[Roberto]

On August 3rd my mother in law was returning to Cuba after a 3-months-visit here in Canada. She was supposed to fly Regina – Toronto on Air Canada, and Toronto – Camaguey on Cubana. We had bought both tickets with more than a month in advance. Once in Toronto, the representatives of Cubana at Pearson International Airport did not want her to board the plane, allegedly because she had not paid to the Cuban Consulate in Toronto the fee established by Cuban immigration laws for the two months she stayed in Canada in excess of the one-month permit she had been granted (Cubans have to pay a fee to their authorities for every month they stay abroad).
My mother in law apologize explaining that a friend had told her she could pay that fee after returning into Cuba, and immediately offered to pay the fee; but this officers refused explaining the payment should be done in the Consulate and it was closed for the weekend. They finally offered her to change her plane ticket (with the consequent surcharge). She would have to stay a few days in Toronto and finally travel to Havana, 570 km from Camaguey.
After too much begging and crying, and about to suffer a heart attack, she was finally allowed into the plane, on a crew member seat, because her seat had already been sold.
Before coming to Canada, the Cubana representatives in Camaguey forced her to pay a round trip airfare when our plans were that she would return with another company not to carry the luggage through the connection process. They reported it was an immigration rule.
I think these behaviours on Cubana representatives are totally non-sense. What do they pretend? To defraud customers by selling twice the ticket or forcing a ticket change with the consequent surcharge? To get a juicy bribe? To terrify customers? In what other way can their behaviour be explained? An airline has nothing to do with the enforcement of immigration laws?