will never fly with Cubana Airlines again, because of them our trip was cut short by one day, we were supposed to be in Cayo Coco at 10:00 am on April 10th but because the flight was cancelled we didn't get there until 4 am on April 11th. When we got to the airport we had no idea the flight was cancelled until an hour after boarding was supposed to start, they told us the flight didn't show up, then we were told there was no crew members available and the third and final excuse was that 3 birds flew into the aircraft causing the cancellation, we all had to either go home or stay at the hotel since the flight was supposed to leave the next day at 6 am, we were about to leave the hotel to go shopping when we found out that the flight was actually going to leave the same night, thanks for letting us know if it weren't for the people that were notified by trip advisor we would have missed the flight. We were all given vouchers for breakfast lunch and dinner guess what we had to pay an extra $70 to eat at the hotel it was ridiculous. Once we finally got on the airplane the seats were dirty and the crew members pretty rude. Overall a horrible experience!

✅ Verified Review | Flew from Varadero to Toronto April 8, 2016. Flight was scheduled for 8:40 PM, but flight was delayed for no reason to 10:50 PM. Then it was delayed to 11:50 PM. Did not actually board until midnight and plane actually took off April 9 at 12:20 AM. Cubana didn't offer any reasons for delay. They offered us all a snack at 10:30 PM to appease our anger. This was my fourth flight with Cubana and 3 of those flights were delayed by 2 or more hrs. They don't seem to try to keep any of their timings. Totally unprofessional. I wouldn't recommend Cubana Airlines. Maybe a lot cheaper than flying with someone else but you get what you pay for.

✅ Verified Review | Toronto to Santiago Cuba with Cubana Airlines. 12:50pm scheduled departure. At 1:15pm was told there was a delay to 2:00pm – boarded plane 2:30pm – was told there was a flat tire and were asked to exit plane. At 4:30pm was told that the flat tire was fixed but the crew could no longer fly because their hours had expired and the plane would be delayed until 6:30am Friday April 8, 2016 5:00pm – was told to return all duty free products for a refund and that all luggage would be unloaded 5:15pm – told we would be given taxi and hotel vouchers but most hotels were full 6:00pm – told to pick up luggage and would have to return tomorrow and get new boarding passes and go through security again by 3:00am Friday April 8, 2016. 6:00pm to 8:00pm no Cubana staff could be found and no luggage was being unloaded and no information provided. 8:30pm we finally received luggage and would have to go wait in a line to see if hotel rooms were located. No Hola Sun Rep could be located throughout this ordeal. No offer of compensation was communicated. Checked departures on Friday April 8, 2016 and found the flight finally took off at 7:30am however because the flight between Toronto and Holguin uses the same plane their flight is now delayed 12 hours until Friday April 8, 2016 at 6pm. In my opinion Toronto Pearson Airport should ban Cubana Airlines from flying in and out. Any other airline would have another plane pick up travellers to complete the trip but this is not an option with Cubana Airlines. Would never recommend flying with Cubana Airlines unless you’re willing to put up with what was explained above.

✅ Verified Review | We arrived in Cancun on UA, and were scheduled to fly to Havana on Cubana. The flight was delayed 2 hours, then 13 hours, and then it was cancelled with no explanation. Someone finally came to talk to everyone, and told us that because it was Spring break in Cancun, there were no hotels, but we were welcome to sleep in the airport. Seriously! People were so angry that the police had to come stand watch. After the cancellation, they literally held our luggage hostage for 6 hours, and wouldn't give it back to us. They told us Mexican Customs didn't have time to inspect it and give it back. 6 hours! Being Spring break, the only room I could find was at the Ritz Cartlon for $800/night. Beautiful, but not in the budget. They only had a room for one night, so we had to switch to another hotel the next night. After three days, we decided to purchase new flights on Aeromexico. We also had to book a new place to stay in Havana, because we were now three days late, and our room was gone. The entire debacle cost us about 6K (4 travellers.) Aeromexico was flawless and the planes were really nice. I don't know why our agent steered us toward Cubana - but that's another story I'm trying to deal with. Don't even think about flying Cubana.

Worst travel experience ever with Cubana Airlines . Our 7:00am flight from Havana to Mexico City was cancelled at the last minute. After a 4 hour wait we were bused to an absolute dump of a hotel. At 8pm we were bused back to the airport where we waited for 3 hours before we were finally checked in, went through security and waited at the gate. At 3:00am we were told we were not going to fly and had to go back to the hotel. After another delay we got our luggage back and were bused back to a different (but at least better hotel). Now it is 5:00am the next day. At 8:00pm (now 37 hours after the original departure time) we were bused back to the airport. We checked in and this time we actually boarded the plane and took off around 11:00pm, 40 hours after the original departure time. Once we landed my travel partner and 3 other customers were missing their luggage. During the delay we were provided one meal each day and one bottle of water at one of the hotels (that's it, no kidding). Never again will I fly Cubana Airlines.

Basically, don't fly within Cuba with Cubana Airlines. You may never get there. I don't think Cubana Airlines has enough planes to fulfill their daily scheduled flights, so they just cancel willy-nilly. It took 25 hours to get from Baracoa to Havana. The airport staff gave little or no information, and eventually just lied about the flight. After waiting seven hours, we learned the flight had been cancelled, and we would be transferred by bus to Santago de Cuba. We waited another three hours, took a five hour non-stop bus ride, and waited an additional five hours for a flight. We were put at the tail end of a flight from Madrid, which was continuing to Havana. Once at Havana, we waited over an hour to de-plane. There was one bus, which had to shuttle back and forth from plane to terminal. Waited another hour for the luggage.