ahmetdouas

No idea, I am not sure if it will be enforced before 1 July anyway, until then it is the paper forms on board.

paulaf

OK thanks we're planning on flying on 19th July so presumably it will be in be in force then? Are BA handing them out on the plane, bit onerous on BA every flight with say 200 people?

ahmetdouas

No idea, I am flying to GR tomorrow, will let you know of the process I go through!

paulaf

ok thanks have a good trip.

nk15

You can leave it blank, unless it is red/required, and you should be able to proceed. The greek zip code is a five digit number indeed. My guess is that in the end it will print some receipt with a barcode to scan, electronic or paper. I did not try doing it all the way because I got bored, lol...

paulaf

It goes red and says required, I've tried loads of zip codes and it won't accept any of them, presume it's a bug that will get sorted. I wanted to try it now before I need to to avoid the stress.

ahmetdouas

I think I will get away with it as I am flying tomorrow and this is from July 1, so I think I have to fill out the paper form on the plane, although I will have to do it in a few weeks when I go again.

nk15

The website says the form has to be filled electronically 48 hours before the flight, either website or in the app, for flights after July 1. The tests will happen selectively, based on a risk algorithm, but I assume that flights originating in the UK will be high risk factor, and any time spent in more affected countries it will make it worse. I assume anyone originating in the US will be surely tested.

However, UK flights are currently still a no go for July 1, but there are some negotiations going on, I think. This is the excerpt below from yesterday's news piece:

Greece hopes for ‘air bridge’ with UK from mid-July

“I think that the most realistic prospect is around the middle of July to remove barriers from both sides,” Tourism Minister Harry Theocharis told Reuters, adding that Greece was also waiting European Union guidelines on the issue.

“We will keep looking at the (epidemiological) data and confirm this perhaps a few days before the middle of July,” he added.

This could mean that UK flights for the first two weeks of July will be cancelled, unless something changes by Tuesday.

nk15

Updates from Greece:

1. They are trialing the smart app/website for choosing who will be tested, starting today. It must be completed 48 hours before travel, and sends you the bar code the next day to show upon arrival. The risk factors in the algorithm are country of travel origin, countries visited in last 14 days, and health history (presumably any recent/current symptoms).

2. They are testing the infrastructure in all 27 airports in the next couple of days. HER is likely the second biggest entry point after ATH. HER will have 40 daily flights and there will be 850 tests daily. RHO will have 600 tests daily, and I am guessing ATH will be way over 1,000.

3. They have decided which hotels around the country will act as 14-day quarantine hotels for anyone found positive. They have not publicized the hotel names, but only locations and star rating. Unfortunately, all of them are between 1-4 stars, except one 5-star in the island of Kos, and one near KLX (but it is not Costa Navarino, lol, but likely a 5-star on the beach). But I think they said that some luxury hotels may also have quarantine rooms set aside.

paulaf

Very interesting thanks. On the HER numbers say 200 people per flight that's roughly 10% although obviously some countries won't be tested at all and some like the UK will be higher.
Do you have info about PVK e.g. testing numbers or the hotel?

ahmetdouas

Hello from Greece! Ok so on the plane before the app is ready on 1 July, you fill out one of two forms, the naughty orange one for bad countries origination (I had to fill it out, they knew from my seat number and name that I had connected in ZRH from LHR) and the blue one for the good countries list. What is funny is even though I filled out the orange naughty form and gave it to the cabin crew, I got off the plane without being tested and simply went to pick up my luggage and off to do as I please. So they do not test all arrivals, even if you are not from a 'clean country'. This is something I suspected; they simply do not have the infastructure to test every arrival who connects from a 'good country' even though they originate from a 'bad country'.

The highest chance of getting tested upon arrival is if you directly fly in to Greece from a 'hotspot', if you connect through Switzerland or Germany, it is much less likely you will get tested, but I am sure the authorities are aware of that and this is why they created the app, so let's see what happens after July 1.

nk15

No testing info for PVK airport but the closest quarantine hotels are a "4-key" (guessing equivalent to 4 star) hotel in Preveza with 9 rooms, and a 2-star in the island of Lefkada with 22 rooms.

flyingcrazy

Hahahahaha what a surprise! (Not)

nk15

This makes sense, because until June 30 they are testing the whole flight I think, and your flight was simply not picked per random procedure, especially as it had a lower chance to be picked to begin with, as originating from a green airport. They may also have a total testing quota per day, so when it is reached, then they are done for the day, which may affect later flights.

paulaf

Thinking of going to Lefkada but it's all very off putting.