Your next vacation plan is here. Starting on January 5, 2017, Alaska Airlines will be launching the first nonstop flights to Havana, Cuba out of LAX. The daily flights will be the only direct service to Cuba from anywhere on the West coast of the United States.
Start getting ready to watch the waves of envy flow over your loved ones as you report back from your once-forbidden tropical holiday. Tickets for the flights are on sale now and going for as little as $229, the Santa Monica Observer reports.
"This is a historic year for U.S. travelers, who can now fly to Cuba from the U.S. on scheduled commercial service for the first time in more than 50 years," Andrew Harrison of Alaska Airlines said in announcing the new flights.
Cuba has been at the top of lots of travelers to-see lists of late as restrictions on how Americans can get to the island evolve. However, it’s still not quite as easy as just hopping on a plane. Even with these flights available for anybody to purchase, tourism for tourism’s sake still technically is not allowed. You’ll need to prove that you qualify under one of the approved categories, which include family visits, educational activities and volunteer projects (those last two are pretty easy to, er, arrange). Check the State Department’s Cuba website for updated details on just what paperwork you’ll need for that.
Oh, and your credit cards still won’t work there, so be sure to keep that in mind—but at least Instagram does.
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