Another sign of change in Cuba - Delta Air Lines selling tickets from Havana office

Another sign of change in Cuba: Delta Air Lines selling tickets from
Havana office
BY MIMI WHITEFIELD
mwhitefield@miamiherald.com

Delta Air Lines, which plans to resume regularly scheduled flights to
Cuba on Dec. 1, has opened an office in Havana and is already selling
tickets.

Although other U.S. commercial airlines also have plans to locate ticket
offices in Havana, Delta is the first in more than five decades. Its new
office, located on La Rampa in the Vedado neighborhood, opened its doors
Nov. 7.

"So far ticket sales have gone well," said a Delta spokesman Friday.

As part of the U.S. opening toward Cuba, U.S. commercial airlines began
offering regularly scheduled flights to cities outside the Cuban capital
in the late summer and early fall, and service to Havana will start
rolling out just after Thanksgiving.

Many of the airlines that have or plan to offer regular service to Cuba
didn't even exist at the time of the Cuban Revolution. But Delta first
began flying scheduled flights to Cuba in the 1950s after it merged with
Chicago and Southern Air Lines, which had nonstop flights from New
Orleans to Havana.

Delta suspended its service to Cuba on Dec. 1, 1961 — although it has
leased its planes for Cuban charter flights in recent years.

The airline plans to resume scheduled service 55 years to the day after
it pulled out from the island. Its first flight will depart from Miami
bound for Havana on Dec. 1, followed by Delta flights to the Cuban
capital from New York (JFK) and its Atlanta hub.

Currently passengers can only buy tickets at Delta's Havana office using
Cuban convertible pesos (CUCs), but Delta hopes to be able to offer
payment by credit card soon. Passengers waiting to purchase tickets also
will get free Wi-Fi service so they can review flight options while they
wait.

Several U.S. airlines plan to begin service to Havana in late November
and early December. American Airlines will be first out of the gate with
a Miami-Havana flight on Nov. 28.

South Floridians will have plenty of options for scheduled flights to
the Cuban capital.

JetBlue plans to start its twice-daily service from Fort
Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Nov. 30, Spirit Airlines
and Frontier Airlines plan to begin service from Fort Lauderdale on Dec.
1, and Southwest will begin offering twice-daily service from Fort
Lauderdale to Havana on Dec. 12.

Source: Delta Air Lines opens first ticket office by a U.S. airline in
55 years | Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/international-business/article115768533.html