Flying for Fun

My last two NAAT tests at Walgreens in Phoenix returned in 74 minutes (10:00 am appointment) and 25 minutes (7:45 pm appointment)

James

seawolf

IME Walgreens NAAT turnaround time varies between 30 minutes to 6 hours.

Nayef

When I looked into it seems like rapid NAATs dose around 175 USD and many sites claim that rapid tests are generally not covered by insurance even. What’s your take on that?

mlbcard

ive tested myself and my kids many times at Walgreens and it’s always been free. CVS also (although the took my insurance info, I never got charged). There are some locations that charge (like airports).

Nayef

When I was looking through cvs and Walgreens and they said there are appointments for (PCR/NAAT) tests that can be scheduled and the results take 1-2 days. Nothing indicating a rapid NAAT test can be taken.

xray

Only Walgreens, not CVS does rapid NAAT tests. You have to select "rapid diagnostic test" - the red dot. It's not available at all Walgreens locations as some only offer PCR.

emcampbe

this.

I’m here in the Bay Area, and the IDNow (which I think is the rapid NAAT talked about here) only appears to be available at one store nearby - in Oakland - the closest next store it lists is in Carson City, NV. I know the regular PCR tests are available at a ton of other Walgreens locations around here.

fly747first

Hello Canadian flyers, I would greatly appreciate your help on this. According to Canada's travel web site, domestic transfers within Canada aren't allowed when the final destination is a country other than Canada. However, Canada now allows vaccinated U.S. citizens into the country for leisure purposes and hence why I'm a bit confused... I mean, if I'm allowed to enter as a vaccinated U.S. citizens and spend several days in the country, I'm not sure why I would be denied transiting to another Canadian city. The reason I ask is because there was a schedule change to my itinerary and now I'm flying MIA YYZ YUL CDG (all flights on the same day) and I'm a little worried about this. Thanks everyone for your feedback in advance.

HkCaGu

It means you'll have to satisfy all requirements for entry in order to transit. COVID test, ArriveCAN app, etc.

seawolf

The challenge I see is ArriveCAN is going to ask for a Canadian address for quarantine plan. And it only accepts Canadian address. So you technically have to make a false declaration on this part just to be able to submit this.

fly747first

I would be checking bags MIA YYZ YUL CDG so I thought they would know the itinerary

seawolf

ArriveCAN wouldn’t know anything. Think of as an electronic version of a paper declaration form where there is a section requiring a Canadian address in order to submit. CBSA and probably the airline will ask for the submitted confirmation. You probably with need to enter a dummy address in order to submit and tell CBSA you are transiting.

sydneyracquelle

Just list a YYZ airport hotel. I often (every week) do daytrips from USA to Canada (dual citizen) where I have no address. So I just put a dummy hotel. The app also asks me for every country visited in the past 14 days and Canada is not listed as an option so I always have to say none.

fly747first

Good to know!

doggz

In San Francisco, I found out that CVS does rapid PCR testing now. It's a "Community Site" if you search for a rapid test. I was very surprised to see this since most are antigen tests:



FWIW, it was a movie theatre that was closed a while back, at the corner of Van Ness and Sutter. I got my results in 45 minutes, apparently it's a rapid PCR test by Mesa Biotech. Also, I was never asked for my insurance information. It worked fine for entering YYC on Sunday.