Havana Airport - Terminal 2 Scam Alert

[BolivarSmoker]

I wanted to pass along a little story for all you that are planning on traveling to Havana in the future.  

This past Saturday, my friend and I were returning from a few days of cigars and rum in Havana and we were leaving via Terminal 2 at Jose Marti Airport.  Our flight was early in the morning and we actually arrived before sunrise.  Terminal 2, in my past experience has always been rather busy for its size, but this morning, there were only two flights going out and so it wasn't too crowded.  

Everything was a breeze as we passed through customs and entered the security checkpoint.  My friend passed though before me as I was selected randomly by Southwest Airlines for a more detailed security check.  Once my bag went through the x-ray, a boy who was working security (couldn't have been more than 18 yrs old) had my bag full of cigars and I reached for my facturas.  He said, "I'm sorry sir, but it is not possible to take your cigars out of Cuba."  I handed him my facturas and he didn't even look at them.  He just repeated that it was not possible.  I asked him "Why is it not possible?"  He just shook his head and replied "It is not possible but I can help you, if you help me."  I gave him a confused look and he said, "In the bathroom..."  I then had to proceed to my random security check at the desk nearby which was a piece of cake.  I looked up and saw the boy with another older security officer and he made eye contact with me and headed to the bathroom.  I followed him in there and had to pay him in order to take my cigars with me on my flight.  Remember, I had all facturas and receipts, which he did not even look at.  I had some USD hidden in my wallet, but also had some CUC that I was planning on using for rum in the duty free shop as a gift for family back home.  He calmly took all my CUC and that was the end of it.   He also had the audcity to shake my hand.  Once we left the bathroom, he met up with the other security officer and they laughed together.

When I met up with my friend, I learned that the same thing happened to him as well.  We didn't loose that much money, but we definitely felt violated.  We watched him do the same thing to a man on the second flight that was going out that morning and witnessed laughter with other security officers after the bathroom exchange.  Now if my spanish was better I guess this could have been resolved differently, but at the time I could tell there were multiple people in on the scam and I didn't want to cause any trouble that could make me miss my flight or worse.  This wasn't my first time in Havana or going through this particular terminal, but I assume it would not have happened if the airport was more populated as it has been in my past experiences.  

Just wanted to pass this story along to anyone of you going through Terminal 2.  Might save you from the same situation if you are prepared beforehand.  Cheers, guys.

[madandana]

Wow. Not surprised but it’s frustrating.

[LGC]

Typical. I hate going through customs in these type of countries. You’re likely to encounter someone trying to screw you over. Last time was in Bali. They stamped our travel visas as a shorter stay than we stated upon entering. They expect travelers to be rushing and not double checking. They pointed to the ATM without blinking as soon as we walked up to the desk upon departure. At the Beijing airport, I got into a non official taxi unknowingly. He picked up a second fare on the way out. He would not pull all the way up to the front door of the Holiday Inn, and gave me a bogus, pre printed receipt.

 

[Ethernut]

I wouldn’t call it a scam, it’d call it normal. Have facturas and have some CUC as a backup plan..

[BellevilleMXZ]

Not cool.....how many cigars did u have?

[BolivarSmoker]

15 hours ago, BellevilleMXZ said:

Not cool.....how many cigars did u have?

Six boxes...

Smallest haul to date.

[Derboesekoenig]

I'm glad this didn't happen to me, as I had only $15-20 cash left on me...

[oliverdst]

Did you guys see what happened to a BOTL yesterday at the airport?

He reported he had 50 custom rolled confiscated because, of course, he didn't have a factura. He pictured the customs officer confiscating them.

The funny part is: where I live cigars are so expensive that the risk is worth.

[bmf30180]

On 9/20/2018 at 8:10 PM, oliverdst said:

Did you guys see what happened to a BOTL yesterday at the airport?

He reported he had 50 custom rolled confiscated because, of course, he didn't have a factura. He pictured the customs officer confiscating them.

The funny part is: where I live cigars are so expensive that the risk is worth.

Terminal 3 for him. So, they must be cracking down.  

[oliverdst]

16 hours ago, bmf30180 said:

Terminal 3 for him. So, they must be cracking down.  

Later I realized that he had hundreds of sticks. All of them to sell. Well deserved and for sure the lady was nice with him although most of his cigars were in the checked baggage.

I think he was trying to scare other possible sellers. This market boomed in the last year or two. Many guys making a lot of money.

[bmf30180]

3 hours ago, oliverdst said:

Later I realized that he had hundreds of sticks. All of them to sell. Well deserved and for sure the lady was nice with him although most of his cigars were in the checked baggage.

I think he was trying to scare other possible sellers. This market boomed in the last year or two. Many guys making a lot of money.

Yep, he's a big time flipper.  Not much sympathy from me. 

[Lotusguy]

Yep, he's a big time flipper.  Not much sympathy from me. 

Oh I so hope it’s that **** “LCDH Chicago” - please let it be true.

[bmf30180]

That's the one. 

[Lotusguy]

That's the one. 

Karma strikes again

[Derboesekoenig]

14 minutes ago, Lotusguy said:

 

Oh I so hope it’s that **** “LCDH Chicago” - please let it be true.

 

Bahahahahahaha finally some flipper karma. Saweeeeet. Not a very creative name either

[busdriver]

I was given some grief at the security check point in Jose Marti a couple of weeks ago.  The security officers told me I couldn’t have both boxes of cigars and custom rolls at the same time and they would have to confiscate one of them.  They asked which one I wanted to keep.  I acted a bit incredulous and that I didn’t understand their Spanish.  They let me go and didn’t take anything.  I have no idea what that was about and they certainly didn’t ask for facturas.  

[Derboesekoenig]

11 hours ago, busdriver said:

I was given some grief at the security check point in Jose Marti a couple of weeks ago.  The security officers told me I couldn’t have both boxes of cigars and custom rolls at the same time and they would have to confiscate one of them.  They asked which one I wanted to keep.  I acted a bit incredulous and that I didn’t understand their Spanish.  They let me go and didn’t take anything.  I have no idea what that was about and they certainly didn’t ask for facturas.  

This is always my first instinct--to play dumb. Worked 90% of the time in my life lol don't ask about the other 10%...

[Guantanamera]

Sounds like all of the security folks have figured this one out. Happened to me in 2017. After going through security they pulled us into a little office and said you cannot take the cigars with you. Unfortunately we had not been told to keep/have the facturas and could not produce what they were asking for. They suggested making an arrangement and $20 later we were free to go. I guess lesson learned about obtaining and keeping the facturas. Of course we were going to pay $20 rather than lose 30+ boxes of cigars!

[bpm32]

3 hours ago, Guantanamera said:

Sounds like all of the security folks have figured this one out. Happened to me in 2017. After going through security they pulled us into a little office and said you cannot take the cigars with you. Unfortunately we had not been told to keep/have the facturas and could not produce what they were asking for. They suggested making an arrangement and $20 later we were free to go. I guess lesson learned about obtaining and keeping the facturas. Of course we were going to pay $20 rather than lose 30+ boxes of cigars!

I suspect even if you had the facturas you would have had a "problem" that needed to be rectified in a similar way.

[bmf30180]

On 9/20/2018 at 9:10 PM, oliverdst said:

Did you guys see what happened to a BOTL yesterday at the airport?

He reported he had 50 custom rolled confiscated because, of course, he didn't have a factura. He pictured the customs officer confiscating them.

The funny part is: where I live cigars are so expensive that the risk is worth.

Looks like they got him again yesterday.  139 customs forfeited.  

Is anyone else facing similar crackdowns?  I'm traveling in 5 days and would obviously like to push the limit, but not at the expense of the high risk of doing so.

[Corylax18]

16 minutes ago, bmf30180 said:

Looks like they got him again yesterday.  139 customs forfeited.  

Is anyone else facing similar crackdowns?  I'm traveling in 5 days and would obviously like to push the limit, but not at the expense of the high risk of doing so.

Nope. My father and I both returned through Terminal 2, Jose Marti in the last week. Both of us had roughly 75 customs and a couple boxes with facturas. No trouble for either of us on either end of the trip.

[oliverdst]

39 minutes ago, bmf30180 said:

Looks like they got him again yesterday.  139 customs forfeited.  

Is anyone else facing similar crackdowns?  I'm traveling in 5 days and would obviously like to push the limit, but not at the expense of the high risk of doing so.

Usually I put all my boxes, specially customs rolled, in the checked luggage. Never anyone called me from the gate and asked to open the luggage.

For space reasons this time I was with 3 boxes in the carry on luggage. Nobody asked for facturas. 

[Fuzz]

No problems with the Aus boys. I had 2 boxes and about 85 customs (plus some loose cigars here and there), not one peep. The other guys had more boxes, and they breezed through too. Might have helped that we left at 5am, and hardly any staff were around.

[bmf30180]

Much appreciated info fellas.  I may push my limit a bit, depending on how successful I am at filling my wish list.  I'm traveling with my non-smoking father, so hopefully we can slide thru.

[Monterey]

Guy sells those customs at a high markup.  It is possible that he claims these losses to discourage others from going to Cuba and buying.  More business for him.