Calculated Risk

Looks like testing will begin Nov 9th and be available to passengers with results in English in either 4 or 14 hours for a relatively small fee. What's not clear from the article is whether it's only for Israelis and if one can take the test regardless of destination or whether it's only for those traveling to countries requiring test results.

https://​​en.globes.co.il/en/article...ate-1001348143

nombody

The fee is pretty low for the 14 hour result, but for most people the cost of driving to the airport, paying for parking, and driving back will outweigh the cost and time savings of getting tested more locally. Even the 4 hour test useless for someone flying abroad. Only once they can get it down to 15 minutes results will that be useful for someone flying out at the airport.

Ditto

You can't get a PCR test done within 15 minutes, and some countries only accept PCR tests.

nombody

Fine but what good is a 4 hour PCR test - you need the results before checkin. You need to be at the airport 3 hours before your flight. So will you come to the airport 7 hours before your flight for the PCR test?

Ditto

Of course you will have to go twice, once to get tested and once to actually fly, but it all depends on the alternatives.
A lot of people travel to Schiphol to get tested at the KLM travel clinic even though results are only guaranteed within something like 30 hours and the cost is ~150�...

simba8

Canada is "piloting" the rapid test for arrivals starting this week. However if the test is negative they can bypass the 14 day mandatory quarantine. They will then need to take the PCR 4 days later after arriving though (as they want to see the reliability of the test).
No country wants the borders closed again in the spring and summer- its great that Israel is providing these tests for people departing, but they should also start thinking about the future and about when they will realistically can or will open their borders.

Calculated Risk

I followed the link provided by Natbag which took me to the Check 2 Fly website Most of it is quite straight forward however there are a number of issues.

1. Although there are 2 options for taking the test (Drive-in, or at gate 3 Terminal 3), only the Drive-in is available at the moment
2. The drive-in (not to be confused with drive-through) looks like it requires parking in the car park and following the signs to the arrivals area of terminal 3. - I've not been yet so somewhat unsure at the moment.
3. Of the 2 options for results (4hrs or 14hrs) only the 14 hours is available. Also, it should be read as a minimum of 14 hours for the results. it could be up to 3 days.
4. Supposedly you can only take this test 72 hours prior to the flight but I'm flying on Sunday and the only option given was to take the test on Thursday - about 67 hours before departure.
5. I selected to take the test at 14:30, but when I log back into the site it tells me my next appointment is at 04:30pm - I'll turn up at 14:15 and see what happens.
6. The site informs you that there is a downloadable app both for Android and Apple but neither links work and I couldn't find anything at the Google Play Store. Apparently, it doesn't exist yet.

Update 18 Nov

• By this evening I'd still not received any email confirmation of my scheduled appointment for tomorrow, so..
• I went back to the site, logged-in and found to my dismay that there are no appointments listed in my profile (so even the one for 04:30pm wasn't there let alone the one I actually booked and payed for at 14:30)
• I started the process again and found that the 14:30 slot was available again so booked it, gave my CC details, and "Transaction Failed".
• I started again, The 14:30 was now taken (presumably by me already) so I booked 14:20, gave different CC details this time and the page then hung in "processing...." mode. The transaction pinged on my CC phone app as having been successful yet the web page still just hung until eventually, it switched to an error code.
• At this point, my frustration was mounting but still persevered. I decided to try it on Microsoft Edge instead of Chrome. Logged in, again no appointments appearing in my profile so yet again I went through the process of booking another one. the 14:20 was now taken so selected yet another slot. gave the CC details and voila, it worked. The transaction was successful and the appointment is listed in my profile. Now for the next trick.
• To the right of the page, it states you need to come armed with your passport, printed flight ticket, and printed QR code - where to find these? No email was sent and there are no instructions on the site so pay careful attention -
• Click on My Appointments. A list of scheduled appointments appears to the right. Next to each one is a subtle ">" arrow. Click on it and your QR code appears with the option to print it or send to email.

Now I have no idea whether tomorrow I'll have 1,2,3 or 4 appointments, nor whether I'll be charged for them all but I'll report back with details of the experience.

Update 20 Nov

• The testing area is in the Terminal 3 Arrivals Hall. They've cordoned off a section between the windows and the escalators running from Entrance 03 to 01.
• Starting at Entrance 03 you stand in line (yes there was a line) where there seems to be a mix of people with appointments and those without. Every so often someone would walk along the line searching for those with appointments.
• Those with appointments are 'fast-tracked' to the first stage of the process which involves showing your passport and QR code for scanning. They then issue you with a numbered ticket for stage 2 and a barcode sticker for your test tube.
• You then move to stage 2 where you stand in line again waiting your turn to be called to one of 5 or 6 testing booths. The test takes all of 3 minutes and you're done.
• This morning I found a text message informing me of the results and a few hours later a recorded phone message with same. The full printable pdf version is in the personal area of the website.

I spoke with the person in charge there and informed him of the various areas where I thought the process could be improved to make it more user-friendly. He responded favorably and asked that I send him details by email. Whether or not multiple charges for the non-appointments I mentioned a few days ago are credited to my CC remains to be seen.

joshwex90

If you anyways need to go twice, what's the benefit of a paid service at the airport when anyone (with citizenship/kuppat cholim) can get tested all around the country at MDA/Pikud Haoref testing centers with no appointment or referral, not quarantine requirement, and results within 24 hours?

Ditto

If you can indeed get a result within 24 hours, with it being printed in English and have all relevant details required by your destination, there is most likely little benefit, free tests offered by health services often either have no guaranteed turn-around time (especially over weekends) and/or don't provide you with a certificate that will be acceptable for travel.
Also, whenever Israel opens up for foreigners again this will probably be useful for them.

Calculated Risk

No need to go twice. You book an appointment for a time prior to your flight. If you have to have the results before boarding then get there much earlier and book the 4h option (when it becomes available).

Ditto

You would have to have the results before check-in, and considering it's TLV why would you want to spend 6-7 hours there?

nombody

Me and my wife had appointments this past Thursday night for 6:50pm, just before closing time. We got there a few minutes before. They had two separate lines at the entrance, one for people with appointments and one for people without. It was quite crowded. Unfortunately in typical Israeli fashion several non-appt people had gotten on the line for people with appts.

I also noticed arriving passengers on line with their luggage which didnt make sense to me until i realized they were trying to get their quarantine time reduced.
Anyway, even with an appt and the bar code printed out from the website it took 30 mins to get to the first checkin point where they scan the bar code and we verified our passport info. Important to doublecheck the data as my birthdate was wrong.

Next we waited on line to get to the next section where they do the actual test. This took another 30 minutes. The actual test was pretty quick - they recheck your passport there also. And they ask you to put the sticker you were issued on the test tube.
They take two swabs, each one goes in your throat and then your nose and then into the test tube. About 3-5 minutes overall per person at the test stand.

I got a text message at 3am that our test results were ready, which is about 7 1/2 hours from test time. Of course we were the last appt of the day. Its probably that they store all the test samples there at the airport until closing time and then ship those to Rambam. So had we gone earlier our test results would have taken 12 or 14 hours.

Calculated Risk

They ship off the samples at regular intervals throughout the day so no, you wouldn't have had to wait 24hrs.

nombody

The service now operates 24 hours a day at the airport (but not on shabbat). I booked an appt at last minute for 11pm last night and appointments were wide open. And when we got there we were the only ones testing at that time.

Also, arriving passengers now use testing stations if they want to inside the arrivals area before they exit from customs. So the check2fly testing area is now exclusively for departing passengers.

Results were a bit slower this time - the so-called 14 hour option took 23 hours to get results.

They don't actually ask to see your flight details for your test, so if you need a 24-hr corona testing center at a reasonable price, you can use this.

eugnk

In December I had an appointment for testing with Check2fly on Saturday evening, before a flight on Sunday evening.
On Saturday afternoon, about 30 hours before my flight, I received an SMS that my appointment was cancelled. No reason was given. Online rebooking for my flight was not possible and no customer service was available. It was quite a scramble to find an alternative at such a short notice.

Check2fly didn't even bother to refund the payment.