Tupolev

[oliverdst]

So here in Brazil we have only one air company that flies nonstop to Cuba: Cubana.

They use Tupolevs 204. My concern is the safety of the airplane.

Thoughts about it?

I have other options but all of them have at least one stop.

[Maplepie]

Because of fuel insert dilemmas, I trust the Russian companies much more than Boeings or lockheeds. It is my understanding that the Russians take as much care on their civilian crafts as they do on their military crafts.

That itself is reassuring to me.

But maybe some other mate with more aeronautical experience will be better read than me. Especially on some stats

Sent from my BlackBerry Q10 using Tapatalk for Android.

[fingerburner]

I have taken domestic flights throughout China... You have nothing to worry about.

[Ryan]

I flew with Cubana back to London-Gatwick once as my Air France flight was cancelled.

I think they used a Ilyushin II-96. It was fine. The entertainment was rubbish and the food unrecognisable but the flight itself was fine.

Two good things about it, there were so few people onboard we each got an entire row to ourselves. They had the best duty free deal I've ever seen on a plane, a bottle of Havana Club 7 and a bottle of 3 y/o for £6 gbp. I couldn't buy it though as I had another flight to take and would have lost the booze at security.

[Scdalak]

Id feel better if it were an Antonov-225

[subport]

They had the best duty free deal I've ever seen on a plane, a bottle of Havana Club 7 and a bottle of 3 y/o for £6 gbp. I couldn't buy it though as I had another flight to take and would have lost the booze at security.

Ryan

When you transfer to another plane you can still buy dutyfree liquore. They just put it in a sealed ziplock with the receipt you have bought it in dutyfree. You can walk in and out with it 24 hrs long at any security gate you want to

[Ryan]

Ryan

When you transfer to another plane you can still buy dutyfree liquore. They just put it in a sealed ziplock with the receipt you have bought it in dutyfree. You can walk in and out with it 24 hrs long at any security gate you want to

Thanks, I know that. Not with Ryanair from Gatwick to Dublin at the time though. For one thing, I don't think they had those sealing bags on the Cubana flight. Also Ryanair, until very recently, had a very strict 1 piece carry on rule and there was no way those 2 bottles would have fit in my carry on. Ryanair staff at Gatwick was always the strictist I had seen for that rule.

One of our group the year later lost a bottle of rum in Charles de Gaulle, she was flying on to London and duty free in Havana, where she bought it, didn't have those bags.

[TiminBC]

Non-stop flights, I remember them almost. In Canada flying with domestic airlines can be expensive if there is no perceived competition. Flying US carriers means we need to stop at least once in the US going to Mexico and they obviously do not fly to Cuba. I can fly to Varadero with an overnight each way and pay close to $1000.00. If I fly to Havana then there current price is almost $1500.00 and on the way back I have a long layover in Toronto.

Last minute flight deals are far and few between these days but I followed things last year and in November and in early January there were some really low last minute deals to Cuba.

I moved to the west coast 15 years ago and since then have given up the idea of direct flights.

[subport]

Oh I see.

Don't remember what flight was, but I do remember they offered me to get the bags after landing in London

[Ryan]

Regarding the Tupolev. In Cuba, regulations might not always be adhered to but Cubana lands these planes in other countries thus would have to prove the same safety standard as any other airline in order to be allowed to do so.

I know someone who won't fly Virgin from London to Havana because, he says, of the age of the 747s they use. A lot of it is perception.

[Guest rob]

Their safety raing is good in this review:

http://www.airlineratings.com/ratings/119/cubana-de-aviacion

I flew with them and it was fine. Except for the fact that another passenger and I had the same seat number allocated!

[Duxnutz]

Sounds fun. The Tupolev 204 looks like a Porsche compared to other Russian planes.

[CaptainQuintero]

You'll be fine, when the dust settles from the next whatever global war/natural disaster, it will be russian vehicles, guns and equipment that the survivours will be using!

[oliverdst]

Thanks, guys, you helped a lot.