ALFONSO CHARDY Herald Staff Writer

Fewer exiles than expected are traveling to Cuba aboard expanded flights to the island, which began operating in September. Part of the reason, travel agency owners say, has been widespread confusion surrounding the service.

One of the sources of confusion was whether exiles could get a visa without buying a package deal for hotel and meals as initially required.

Based on interviews with flight operators, travel agents and U.S. and Cuban government officials, here are answers to some of the most widely asked questions about the service:

Q. Can you get a visa to Cuba without buying a package?

A. Yes. The question is whether you can get it as quickly. Cuban officials say that buying a package doesn't guarantee you a visa. Travel agents say they have not noticed delays in visas for people who don't buy the package.

So far, about 3,000 exiles have been approved to travel, 500 without the purchase of a package. No one who has applied for a visa without a package has been turned down, said Vivian Mannerud of ABC Charters. But some people who applied with a package were rejected. "There is no pattern of discrimination on visas with or without buying the package," said Mannerud .

Q. What does the package include?

A. Hotel and meals. The flight ticket is sold separately at $255 per person round trip. The cheapest package costs $490 per person for a week. The most expensive: $780.

Q. Do the packages violate the U.S. trade embargo?

A. Not as long as prices stay within the humanitarian exemptions of the embargo. These exemptions allow exiles to spend up to $100 a day in hotels, meals, transportation and other expenses, an additional $100 a day for souvenirs and other small purchases, and up to $500 a year for visa and passport costs.

Even the most expensive package, $780, stays within embargo limits. Of the $780, $663 is actually spent in Cuba. The rest stays in the United States as agency commissions and other expenses.

Q. Are the flights a violation of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba?

A. No. The 29-year-old embargo has exemptions. One of them is family reunification visits that allow exiles to regularly travel to the island to visit close relatives or send them money, medicines and other merchandise. Flights to Cuba operate under such humanitarian exemptions. "We encourage family reunification as a policy," a Clinton administration official said.

Q. How do you get a visa?

A. You can apply at the Cuban Interests Section in Washington or at one of the more than 70 Cuba travel and family service agencies that operate in Dade County under federal license.

To travel to Cuba you must have lived outside of the island for at least five years. If you meet that requirement, you will need to provide the following basic information: five photos, a passport number, your date and place of birth, your parents' names, your last address in Cuba and where you intend to stay while visiting.

Other information may be required depending on the type of visa. For more information, call the Interests Section at (202) 797-8518 or write to 2630 16th Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20009.

Q. How much does a visa cost?

A. Prices range from $66 to $100. It takes from two to four weeks to get a visa. Prior to the expanded service, exiles were required to obtain Cuban passports at a cost of $230 per passport. Now only Cuban Americans who left Cuba after 1979 must get a Cuban passport. Others can travel on U.S. passports.

Q. When did the expanded service begin and what is the reason for it?

A. Expanded flights began Sept. 21, after a two-month delay, but the service is not new. It grew out of a dialogue between exile leaders and the Cuban government in the late 1970s.

In 1979 alone, more than 130,000 exiles traveled to Cuba, all on package deals which at that time cost $1,300 per person. In retaliation for Radio Marti, which went on the air in 1985, Fidel Castro suspended exile flights. After a few months, the service resumed but on a limited basis: 50 travelers a week.

Castro announced the resumption of the unfettered service July 26 as part of a strategy to entice exiles to spend dollars on the cash-strapped island.