FlyingBeanCounter

Greetings,

I was on a flight SEA to ICN on July 9th. We were headed to BKK after this flight. All of this was in Delta One. I am vaccinated and my wife is not. She did however have a COVID test. The counter lady rejected the test however and we were denied boarding. I was pretty mad. I was actually on the phone with an agent who was telling them to let me on but as we all know, the gate agent makes the call. The gate agent was extremely rude. All of the gate agents looked like keystone cops with some saying "let them go" and the lead one saying no.

We were quickly booked on another flight out of LAX 12 hours later. We messed around all day and then boarded the flight to LAX to catch the flight. To be safe, my wife got another test in SEA. The LAX -ICN flight was Korean Air. On a whim, I decided to see if the old test would work. We had a new one and we could always explain away the issue if it did not. SURPRISE! It went through without a hitch. We had zero issues with the test and went on to BKK without another review by anyone.

I am preparing to call DL to discuss this. I did file a complaint and they just threw miles at me hoping I would go away, I do not feel the 30k miles they offered is even close to making up for losing a day of vacation for my wife and I. We went to great lengths to take this trip without kids and this was a horrible mistake on the part of DL.

I am just not sure what fair compensation is here? I mean I think they owe me a whole other trip, but I am biased. Has anyone else faced this? What did you do and what was offered? I have never actually filed a complaint. I haven't a clue what I am in for.

MSPeconomist

Why did the lead GA in SEA reject the test result?

Goodoldflyer

Was it a self-test? Was your wife showing any symptoms?

There have been a lot of inconsistent standards and judgments applied.

flyerCO

Why did say it wasn't ok? SOUTH Korea has really strict standards for CV19 tests.

For day delay 30k seems right. However it should be 30k for each of you.

They do not owe a whole new trip. You made it there, albeit a day late.

FlyingBeanCounter

It was a PCR test. The gate agent claimed the test covered COVID but she couldn't determine the nature of the test (It was PCR, but it was written up as Rapid Molecular COVID test). This is the same test required by Hawaii (when they required them) since we knew it was the gold standard.

The Rapid Molecular test is the PCR test - the agent was hung up on the fact it didn't say "PCR" or "ATK".

FlyingBeanCounter

If it matters I am Diamond in DL. It shouldn't really, but I suppose it does in some way.

Goodoldflyer

That shouldn't matter in the least.

alangore

"The counter lady rejected the test however and we were denied boarding."

Airlines love Covid test requirements, because it gives them a great excuse to deny boarding. You have to forfeit an expensive ticket, and they now have a seat they can resell at walkup rates. And unlike visa requirements and passport dates, it's not something that pax can prepare for ahead of time.

This almost happened to me last fall on an outbound PHX-BUD on United. At the time Hungary required a PCR test within a 72 hours of entry. Because the best available test in my rural area would give me results in 48 hours, I had to test 24 hours before flight time and wing it. But at the airport, United insisted on a test result before flight, exactly the kind of clearly impossible barrier they love. Unfortunately for them I found an expensive one-hour test option was able to fly anyway.

And guess what? All Hungary cared about when I arrived was my vaccination record. Nobody looked at my two sets of test results.

flyerCO

Not sure what Thailand rules say, but some countries require it specifically state RT-PCR. The US rules when in place required specific wording.. The rules were designed to prevent confusion.

The denial may be correct if that's the case. (Even if we're allowed in, if rule says must state RT-PCR or ATK then agent was correct.)

flyerCO

You were correctly denied boarding it sounds like. You didn't have a result before boarding. I'm not sure what your complaint is. You then got a result, as required and were allowed to board.

angetenar

You can see Timatic, which is what agents see with regards to entry requirements, here: Timatic. The relevant part is:
So either antigen or RT-PCR would work. There may be some confusion though, because not all molecular covid tests are PCR tests.

Goodoldflyer

I'm not sure that's the business they're in, and I'm even LESS sure any of their employees care.

But I'm sure the employee doesn't want to let you get on a flight and then get rejected by the country you're trying to get into.

exwannabe

This issue is a complete cluster that has always annoyed me.

There are two categories of tests, molecular (that test for RNA of the virus) and the less accurate antigen tests. The first molecular tests were PCR, so the public started using that name. And even the idiots making the rules did.

Problem is, the most common RT-molecular test in the US is Abbot's ID-NOW which is definitely not PCR. It is accepted by "everybody" as one because what is meant by most is "molecular" not "PCR".

But it does create this friggen stupid issue that many RT-molecular tests are fine, but not properly called PCR.

Lux Flyer

Airlines are in the business of complying with international requirements for travelling passengers so they don't get fined, the passenger refused entry, and have to fly the passenger back. If the destination asks for the test result to have certain language on it then the airlines are going to apply their policy based on those requirements, because they're the ones who are going to face penalties if it doesn't. The idea that there's some conspiracy to use COVID requirements as an excuse to deny boarding for business class passengers so they can resell the ticket last minute is ridiculous, and chances are the airline isn't going to be able to resell that ticket in the short amount of time between when they deny the test and when the flight goes out anyway.

FlyingBeanCounter

KAL accepted the test and allowed us to fly on. If it was not proper, it should have been rejected by the second airline as well.

We were admitted to Thailand without so much as a glance at the test. It was literally only the gate agents who looked.