Travel to USA, esp covid testing: advice

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 yorkshire_lad2 06 May 2022

Does anyone have any tips or "gotchas" for flying into the US, in relation to the admin (e.g. paperwork for immigration and covid etc) and esp covid testing.  I'm going in a couple of weeks and am now about to fix a covid test, which has to be done one day before arrival into the US.  I don't think I'll do an "at home" video test because it'll be the first time I'll have done one such video test, and if it doesn't work for some reason, I haven't got very much room to re-do it, so I'm thinking of a supervised test at e.g. Lloyds Pharmacy or elsewhere.  I don't mind popping into a near-by pharmacy.

Has anyone got any useful tips esp re the supervised covid test.

TIA

(I'm going to the US for, amongst other things, a cycle trip from Pittsburgh to Washington DC along the GAP and the C&O Canal)

 chris_r 06 May 2022
In reply to yorkshire_lad2:

First thing is make sure you have a valid ESTA: https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/

Costs about 15 dollars, and without it (or a full Visa) you can't enter the US.

 jonny taylor 06 May 2022
In reply to yorkshire_lad2:

> Has anyone got any useful tips esp re the supervised covid test.

All I'd say is make sure you book it well in advance. When my sister-in-law was flying home, we had checked in detail that various pharmacies said they offered it, and said they did walk-ins - but when it came to it most said they didn't have anything in stock(!?) and we would have needed to book in advance after all. I think there was literally one Boots in scotland that *actually* offered a walk-in that day.

In reply to chris_r:

> First thing is make sure you have a valid ESTA: https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/

> Costs about 15 dollars, and without it (or a full Visa) you can't enter the US.

Thanks, is on the list shortly as my previous one expired (unsurprisingly).

A colleague has recommended an app (https://myverifly.com/) to assist with all the documentation and provide some checking.  I think the apps may be airline-affiliated to some extent, and am checking with my airline (for its 'preferred' one), but anything has to be better than nothing (and I will have printed copy of everything).

In reply to yorkshire_lad2:

Verifly made no difference in my experience. Can't say it'll be the same everywhere so by all means do it if you can be arsed, but I couldn't get it to play and when I went through T5 recently I was just as quick without it as people who had it. Just make sure you've got all your paperwork ready, and would recommend having printouts *and* electronic versions. BA check in staff seemed happy enough having pdfs displayed on my phone quickly waved at them.

Edit to add: the 'observed' test was pretty straightforward. You just do the swabbing on a zoom call with someone in a fancy dress nurse outfit speaking broken English, then upload a photo of the test 15 min later. 

Post edited at 15:24
 nniff 06 May 2022
In reply to yorkshire_lad2:

Verifly is ok with only some airports and airlines.  We flew to the US with BA at Christmas and it was fine on the way out from LHR, but for the return trip the US airport did not exist.  Verifly does not do AirEuropa (even though it's also part of IAG).

#1 son flew to the US on Monday and had to get a drive through test (even though we have 5 diy and send away PCR tests here - it needed to be a witnessed test). 

It may have changed since Christmas, but to get back from the US we had to do a DIY LFT, and send a photo with a passport photo to get a fit to fly certificate.

Our last ESTAs only took a few days

Post edited at 17:14
 Philip 06 May 2022
In reply to yorkshire_lad2:

I went to Houston for the day this week and found it very easy. I tested at Heathrow the night before - it was opposite the hotel. Uploaded the screenshot of the result to the United app, and my NHS vaccine PDF. All cleared. But online check in failed. So I went to check in and they just looked at the two documents on my phone, asked if I had an ESTA and good to go. Check in + security at Heathrow was 15 mins total.

On the way back there's nothing to do.

The main thing with the US is the Covid test has to be in person, it's just a lateral flow though. And it can be the day before you leave, not 24 hours before you land.

 SFM 06 May 2022
In reply to yorkshire_lad2:

I was in the States 2 weeks ago so know your pain!

Verifly didn’t work for us so took print outs and downloads etc. BA staff happy with that.

We didn’t do covid tests dues to recent positive test. Again BA happy with doctors letters. 

What we saw regarding airport testing was that it was quick due to almost no one using the service there(T5)

No testing required for return flight on AA nor UK entry 

We found that Vaccine passports are required to be shown for entry to certain places eg museums so worth having on your phone. Tip- don’t get them too early as only valid for a month. 

Also there seems to be an outbreak of Norovirus in NY/East Coast so avoid licking toilet door handles( unless of course you want to not eat for a few days). 

 Bobling 06 May 2022
In reply to yorkshire_lad2:

Went to SF over Easter and was VERY stressed about all this stuff.  In the end it was painless at the airport but a lot of faffing beforehand.  Did tests with Doc HQ the day before which worked very well, Verifly was fine and BA really pushed it, made check in very easy though.  You do have to sign away all rights to your data to use it though : - / 

Make sure you have a couple of hours in hand the day before to upload all your docs to Verifly!

Unvaxxed kids had to promise to do a test day 3-5 which we did do using NHS tests we'd packed.  No one checked up on us though.

Coming back absolutely NOTHING to do, no restictions or requirements. 

Enjpy your trip, sounds great!


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