intro
For the second segment of my review trip to Cuba, it is time to review the 737-800 in economy. This is the second-last aircraft from AA that I haven't flown in economy.
Overall, it was an extremely pleasant flight with fun shenanigans, good conversation, and an on-time performance. However, there was no service due to the short flight.
Flight routing
- 1
- 2AA242- Economy Class- Miami- Havana- 737-800
- 3AA243- Business Class- Havana- Miami- 737-800
- 4AA2026- Business Class- Miami- New York- 777-200
- 5AA117- Business Class- New York- Los Angeles- A321T
How I booked
As I mentioned in the previous report, ffter the run around with American Airlines trying to use my trip credit, I finally managed to book this itinerary of Los Angeles to Miami and then onto Havana for 301$. Prices aligned to what every day seems to be on this route.
transiting miami
With my inbound flight delayed onboard the A321neo, I had scheduled enough time to grab a bite to eat and watch FP1. After I grabbed a bite I made my way over to D2 and took a seat to watch practice.
Soon enough, someone was at the counter selling Cuban tourist cards. Their cost at the gate came out to 100$ paid only with a credit card.
100$ is quite steep for a slip of paper, but I had no other choice if I wanted to visit?.
boarding
After grabbing my tourist card I made my way over to the boarding lines as the flight was boarding group 4 already. I slotted in behind a group of women who asked if I had "any woman (non explicit word) in Cuba". Oh, this was going to be a fun flight?.
Once my boarding pass, I made my way down the jetbridge, deep in conversation?. Looking out of the jetbridge I saw the 737-800 that would take me down to Havana this morning! Country number 76, let's go!
the seat/cabin
Once onboard, I settled into seat 24F for this short hop. The seat itself is extremely basic but adequate for a flight time of 49 minutes. The legroom was decent as well with 31 inches of pitch. There was also a tray table, which wasn't needed since there was no service?.
While the flight wasn't full, I did end up having two people sitting next to me in a row of 3. One of which was a music artist, and a guy who gave me great tips for travelling to Cuba.
Before pushback, I filled out my Cuban tourist card which only took a few minutes. Side note: be careful not to lose this because if you do, you will have to purchase another one…
There was a button to recline as well!
the flight
By 8:02 am, boarding was completed. 11 minutes later we pushed back from D2.
I'm not sure if this is normal but there was a piece of the flap that looked missing.
Anyway, we began our taxi out to the runway at 8:17 am.
After a rapid 9 minute taxi we arrived at our runway for takeoff.
Due to a light load, we had a short takeoff roll.
We were airborne by 8:27 am bound for Havana. The views over Miami were gorgeous, I sort of wish I had some time here!
Interestingly, we had a sharp bank north (instead of South).
Followed by another left bank that set us on a route over the Everglades. After passing by the Everglades, we began to see the crystal blue waters that every vacationer dreams of seeing!
Within twenty minutes of takeoff, our pilot announced our initial descent into Havana where he was expecting a slightly early arrival.
This was our route today, a bit peculiar.
Soon enough the spoilers were set to slow our speed down.
The flaps were set for landing 10 minutes later.
And lowered again…
We had a bouncy landing at 9:16 am, only 49 minutes after takeoff.
The group of 28 women's softball players started clapping and cheering, "Welcome to Cuba! We're in Cuba and it's 2024"!
It was a short taxi to the gate, due to it not being a very busy airport. We arrived 8 minutes ahead of schedule. Deplaning was efficient (thank the lord since it's a pet peeve of mine). On the way out, I talked to my seatmate, who commutes monthly to Cuba because he loves it so much! He helped me get a lay of the land and what to expect. Thank you!
Once out of the plane lay about 20 "VIP service staff" to escort you through immigration, for a fee, of course. For those wondering there is no need, in no time I was through immigration (sub 2 minutes). It was all a very simple process of looking at the tourist card and your passport!
Country 76, it's time to explore!!!
I’m kind of going through the same thing to use a bunch of Trip credit I have. It’s so restrictive how you can use it on AA.com (only flights originating in the U.S., and only 1 credit per person in the Rez, etc.). Plus AA’s IT being notoriously bad (though not nearly as bad as BA), you can’t combine use of Trip Credits and Credit Vouchers (which I got from my AAdvantage credit card) when there are more than 2 people in a PNR. It is all just so dumb and complicated having to do separate reservations because of their IT incapacity.
Wow $100 for a tourist card, that’s nuts, but it’s cool you can get one at the gate. I guess I thought technically US citizens can’t go to Cuba as tourists…like you have to say you’re going to study or something—but sounds like that’s not the case anymore?
Congrats on 76 countries!
I'm sorry to hear about your issues with using trip credit as well. The interesting thing with trip credit is it doesn't have to originate in the US (Flight Credit does), I got an agent on the phone (her name was Fabulous), who managed to book me there and back on two separate itens (since I got 11 hours in J for 480$ if booked OW starting in HAV) within 5 minutes. Before her, I talked to 3 agents who all said it was impossible, if you somehow can, find Fabulous?.
Technically, you are right but one can go under "Support For The Cuban People", and honestly, they never check anything so someone could lie (even though I really went to support the locals). Thank you for stopping by!
Great! Sounds like I got an agent who didn't know what they were talking about...not not surprising. Yeah checking the terms and conditions, the originating in the US thing is only mentioned for Flight Credits and not Trip Credits, woo hoo! There is hope. Thanks for the tip!
Hope you are able to use them, good luck!