Flight details
08-Jan-2019
Madrid (MAD) -Santiago De Cuba (SCU) -Havana (HAV)
CU471
Departure 14:15
Arrival 21:00
Aircraft : Illuyshin Il-96 CU-T1250
Our flight departure was 14:15. As we already stayed in Madrid overnight we left early to be in the airport earlier. I read that Cubana has a very slow check-in and people show up hours before departure. We arrived almost 4h in advance and were surprised that the queue looked like the whole flight was already in front of us!
I tried my luck to skip the queu and asked if it was possible to upgrade to Business Class, for only 120 Euro per person they offered us an upgrade for a journey that would take well over 12 hours! Great deal thus we skipped the queue and upgraded ourself to Class Tropical as they call it in Cubana.
As a treat we could also use the Business class lounge.
About 12:00 I could spot our aircraft landing from Havana.
Onboard we were in Seats 2 A/B. Surprisingly enough the Business class was almost empty!
Camera sharpness wasn't the strongest point of the Illuyshin 96
Welcome PA was done by the captain and we were on our way To Cuba!
Take-off, barely getting off the ground as the luggage allowance for Cubana is 40kg per person! Most people took huge suitcases Inc TV, food, kitchen equipment...
Take-off from Madrid Barajas
We could choose beef or chicken.
While eating we started crossing the Atlantic. Cubana offers no entertainment, but who need that on an Illuyshin?
Not the cleanest, all toilets are in the tail of the plane. In theory there was one toilet for Business Class reserved but that wasn't enforced.
Economy class was almost full, towards the end of the flight the toilets looked horrendous !
Windows are different than conventional manufacturers, I have never seen anything like it on any other aircraft. The Illuyshin 96 is also a very noisy aircraft inside.
For the second meal there were no different options.
After landing in Santiago de Cuba. All passengers had to leave the aircraft and either enter Cuba or like us wait in a small stuffy transit area. You'll receive a plastic card telling you're in transit. While the technical stop is only supposed to take 1h, it took us 2h get back to the plane.
Boarding again for the 1h flight from Santiago de Cuba to Havana.
This time we boarded from the backside
We left almost 2 hours late as boarding took a long time and passengers were added flying domestically from Santiago de Cuba to Havana.
Once taxied out on the runway the aircraft stopped. The Captain advised a technical problem had occurred and we would be waiting for them to fix it while standing on the runway. It took another 45 minutes while we just stood on runway 10 after we backtracked.
Eventually we did get on our way again and landed in Havana
Applause... With almost 3 hours delay
The price of the ticket was 350USD/PP excluding the upgrade.
I really loved the experience, it's unique and can not be done anywhere else in the world. Cubana is not a luxury airline, it's not Emirates but you get an experience which you'll not easily forget!
Tickets can be bought on https://www.cubana.cu/
Be aware that Cubana often changes aircrafts and leases from companies such as Plus Ultra especially on the Madrid route. Flights with Cubana can be unreliable especially domestically.