Originally Posted by
wonderwander
I have a complex itinerary from Germany to South America.
As I understand it, airlines will ask me for Covid proofs based on my final destination, not the country I am transiting through (which has more stringent requirements).
But there are 3 scenarios here:
1. My two legs are with one airline. I book with them.
2. I book with multiple airlines using a travel agency.
3. I book with multiple airlines myself separately.
The first happens to be very expensive. The second is risky because travel agencies can be bad.
But what about the third option? If I show the first airline proof of onward travel, will they accept that, and not ask about Covid requirements for the intermediary city?
Welcome to FlyerTalk. So I think what you're asking about with 2 and 3 is booking some portion of your trip as separate tickets rather than one single ticket as in scenario 1. If so, then from the standpoint of entry requirements 2 and 3 are the same (but you should compare price and service).
With separate tickets the airline will normally verify that you meet the entry requirements for the destination of that particular ticket when you check in - the final endpoint of your trip is irrelevant in that case. In scenario 1 (assuming you mean one ticket from Germany to S. America) then there will be 2 considerations: the entry requirements for your final destination in S. America and any requirements for transit countries. While most countries that had particular COVID restrictions for transit-only passengers have removed them, some linger in a few cases. And then for example the US doesn't have the possibility of airside-only international-to-international transit, so you must enter the US when you connect there - meaning you must meet US entry requirements, COVID and otherwise depending on nationality, etc.
You can check entry and transit rules for any scenario here:
https://www.united.com/en/us/timatic...&POS=US&POS=US