midwestspring

Can anyone give me some clarity on what the rules are if we fly to RSA through Europe from the USA? Is it going to be a problem if we have a layover in FRA? Looking to go in August. I'm nervous to book the South Africa side of things until I get the flights figured out.

Thanks

KenBoffard

At the moment, no restrictions. Also no quarantine. Have just had a colleague come through (Lufthansa). You MUST have a RT-PCR, that was done less than 72 hours before departure. Note that the SA Port Health are not flexible, and do not accept antigen / LAMP or Rapid PCR. Have again confirmed that they ONLY accept RT-PCR. Must be done by a lab and signed. Also note that the country where you are due to transit may have its own rules, even for transit passengers. For example, Germany also requires an RT-PCR, but this may not be done more than 48 hours before departure. Its OK to use the same test, but suggest that you make a couple of copies. For both Germany and Switzerland, you have to follow their national rules regarding their Health entry forms, even if you are in transit.

At the moment, there are daily Star Alliance flights. 4x per week LH from FRA, and 3x per week with LX through ZRH. So maybe check that the day you arrive in FRA is the day of the LH flight (Nice B748), otherwise you'll have an additional connector to get to ZRH.

We are watching the uptick and third waves in Europe, but so far there has been no change in RSA policy. They need the tourism. No comment or requirement for vaccines, yet.

The only predictability in Covid is its unpredictability, and the only certainty remains the uncertainty.

Ditto

Tourism is very much needed but so far not many tourists arrive.
Visiting some game reserves and only hearing English and Afrikaans where usually there is a mix of German, Dutch, French etc. is a weird experience. Also very little of that on domestic flights and pretty much anywhere else you'd expect to hear it.

If anyone wants a vacation in South Africa now is probably the perfect time to avoid crowds and enjoy it.

KenBoffard

And the prices for some reason are extraordinarily reasonable.

esquimau

if you break your travel with a layover that might change your testing validity window.

for example, if you left on Wednesday at 1pm from the US, then RSA’s testing policy says you need the test to have been done within 72 hours of that flight, or Sunday at 1pm. If you broke up that flight and did a layover then you’ve got a different 72 hour consideration. Say you landed in France on thursday and laid over and left on Friday for RSA, now you need a test done in France because you broke up your travel. I believe most countries will consider 72 hours from your original country departure if connecting but if you’re doing a layover then they may not accept that far back.

very much looking forward to our flight to RSA next month that we had to delay from last summer. LAX-DOH-JNB

dwugson

There should be some consensus with the 72 hour limit to allow for the time change between countries.

esquimau

True, I think in my head I was doing layover as synonymous with stopover vs a shorter connection. More thinking that if you’re breaking travel or leaving the passport control area you might be scrutinized different.

jonlombardini

They are however giving pretty broad leeway with regards to visas. I stayed 3.5 months and could have stayed for 2 additional months because they keep extending all visitors visas.

KenBoffard

Limited consensus, Germany and Sweden 48 hours. UK, RSA and most others 72 hours. Most, including
RSA it is within 72 hours of your ticketed (“non-stop”) flight departure. Transit is part of that. However, if you layover / stopover landside, at least for RSA, your PCR would have to be within 72 hours of the new departure time. Coming from US West coast, that may be cutting it fine.

konagirl2

I hope this doesn't come across rude but I don't really understand your issue with time zones. 72 hours is 72 hours. If you cross a time zone, that doesn't affect how long you have lived for. The SA rule is 72 hours from time of departure (on one through-ticket so allowing for a transit), so that is 72 hours in the time zone of the departing airport.

If you want to layover somewhere that needs a test within ## hours of arrival, then you could use google to ask what time the aircraft arrival time in that country is where you are now, then count back the appropriate number of hours. Or you may find it more intuitive to convert the time of arrival at the arrival airport to UTC (formerly Greenwich Mean Time), taken ## hours back and then convert that to your time zone as the earliest time you could take the test?

roadwarrier

Granted, but you must remember that you may be dealing with an Official who has never left the Country, so has no concept of time difference. That is where the problem is. I may be shot down for for this - but at a 30% pass rate at high school, maths does not feature highly, so trying to get the Official to calculate time differences versus actual times may be an actual impossibility.

Ditto

The 72 hours is much more likely to be enforced by the airlines and should be fairly easy to calculate as 99.9% of the cases the timezone on your test and the timezone of your departure will be the same.
I sincerely doubt the DOH officials upon entry check anything more than your name and look for the word "negative", I was never asked for anything showing my time of departure.

KenBoffard

Wholly agree with ditto

roadwarrier

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the last time I entered the Country, a temperature check was done, and that was it - no checking of my paperwork or anything. The Airline checked my paperwork. So, at least one check is done.

Desirees

Can you tell me where you got the test? We are flying out May 1 getting into CPT May 3 so we need to get the RT PCR done 72 hrs prior to departure. CVS or Walgreens is an option but the test they provide - does it have the medical providers name and signature? Or did you use another place to do the test? Thank you in advance for your replies.