Airlines

[Strad]

I have had good success in using miles with aa (if you book early enough) It is a bargain to also go in November for only 40,000 miles vs. 60,000 miles in December on AA and I already have booked my trip to go in November.

I was about to book my July BA trip with requirement 60,000 AA miles when I found out I can fly in mid Aug. For 40,000 air miles! I was told by an AA agent should I for some reason canceled the trip, I still can use the miles within a year no penalty. If I really can't fly within a year, the miles can be transfered back to my AA memeber account for $100 dollars.

Anyway, my next trip to BsAs will be paying only taxs, 80 bucks, cool huh?

[Strad]

I have heard in many cases that Cuba Customs won't stemp on our passports, however, just like Moore said,

upon arriving back to USA, explaining your recent double exit / entry stamps to a suspicious US agent can be difficult.

Man! It is really a risk business, Sigh!

Strad

[Moore]

I always evaluate whether to use a reward or not by a simple rule of thumb. How many miles does it cost? Multiply by 2 cents each. So if it's 50,000 miles for a coach reward, that's a basic $1000 value. Say the flight is 10,000 miles round trip, if you're elite, you'll get a bonus as well, possibly to as much as 22,500 miles with base mileage. Those miles by themselves are worth up to $450, plus going towards your elite status.

Id say that 1 cent is a better figure. True, a RT flight from USA to BA usually costs around $1,000 or 50,000 miles. But the fare would have to be under $500 for me to buy it instead of using miles. Miles expire, are harder to use, and can become worthless if the carrier goes bankrupt (they do). Miles - use 'em if you got 'em (assuming there are mileage seats available, often there arent). Sort of like tax loss carryforwards.

[Moore]

Strad,

The best way to go from BA is on Copa Airlines (short connection in Panama). This is a daily flight, even Maradona flew to it to rehab. There is also a nonstop on Cubana Air on Fridays and Sundays. Dealing with Cubana seems a real pain in the ass (called them a few times, what a surprise).

Going by memory of statistics from about 1.5 years ago when I almost went, about 50,000 Americans visit Cuba illegally per year and about 500/year get nailed (1%). In every case I found, the "offender" received a bill for $7,500 in the mail from OFAC and got it immediately reduced to about $700. They then just paid the fine though they probably could have reduced it to zero if they felt like fighting. I think the max that OFAC can hit you with is $60k per the embargo violation code but I didn't see any cases like it.

Most Americans going to Cuba travel thru one of the 3 convenient gateways from USA - Toronto, Cancun, and Jamaica. It's not so hard to have the Cuban customs not stamp your passport. However, upon arriving back to USA, explaining your recent double Cancun exit/entry stamps to a suspicious US agent can be difficult. That's how people often get nailed. You're also usually required to list countries visited during your trip upon entering USA. Or the customs agent can simply ask you if he wishes. But if you're making a complete roundtrip to Cuba from BA, I would think your chance of getting nailed must be akin to your chance of being struck by lightning.

Check out the Cuba section of the InternationalSexGuide. Lots of info there.

[El Perro]

I am thinking of visiting Cuba via Argentina. Does any Anerican have traveled from BsAs to Havana?

Thanks a lot!

Strad

Strad,

I went to Cuba via the Bahamas, but that was back in 1998. Things have changed alot since then, both in Cuba, and the states. The Feds are scrutinizing the situation vis a vis travel to Cuba alot closer. You do not want your american passport stamped in Cuba, unless you are sponsored by some organization that has a waiver. AND, those organizations are harder to find, as the Bush administration has cracked down on sponsored travel. If you would like further info pm me.

Dog

[Strad]

I am thinking of visiting Cuba via Argentina. Does any Anerican have traveled from BsAs to Havana?

Thanks a lot!

Strad

[Local Lad]

I am returning to BA in early Septmber and have heard of a flight direct from BA to Merlo / Possibly Merlot, thus for me bypassing Cordoba. Does anyone know what airline operates this flight as my UK travel agent is unable to track anything down. Any help appreciated.

[Hefe]

I have had good success in using miles with aa (if you book early enough) It is a bargain to also go in November for only 40,000 miles vs. 60,000 miles in December on AA and I already have booked my trip to go in November.

[Easy Go]

When you fly alot (ie have top tier frequent flyer status) there are extra seats available to you. This explains why I've had such a problem getting UA awards nd such an easy time getting AA awards.

The real secret though is most frequent flyer open up awards for booking 330 days in advance. Use Excel to figure out the dates and reserve promptly. In the event you need to change your plans there is on average a $100 change fee. You don't airline status for this.

Eddie

The extra award seats for top tier flyers (1K) on UA are limited to domestic coach seats. Nothing international or in a premium class. Award (and upgrade) seats to EZE are hard to find because UA inventory management doesn't appear to release any seats. The prices are sky high this year so I'll be interested to see the loads when come down in June.

The 330 day tip used to be golden but inventory management has gotten much more clever the last couple of years.

[Jaimito Cartero]

** The most important thing with getting a reward flight, is to know what partners fly there. Always ask them to check availability on partners! Most phone agents will only quote their own flights and won't bother to check partners. Many agents don't know the correct rules. So, when in doubt, call a few different times until you get an answer you like. **

I've flown one Biz class reward to EZE when they were still 70k miles. I've got one RTW Biz reward that I'm in the middle of now, and one of the last legs is a MXP-EZE (Milan-BA) later this year. I had fairly good luck finding coach rewards, but Biz class were very tight, even 6 months in advance.

I fly Northwest for domestic and Asian / European flights, but can use DL, CO, Copa and maybe one or two others to get to EZE.

I always evaluate whether to use a reward or not by a simple rule of thumb. How many miles does it cost? Multiply by 2 cents each. So if it's 50,000 miles for a coach reward, that's a basic $1000 value. Say the flight is 10,000 miles round trip, if you're elite, you'll get a bonus as well, possibly to as much as 22,500 miles with base mileage. Those miles by themselves are worth up to $450, plus going towards your elite status.

So, unless your coach ticket is $1300 or more, it's probably best to buy the ticket. Of course, if you don't have any status, this can change the equation.

Frequent flyer benefits vary. In my program (Northwest) as the highest level (Platinum) I can change reward tickets for free. I get free FC upgrades on 49/ states domestic (95% average) I get 125% bonus miles on all standard flights. I also get some upgrades on international flights (Mainly on Continental 737/757's) and companion FC upgrades for domestic flights. So if you're flying to Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia or Peru on Continental, it pays to have status.

An important thing to find out is which partners fly to the city you want to go to. You can usually mix carriers that are in your alliance. So you can fly CO to Atlanta, and then fly DL to EZE.

The nice thing about reward tickets, is that they're usually good for a year. Say you want to stay in BA for 9 months. If you buy a ticket like that it will probably cost $1500 or more. A reward ticket won't cost any extra.

If some of you guys have a lot of miles around, you may consider doing an Around The World (RTW) reward. Most airlines don't advertise these, but they are a great use of miles.

And I'm sure that there will be some sales for EZE. Wait for CO/DL or AA to fight. The last time this happened, I got sub $400 (plus tax) on DL and Copa to EZE. Some cities are much cheaper than other to fly out of. Always check the NYC area, Chicago and LAX. I flew on Delta for $389+ from LAX. If I had flown out of Atlanta (which my plane connected to), it was double the price!

A few good resources:

www.flyertalk.com A frequent flyer forum.

www.farecompare.com A new tool for finding low priced flights.

www.travelocity.com A decent tool for finding the lowest price in a given period. However, don't trust the "Travelocity Guarantee" further than you can throw it.

[TheKnife]

When you fly alot (ie have top tier frequent flyer status) there are extra seats available to you. This explains why I've had such a problem getting UA awards nd such an easy time getting AA awards.

The real secret though is most frequent flyer open up awards for booking 330 days in advance. Use Excel to figure out the dates and reserve promptly. In the event you need to change your plans there is on average a $100 change fee. You don't airline status for this.

Eddie

[Punter 127]

I called the number on the back of my SkyMiles card (1-800-325-1551) told them I wanted to use my Delta miles to book a flight on Continental, she ask for the date, checked availability and scheduled the flight. Sounds like whoever you talked with didn't know how to do it. I did this in January and had enough miles for two flights, the first date I could get on Delta was in May, but I was able to get one on Continental in March, I booked both trips at the same time. It cost me $34.00 for the Delta flight and $45.00 for the Continental flight. I think the extra $10.00 was for Delta to schedule the flight on Continental.

Good Luck,

Punter 127

[Moore]

I had better luck using my Delta miles on Continental last time I came to BsAs, you can also check available reward flights on Continentals web page, if you find a flight you want just call Delta and they will book it. I think Delta charged me $10.00 to book the flight. I had to fly out of Houston.

How did you do this? Continental has MANY more award seats available than Delta and they are partners. I called Delta and said - x flights are available per Continental. They told me that just because they are available for Continental doesn't mean they are available for award booking via Delta. Partners, but not seamless award systems apparently. Advice? Continental has the dates / times that I need.

[Easy Go]

$600-700 has been my experience as well but prices from ORD are out of sight this year. I have not seen a "regular" ticket (I. E. Non-consolidator) under $900 this year.

[Rock Harders]

Mongers,

The three different times I flew to Buenos Aires I was able to get a flight each time between $600-$700 USD. I left the USA in August, January, and April. The flights were on United (IAD) in Jan. 05 and American (JFK) in Aug. 05 and April 06. I used 1800argentina. Com each time for the flight.

Suerte,

Dirk Diggler