Sep 15, 2021, 1:47 pm
Last edit by: NewbieRunner
New thread for discussing 1-day test requirements for travellers arriving in the US by air
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/coronavirus-travel/2060730-us-require-air-travelers-provide-negative-test-within-1-day-departure.html
Entry ban from eight southern African countries starting on November 29, 2021
Most non-U.S. citizens who have been in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique or Malaw within the prior 14 days will not be allowed into the United States.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/11/26/a-proclamation-on-suspension-of-entry-as-immigrants-and-nonimmigrants-of-certain-additional-persons-who-pose-a-risk-of-transmitting-coronavirus-disease-2019/
Entry ban by air to be lifted on November 8, 2021 - All travelers should refer to CDC for travel requirements.
3 day pre-flight testing requirement will continue (US citizens/LPR not vaccinated will have to test no earlier than 1 day prior) Children under 2 years old do not need to test.
Children under 18 are exempt from vaccination requirement
Accepted vaccines will include:
There is a face mask mandate when flying to/from the USA, with effectively no exemptions, and including children two and above years old
Airlines need to provide some sort of contact tracing information for potential follow-up cases
Update on U.S. travel policy requiring COVID-19 vaccination
Last Updated: October 25, 2021
As announced by the White House today, the new travel policy requiring foreign nationals traveling to the United States to demonstrate proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 will take effect November 8. The CDC’s website explains that, for purposes of entry into the United States, the accepted vaccines will include FDA approved or authorized and WHO Emergency Use Listing vaccines.
COVID-19 Travel Restrictions and Exceptions - U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs
Last updated: October 25, 2021
The presidential proclamations described on this page will no longer be in effect on November 8, 2021. For additional information, please see Safely Resuming Travel by Vaccine Requirement and Rescission of Travel Restrictions on Brazil, China, India, Iran, Ireland, the Schengen Area, South Africa, and the United Kingdom (travel.state.gov).
To protect the public health, there are four presidential proclamations that suspend entry into the United States of all noncitizens who were physically present in any of 33 countries during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States. They are Presidential Proclamation 9984 (China); Presidential Proclamation 9992 (Iran); Presidential Proclamation 10143 (Schengen Area, United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil, and South Africa); and Presidential Proclamation 10199 (India).
What we know so far is
- Confirmed to start on 8 November
- Children under 18 are exempt from the vaccine restrictions, so the varying international standards on jab ages won't be an issue here.
- Vaccines that are OK will include Pfizer, Moderna, AZ, J&J and the two Chinese vaccines.
- Some exemptions from vaccinations are potentially allowed, notably for US citizens, though my guess is airlines will be expecting to see vaccine certificates
- 3 day pre-flight testing requirement will continue, so this needs to be a documented antigen/Lateral Flow test or PCR.
- 3 days is potentially more than 72 hours, departure on a Friday afternoon means a test on Tuesday morning or thereafter.
- NHS Lateral Flows and PCRs can't be used.
- Children over 2 years old travelling with vaccinated travellers have to be tested on the same basis (3 days).
- 1 day testing for unvaccinated USA legal residents (testing on or the day before departure), including their children.
- All passengers need to sign an attestment to confirm their negative test result and also a statement to confirm full vaccination status.
- Children who are not vaccinated do not need to get vaccinated but do need to get a "viral test" 3 to 5 days after arrival in the USA
- As a result there is a separate attestion question for unvaccinated children to confirm that the viral test is arranged.
- Vaccination certificates must come from an official source. The NHS COVID Pass app and EU DCC are specifically mentioned as acceptable.
- Vaccination is counted as two weeks from dose2, or 2 weeks after the sole dose in the case of J&J.
- Antibody certification is not a replacement for the need for vaccination, at least for non USA residents.
- 14 clear days need to elapse before travel. So if jabbed on 1 October then 15 October is when you are good to go.
- Booster vaccinations are not a factor here, they don't count towards or against the primary dose process.
- There is a face mask mandate when flying to/from the USA, with effectively no exemptions, and including children two and above years old.
- Airlines need to provide some sort of contact tracing information for potential follow-up cases.
- These restrictions do not apply at the land border.
Note that a lot of interpretation onus falls on airlines. For example there is no language requirement for vaccine certificates as far as the CDC is concerned, however you can imagine Air France may be hesitant in accepting a vaccine certificate issued in the Welsh language, to take one example.
CDC link
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2...el-System.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/coronavirus-travel/2060730-us-require-air-travelers-provide-negative-test-within-1-day-departure.html
Entry ban from eight southern African countries starting on November 29, 2021
Most non-U.S. citizens who have been in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique or Malaw within the prior 14 days will not be allowed into the United States.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/11/26/a-proclamation-on-suspension-of-entry-as-immigrants-and-nonimmigrants-of-certain-additional-persons-who-pose-a-risk-of-transmitting-coronavirus-disease-2019/
Entry ban by air to be lifted on November 8, 2021 - All travelers should refer to CDC for travel requirements.
3 day pre-flight testing requirement will continue (US citizens/LPR not vaccinated will have to test no earlier than 1 day prior) Children under 2 years old do not need to test.
Children under 18 are exempt from vaccination requirement
Accepted vaccines will include:
- AstraZeneca
- BIBP/Sinopharm
- Covishield
- Janssen/J&J
- Moderna
- Pfizer-BioNTech
- Sinovac
There is a face mask mandate when flying to/from the USA, with effectively no exemptions, and including children two and above years old
Airlines need to provide some sort of contact tracing information for potential follow-up cases
Update on U.S. travel policy requiring COVID-19 vaccination
Last Updated: October 25, 2021
As announced by the White House today, the new travel policy requiring foreign nationals traveling to the United States to demonstrate proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 will take effect November 8. The CDC’s website explains that, for purposes of entry into the United States, the accepted vaccines will include FDA approved or authorized and WHO Emergency Use Listing vaccines.
COVID-19 Travel Restrictions and Exceptions - U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs
Last updated: October 25, 2021
The presidential proclamations described on this page will no longer be in effect on November 8, 2021. For additional information, please see Safely Resuming Travel by Vaccine Requirement and Rescission of Travel Restrictions on Brazil, China, India, Iran, Ireland, the Schengen Area, South Africa, and the United Kingdom (travel.state.gov).
To protect the public health, there are four presidential proclamations that suspend entry into the United States of all noncitizens who were physically present in any of 33 countries during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States. They are Presidential Proclamation 9984 (China); Presidential Proclamation 9992 (Iran); Presidential Proclamation 10143 (Schengen Area, United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil, and South Africa); and Presidential Proclamation 10199 (India).
What we know so far is
- Confirmed to start on 8 November
- Children under 18 are exempt from the vaccine restrictions, so the varying international standards on jab ages won't be an issue here.
- Vaccines that are OK will include Pfizer, Moderna, AZ, J&J and the two Chinese vaccines.
- Some exemptions from vaccinations are potentially allowed, notably for US citizens, though my guess is airlines will be expecting to see vaccine certificates
- 3 day pre-flight testing requirement will continue, so this needs to be a documented antigen/Lateral Flow test or PCR.
- 3 days is potentially more than 72 hours, departure on a Friday afternoon means a test on Tuesday morning or thereafter.
- NHS Lateral Flows and PCRs can't be used.
- Children over 2 years old travelling with vaccinated travellers have to be tested on the same basis (3 days).
- 1 day testing for unvaccinated USA legal residents (testing on or the day before departure), including their children.
- All passengers need to sign an attestment to confirm their negative test result and also a statement to confirm full vaccination status.
- Children who are not vaccinated do not need to get vaccinated but do need to get a "viral test" 3 to 5 days after arrival in the USA
- As a result there is a separate attestion question for unvaccinated children to confirm that the viral test is arranged.
- Vaccination certificates must come from an official source. The NHS COVID Pass app and EU DCC are specifically mentioned as acceptable.
- Vaccination is counted as two weeks from dose2, or 2 weeks after the sole dose in the case of J&J.
- Antibody certification is not a replacement for the need for vaccination, at least for non USA residents.
- 14 clear days need to elapse before travel. So if jabbed on 1 October then 15 October is when you are good to go.
- Booster vaccinations are not a factor here, they don't count towards or against the primary dose process.
- There is a face mask mandate when flying to/from the USA, with effectively no exemptions, and including children two and above years old.
- Airlines need to provide some sort of contact tracing information for potential follow-up cases.
- These restrictions do not apply at the land border.
Note that a lot of interpretation onus falls on airlines. For example there is no language requirement for vaccine certificates as far as the CDC is concerned, however you can imagine Air France may be hesitant in accepting a vaccine certificate issued in the Welsh language, to take one example.
CDC link
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2...el-System.html
US reopened on 8 November 2021 (& subsequent entry restrictions for non-citizens)
Sep 23, 2021, 6:26 pm
#2401
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: TPA/ABZ
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold. GGL/CCR.
Posts: 13,243
By "like this" do you mean announcing things early without all details and an exact timeline? Consider Telsa announcing self driving cars or just about every major software company, if not every tech company, or every pharma announcing products in development, etc.
There who many are very happy to know they will be able to travel soon, even without knowing exactly when. Are you worse off than before the announcement?
There who many are very happy to know they will be able to travel soon, even without knowing exactly when. Are you worse off than before the announcement?
Would you rather they not have announced anything at all until mid-November and then gone "starting tomorrow you may enter"? Or would you rather they announce it once they have plans to while they work out final dates? Because those are the only options. Either they tell you now with a long lead-time or they tell you later with a short lead-time.
This situation is completely different. We are possibly somewhere between 5 and 7 weeks away from the lifting of the ban. A ban that's been in place a large number of months longer than was necessary. This is an example of Government being bounced into making an announcement for political reasons without having thought it through. It's policy on the hoof. After messing around with airlines and the travel industry for so long - not to mention passengers - is it too much to ask to provide a firm date for the resumption of travel to allow them to plan? In the words of Tenacious D, the Government totally sucks.
Give us a date. Make it as soon as practically possible. Let us all then plan accordingly. Unlike JFK's intervention, this isn't rocket science.
Sep 23, 2021, 9:41 pm
#2402
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2015
Location: BOS, YVR, ZRH
Programs: *G
Posts: 17,387
It's perfectly reasonable to announce long term goals and objectives without detail. JFK's famous speech about landing a man on the moon in this decade is a terrific example. It inspired people to make it happen and the details became clearer over time.
This situation is completely different. We are possibly somewhere between 5 and 7 weeks away from the lifting of the ban. A ban that's been in place a large number of months longer than was necessary. This is an example of Government being bounced into making an announcement for political reasons without having thought it through. It's policy on the hoof. After messing around with airlines and the travel industry for so long - not to mention passengers - is it too much to ask to provide a firm date for the resumption of travel to allow them to plan? In the words of Tenacious D, the Government totally sucks.
Give us a date. Make it as soon as practically possible. Let us all then plan accordingly. Unlike JFK's intervention, this isn't rocket science.
This situation is completely different. We are possibly somewhere between 5 and 7 weeks away from the lifting of the ban. A ban that's been in place a large number of months longer than was necessary. This is an example of Government being bounced into making an announcement for political reasons without having thought it through. It's policy on the hoof. After messing around with airlines and the travel industry for so long - not to mention passengers - is it too much to ask to provide a firm date for the resumption of travel to allow them to plan? In the words of Tenacious D, the Government totally sucks.
Give us a date. Make it as soon as practically possible. Let us all then plan accordingly. Unlike JFK's intervention, this isn't rocket science.
So I much prefer this approach.
Because they're really aren't any other options. The talks just resolved, they decided on it and wanted to get word out ASAP, so the options were:
A) Tell people right away, date TBA ("November")B) Don't Tell people anything at all until a firm date has been established (e.g. telling people Late October "1 month from today")C) Make up a firm date far enough in the future to be 100% delay-proof (e.g. "January 1st 2021, you have 4 months to prepare").
Things move slowly, that much we should all know by now... And an announcement followed by a delay would be disastrous.
Sep 24, 2021, 3:23 am
#2403
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: London & Sonoma CA
Programs: UA 1K, MM *G for life, BAEC Gold
Posts: 10,221
The easier issue is the date and I would hope that it can be announced about three weeks prior to give both travelers, airlines and officials time to prepare.
The more difficult issue is the definitions. Which vaccines? Administered by who? What proof of vaccination? Expiry dates? Etc. I have little doubt most people will fall within these definitions but also I am sure a significant number won’t, through no fault of their own. Perhaps the US will require a date of birth to be shown on the vaccination certificate - fine for those of us from the UK and EU but if you had your Pfizer in Hong Kong, for example, you’re SOL. These details are crucial for those of us planning a visit.
The more difficult issue is the definitions. Which vaccines? Administered by who? What proof of vaccination? Expiry dates? Etc. I have little doubt most people will fall within these definitions but also I am sure a significant number won’t, through no fault of their own. Perhaps the US will require a date of birth to be shown on the vaccination certificate - fine for those of us from the UK and EU but if you had your Pfizer in Hong Kong, for example, you’re SOL. These details are crucial for those of us planning a visit.
Sep 24, 2021, 9:33 am
#2404
Join Date: Jan 2021
Location: Milan, Italy
Programs: Skymiles
Posts: 271
It seem that AZ vaccine will be accepted.
I
I
Sep 24, 2021, 9:39 am
#2405
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
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Posts: 102,095
While the AZ vaccine will definitely be accepted by the US for purposes of the US considering foreign citizens toward being fully vaccinated, the idea that the new policy applies to everyone who is (traveling to the US but) not a US citizen is not going to turn out to be correct. For example, US LPRs will be treated the sames as US citizens for this purpose.
Sep 24, 2021, 11:31 am
#2406
Join Date: May 2009
Location: South Park, CO
Programs: Tegridy Elite
Posts: 5,678
It's perfectly reasonable to announce long term goals and objectives without detail. JFK's famous speech about landing a man on the moon in this decade is a terrific example. It inspired people to make it happen and the details became clearer over time.
This situation is completely different. We are possibly somewhere between 5 and 7 weeks away from the lifting of the ban. A ban that's been in place a large number of months longer than was necessary. This is an example of Government being bounced into making an announcement for political reasons without having thought it through. It's policy on the hoof. After messing around with airlines and the travel industry for so long - not to mention passengers - is it too much to ask to provide a firm date for the resumption of travel to allow them to plan? In the words of Tenacious D, the Government totally sucks.
Give us a date. Make it as soon as practically possible. Let us all then plan accordingly. Unlike JFK's intervention, this isn't rocket science.
This situation is completely different. We are possibly somewhere between 5 and 7 weeks away from the lifting of the ban. A ban that's been in place a large number of months longer than was necessary. This is an example of Government being bounced into making an announcement for political reasons without having thought it through. It's policy on the hoof. After messing around with airlines and the travel industry for so long - not to mention passengers - is it too much to ask to provide a firm date for the resumption of travel to allow them to plan? In the words of Tenacious D, the Government totally sucks.
Give us a date. Make it as soon as practically possible. Let us all then plan accordingly. Unlike JFK's intervention, this isn't rocket science.
Sep 24, 2021, 6:29 pm
#2407
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Virginia City Highlands
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Posts: 6,900
Sep 25, 2021, 2:43 am
#2408
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: CDG
Programs: SK Gold, AF Gold, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 3,712
The Indian AZ should have the same level of recognition as the Dutch one. After all, it's the same on the inside. Obviously, it's less hassle if your vaccination certificate simply states "AstraZeneca" rather than "Vaxzevria" or "Covishield".
Sep 25, 2021, 11:30 am
#2409
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 1,197
The more time that passes, the less likely I think it is that the US will open much before thanksgiving.
I'm still due to go on Monday 2nd... but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it ends up being the 15th or 22nd that they go for.
I'm still due to go on Monday 2nd... but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it ends up being the 15th or 22nd that they go for.
Sep 25, 2021, 1:03 pm
#2410
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: CDG
Programs: SK Gold, AF Gold, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 3,712
I'm pretty sure the rules will come into force on 1st November. There's no reason for a delay.
Sep 25, 2021, 1:28 pm
#2411
Join Date: May 2008
Location: ARN
Posts: 3,470
You may or may not be right that there's no reason for a delay, but they haven't even announced the opening date yet, only "early November." Depending on their definition of "early," the 12th could be described as "early November." And then we'll see whether there's a delay beyond that date.
Sep 25, 2021, 2:20 pm
#2412
Join Date: Aug 2011
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As has been discussed in this thread already, Lufthansa have been openly stating "from 1st November" on their homepage for days now. They are the unlikeliest airline in the world to relay data that hasn't been explicitly confirmed to them by the US authorities. Hence my certainty.
Sep 25, 2021, 2:22 pm
#2414
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: London & Sonoma CA
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Posts: 10,221
I should imagine a bureaucrat would say up to midnight on the 15th is early in that it’s first half.
I also suspect the date won’t be met but the clue will come around about the first: if no further details are announced or reliably leaked by then, it will be very difficult for airlines and border control to implement procedures to monitor and enforce compliance.
I also suspect the date won’t be met but the clue will come around about the first: if no further details are announced or reliably leaked by then, it will be very difficult for airlines and border control to implement procedures to monitor and enforce compliance.