FYI For last minute travelers in the US who don’t have time to wait for Optum, I discovered a hack.

The QuickVue at home antigen test sold at Walgreens and CVS is the exact same kit used by Qured, one of the companies offering the video conference monitoring (CDC approved for US entry) for at home tests and also partnered with AA and Verifly.

For last minute travelers, you can still order at the link above which secures a video supervised test time slot along with a kit mailed to you - and then you can pick up the same test at your local CVS or Walgreens for $25 (check the store sites first to see who has in stock). You will then have an extra one once the mailed one gets to you; you can decide either to keep it or just return that one to Walgreens or CVS. It’s the exact same test kit. Then schedule and go on your video appointment and follow the instructions they tell you on the video conference; they will upload the PDF certificate within 8 hours.

I did the all of the above and was able to get my certificate for US entry reviewed and approved for my flight just fine.

PS discount code AATRAVEL10 seems to still work at the time of this post for 10% off

Images for reference.