Travelocity takes the rap for 'inadvertent' Cuba flights

An online travel firm in America has been fined for breach of regulations after helping holidaymakers book flights to Cuba.

Flying to the Communist country is banned under a trade embargo imposed 45 years ago.

Texas-based Travelocity has been subjected to a fine of over $180,000 by federal regulators for violating the embargo on travel to the one-party state still run by the ailing Fidel Castro.

Between 1998 and 2004, Travelocity violated the block no less than 1,500 times by helping travellers visit the Caribbean island.

"The trips to Cuba were unintentionally permitted to be booked by consumers online because of some technical failures several years ago … In no way did the company intend to allow bookings for trips to Cuba," Travelocity spokesman Joel Frey said in a statement.

UK visitors may feel privileged, by contrast, to be permitted by their government to visit the home of the mojito, with flights bookable from London's Gatwick Airport to Havana, capital of the island.