eponymous_coward

Winning answer in my opinion. Is it really worth this much struggle with TIMATIC to get an AS flight?

SamuelS

Ok, some positive news today, Alaska Cust Serv this morning referred me to the Alaska Aerodoc portal which clearly reflects the exemption for recently recovered individuals flying to Canada:

(Testing section 3, subsection 2)

Customer Service advised that because this is clearly articulated in their Aero TracelDoc system that I’m good to go and should have no issue at Seattle on my flight to Canada. Fingers crossed, but feeling a lot more optimistic now!

nomiiiii

Can you please link to the aerodoc portal - because that is what alaska agents will be internally using regardless of what customer emails say, it will be a useful thing to have for the future when booking international flights on alaska airlines

SamuelS

https://www.alaskaair.com/content/tr...el-information

Wondering which documents you’ll need for your international trip?

Visit out partner TravelDoc. Filling out that form with the details of your international trip will help you determine the documentation and visa requirements of your destination.

ashill

I agree that Canada's rules are out of date. Antigen tests are good at detecting active, infectious cases, and I think that an antigen test day-of-travel is worth a lot more than a PCR test 72 hours before travel. That said, antigen tests can definitely fail to catch cases that will be infections in 3 or 48 hours, so there is a justification. For the cross-border travel I typically do (driving to/from rural north-central Washington), PCR tests simply aren't available anywhere near the border.

Canada doesn't have much choice but to accept the CDC cards, since most Americans don't have access to any other proof of vaccination. Honestly, I doubt the use of forged card to cross the border is that high; are there really that many anti-vaxxers who want to travel to Canada and risk the consequences of being caught lying to a border guard? I'm sure there are some, but I think they would do more harm by requiring some other documentation than good in reducing fraud. Canada itself has a pretty robust and easy-to-access proof of vaccination system, aided by the fact that the provinces have accurate records of who's been vaccinated (which isn't true in the States). Politically, becoming less restrictive on travel rules is a tall ask in Canada (whether or not it's good policy), since the US's lackadaisical attitude towards COVID is highly unpopular here.

Yes, Canada accepts any molecular test, not just PCR. Those tests are in principle available at many Walgreens locations (roughly half the ones in Washington State, eyeballing their map). But when we tried to book an appointment at a Walgreens anywhere in the Seattle area or Wenatchee a couple weeks ago (after my partner's PCR test didn't come back in 72 hours, so she was stuck in the States until she could get a new test), we found we couldn't at any time in a one-week window.
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Yes, although TIMATIC is used by many/most airlines. But really glad to see the TravelDoc documentation that basically makes these concerns moot, in my mind.

Speedbird84

This thread got me a little concerned so reached out to both IATA and someone on the AS exec team. Received responses from both today.

The Timatic team advised that their system is already updated regarding recovery information (attached screenshot).



(Makes me think that Copa has a cached or outdated version of Timatic on the website.)

The email to AS was forwarded to the Policy and Procedures Dept to confirm if info was outdated, and said they’d work with IT to update if required.

Seems to be a non-issue considering OPs updates anyways, but hopefully AS will update the info that they’re publishing/sending out at the least.

ashill

Indeed. Copa's public TIMATIC interface still gives the same information I did above. United's TIMATIC interface does have the positive test exemption you quote above.