FCO hasn't had a good history of updating its advice, and that advice has not always been accurate. Fortunately British Airways is likely to follow the advice given by IATA as part of a commercial agreement.

The publicly available IATA version suggests you will require:
Vaccine certificate and PCR OR antigen test

The Argentine government (29Jan22) also stipulates a vaccine certificate, and gives the option of PCR (72 hours) or antigen test (48 hours) before the trip starts. (https://www.argentina.gob.ar/interio...jj-migraciones)
​​​​​​Personas extranjeras no residentes provenientes de países no limítrofes, deberán presentar esquema de vacunación completo, PCR dentro de las 72 hs o test de antígeno dentro de las 48 hs previas al inicio del viaje y seguro médico COVID-19.

The form you'll be required to fill out includes your acknowledgement of the requirement to carry health insurance to cover Covid treatment. It's not clear if you will have have to carry proof of this insurance.


So the long and short is it looks as though the antigen test is fine, but if you are ultra-cautious and recognise that things can change, you might opt for a PCR test.

Check out the Sherpa website too, they normally get their info from the local gvt's pages: Sherpa – Move Freely (joinsherpa.com)

I had not heard of the Sherpa website before. I am looking at it now and it seems it could be very helpful.

Thanks for posting!

Thanks!! Looks like the FCO finally changed it today - I did report that the information was wrong this morning. Glad I can do a much cheaper and faster antigen test

As for the stop in GRU, I’m either surprised that BA is still able to keep its passengers onboard (which if in a premium cabin for me is just fine) or I’m more surprised that LX has to make passengers disembark in GRU as I did this morning. Ground crew for LX in GRU said it’s Brasilian health requirements around cleaning and disinfecting the aircraft whilst stopped. How it’s one way for LX and another for BA is beyond my understanding, unless the country of origin also figures in, in which case it’s still beyond my understanding, but just differently.

If I had to do it over again, I’d have taken the LH nonstop from FRA even if it meant a ridiculously long layover in FRA but with the comforts of the First Class Terminal there rather than the indignity of marching around GRU at 6:30am with nowhere to wait until the 8am boarding

I am sorry you were forced to disembark and I hope the same won’t happen to me next week! Did you have to comply with any requirements while disembarked? i.e. go through passport control/present negative covid tests?

I’ve been mulling your comment about the need for cleaning and disinfecting the aircraft in GRU, in which case that may be the reason the LHR-GRU leg is departing an hour earlier than when I booked this flight a month ago, so maybe I should indeed expect to disembark the plane - though this does make me more nervous about having to satisfy Brazilian requirements! I am going to use an antigen test to board the flight and I presume there will be Argentinian nationals on the flight who are exempt so perhaps not having a PCR will be fine for disembarking at GRU whilst they clean the aircraft

I think BA's transit time is quite lengthy, and given they take on GRU EZE passengers and a new crew it seems likely they'll go through some covid-related cleaning protocol. So it's perfectly possible you'll be booted off for the transit period. That shouldn't cause you any concern, as:

a) The testing requirements to enter Brasil are similar to those of Argentina. PCR test results 72-hours before embarking, 24-hours for antigen. If there are any requirements for transiting airside, they are not going to be more onerous than the entry requirements.

b) You are not entering Brasil, so the awkward validity of your passport is no problem.


I imagine transit passengers will follow the route taken by international-international connecting passengers. That "normal" connection through GRU involved being filtered off from the main arrival flow, into the airside departure area. If that happens, you might expect checks on boarding card/transit document and passport-as-ID. I have done this only once, continuing to Asuncion, and I remember there was then also a security check.


Your concern might be on the return through GRU, where you could need a negative PCR or antigen test result if you are offloaded during transit. The experience on the outward trip will answer whether this is required or not, and whether you need to get yourself tested in Buenos Aires.

Whatever happens, please report back.


PS Is it too late to go with Lufthansa :) ?


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e40c1f204c.png

Thanks for the reply Ian! Something that allays my concern is that surely there will be Argentinian nationals on this flight who don’t need any test at all to board the flight since testing is now exempt for all Argentinian nationals so my antigen test should supersede some Argentinian nationals on the flight! Though my antigen test I will be taking on Tuesday morning (~36 hours pre-boarding). Argentina only requires within 48 hour of board for an antigen - and I will be very hard pressed to get an antigen test within 24 hours but it is a potential option!

In any case, I will be sure to report thoroughly on my experience through this flight - it is the least I can do in return for how helpful everybody on this forum has been to me :)

And since I booked this via trailfinders, I think I would be significantly out of pocket trying to change it to Lufthansa!

I am also not terribly averse to disembarking the plane at GRU - I have never stood on Brazilian soil, so that is novel enough for me that I am okay with disembarking.. provided I don’t encounter any covid/passport related issues!

In my transit with Swiss, there was a security check (and of course boarding pass check - using the same boarding card ZRH-EZE I had used to board in ZRH). There was also someone at the top of the jet bridge to take liquids (duty free purchased in ZRH for instance) off of you for the security check. I didn’t have any, but it appeared this was so they could hold it and give it back to you when you returned to the plane.

No testing questions, and certainly no entry to Brasil, so no worry to you on that matter.

All the relevant document checks would be in LHR, so make sure you have your Argentine DDJJ filled out, and take care with ticking all the boxes correctly. My first round I inadvertently missed the box confirming that I was fully vaccinated, so the form that got generated and emailed to me said I’d have to isolate on arrival to Argentina. There is a link in the first email concerning this form that cancels the filing, which you have to do before it will let you start over and do a new form correctly. I mention all this because it took me awhile to figure all that out and correct my error.

Argentina also requires proof of insurance that covers COVID related matters, which I had but was not asked for (in December, on the other hand, I was asked to show it somewhere along the way - perhaps on arrival in Argentina).

The BA plane was visible to me, and also operated the tag-on to EZE yesterday, but as it goes through a bit earlier than the LX flight, I didn’t really see if passengers had come off and then gone back on again (size of the queue at the boarding gate would have been my estimate for this, if I had seen it). It would seem quite unusual to me if a totally different rule were applied to the BA and LX flights, which sit basically side by side for awhile.

Safe travels!

Thanks a lot for the update! I filled in the DDJJ at lunch today and I don’t think you inadvertently missed the box - since when I set my birthdate it unchecked this box (bizarre glitch) - and just a heads up for anybody else filling in this DDJJ

I did my antigen test this morning and got my negative result so I am now armed with proof of full vaccination, negative antigen, DDJJ, insurance.

I will fly tomorrow and intend to provide a report here based on my experience - the least I can do for all the help everybody has given me!

And of course I will let you know if I had to disembark like your Swiss Airlines flight

Thanks - interesting to know. I was pretty sure I had ticked it the first time around, so what you’ve said explains a bit. So I guess what I actually missed was the error on my final review page…

Hi Jtee4. How was the flight? Did you have to disembark in GRU?

I was asked for it at the border when I entered at the end of November. Very glad I had all the documents printed and ready because they asked to see all the covid-related paperwork at that time.