Cuban-American Flight Attendants Not Allowed To Stay Overnight In Country Where They Were Born

While Cuba appears to be welcoming American airlines and tourists with open arms, the island nation is not so forgiving to those who fled the country in recent decades. We’ve already told about concerns that cruise ship operators had about coming into port with Cuban-born staff on board. Now American Airlines has had to pull some flight attendants from overnight flights to Cuba because they aren’t welcome to stay.

The Miami Herald reports that the carrier had to remove crew members born in Cuba from fights to the country because of the island’s strict travel rules.

Under Cuban law, anyone born in the country after 1970 is required to have a Cuban passport to return.

But some American Airlines employees don’t have that piece of identification, and so they weren’t allowed entry.

It was then that the carrier reportedly began asking questions that perhaps should have been answered before the first flight took off: What happens if there were an unforeseen delay or a long flight that requires a Cuban-American to spend the night in the country?

According to the Cuban government, they simply can’t stay, barring the most “extenuating circumstances.”

So that’s left the carrier with just one option, remove the crew members from the flights.

In fact, the Herald reports that American sent memos to managers that state: “Please remember that those who are Cuban-born should be removed with pay from Cuba flights until we can verify what requirements the Cuban government has for these crewmembers.”

As with the changes that eventually lead to Carnival continue with its plans to set sail to Cuba, the Herald points out that American — along with other airlines flying to the country — could try to negotiate with the Cuban government over flight restrictions.

Cuba won’t allow Cuban-American flight crews to stay overnight, so an airline grounded them [The Miami Herald]