This Tuesday 18 Cubans received one of the worst news of their lives. At the Juan Gualberto Gómez de Varadero International Airport, passengers were unable to board the Condor airline flight to Frankfurt. In the German city, the travelers would make a stopover to continue on their way to Istanbul and later to Dubai but they could not even complete the check of their tickets.
“They told us that the details of our second flight did not appear in the computer system,” one of the Cuban passengers who was unable to board the plane told this newspaper. “Our first route appeared on the computer without a problem, but since they couldn’t locate the second one, they didn’t even make us the check in“, he told 14ymedio one of the travelers on condition of anonymity.
“We pay more than 1,000-odd euros per person for each ticket, in my case I moved from Santiago de Cuba and now we don’t know what will happen to us, if they are going to refund our money or reschedule our flight. Nobody says anything,” laments the man, who had to pay “more than 5,000 pesos for a private room” to stay one night in Varadero waiting for a solution.
“They told us that the details of our second flight did not appear in the computer system”
Several members of the Condor flight crew, which took off at 10:45 p.m., tried to intercede for the 18 Cubans but “although they called Germany directly to resolve the problem, they were unable to obtain details of our second flight and for For this reason they did not allow us to board the plane,” he details.
“We don’t understand the reason because we even have the reservation number and all the details of the second and third flight, but the Condor representatives told us that they couldn’t find that data. They didn’t even process our bags, we never made it to the area boarding,” he explains.
This Wednesday several of these travelers returned to the airport in search of answers but so far no Condor employee has been able to tell them what will happen to their flights. “We have a 30-day tourist visa for Dubai, so there is no problem with that country. It is outrageous that they have not allowed us to get on that plane.”
It is not the first time something like this happens. Last November a group of passengers who intended to travel to Belgrade from Varadero was rejected by Condor. The majority were migrants who took advantage of the visa exemption that Serbia offered to Cubans at the time, to embark on the migratory route to countries of the European Union.
“We have a 30-day tourist visa for Dubai, so there is no problem with that country. It is outrageous that they have not allowed us to get on that plane”
“We can confirm that on November 22, a total of 22 passengers were not accepted to board the plane from Varadero to Frankfurtsince we received information that his trip to Serbia was at risk as far as his entry into the country is concerned,” Magdalena Hauser, the airline’s communication director, told this newspaper at the time.
This year, despite the free visa in force until mid-April for Cubans, the situation of various groups of passengers from the island who were not allowed to enter Serbian territory, and who remained for days in overcrowded conditions at Belgrade International Airport and many were deported.
At the end of March, the consul and political advisor of the Serbian Embassy in Havana, Jelena Zivojinovic, confirmed to 14ymedio that as of April 14, Cubans would need a tourist or work visa to travel to their country. The measure, intended to contain illegal emigration, may be revoked “in the future” if the island’s citizens “demonstrate” that they can travel to the Balkan nation and return to Cuba, the diplomat specified at the time.
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