ahmetdouas

I did the COVID Rapid test in Athens Medical Center station at the Airport, took 10 mins and 20 EUR so you don't actually need to go another day or worry about it in the city if you are flying out of Athens, just go a bit early to the airport and get it done on the spot.

nk15

Was it sampled from the nose or mouth? Did you have the option of mouth sampling? I'd rather avoid the nose rape, if possible...

Does anyone know if this is accepted for US entry? Anyone used it to return to the US with DL/AA/UA?

ahmetdouas

Only nose.
well it is accepted for uk entry as that’s what I used so I can’t see why us wouldn’t allow it since us is less strict than uk

lewinr

I assume "took 10 mins" means how long it took to do the swab, etc.
How quickly did you receive the result?

justforfun

Not sure if there was a queue when you were there, but on Friday around 11am there were at least 100 people in line waiting. Don't know how quickly the line moves, but now I'm planning on arriving extra early for my return flight.

dergon darkhelm

What is the result turnaround time?

nk15

If it is for a TATL flight, the same day test may be too risky, especially if you are in J and do not want to fly economy the next day...or spend 4 hours in line freaking out if you're gonna make it...I would recommend day before....Imagine if passengers in all 7 daily morning widebodies have the same idea....There are 6 widebodies to the US and one to YYZ that depart from ATH between 10am-1pm everyday, 6 of which between noon and 1pm. This does not include all those flying via the EU or to the EU or other short and medium hauls....

Athens to Newark and 4 more | Google Flights

ahmetdouas

Chill guys, the 10 mins is the time in line, it's really quick! You don't even have to wait there if you don't need a physical copy, as they send it by email straight away which is what I did, I just got out of there. BTW the line looks worse than it is as they process people quite quickly and have about 4 staff members on the counters, along with a few people inside actually doing tests.

For the test results, I took the test at 18:04, the results got formalised at 18:22 and I got an email at 18:26. It's an impressive money printing machine/factory! I also went without any appointment, I just rocked up.

The only wait is in the line, but even that moves quite quickly as there are many ppl in a hurry with flights etc, if you are running late for a flight I would just be aggressive and tell them you are about to miss your flight and do some drama and you'll be fine with cutting the line.

I would go 3 hours before my flight, more than enough time.

LOL @nk15, 4 hours in line? This is not the Greek Tax office pre digital Greece!

There were even people on my flight who rocked up to the check in test with the wrong tests with less than 2 hours to the flight and were sent 'downstairs' to get new tests at that place and I assume they made their flights!

nk15

Good to know, but I am gonna guess that for evening flights things have calmed down a lot, I would be way more cautious in the morning with all 7 widebodies departing....

dergon darkhelm

Does anyone have a link to the info for the ATH tesing facility.

We fly in from Chania the afternoon before our next-day flight to EWR

I'm thinking I will get tested on arrival from Chania and get it out of the way ...then arrive normal time with result the next day.

justforfun

This is my new plan as well.

https://www.aia.gr/en/traveler/trave...aq-for-covid19

• Molecular tests for Covid-19 (PCR) are conducted daily between 07:00 & 23:00 at the specially configured testing point of Athens Medical Center located on the departures level, across check-in counter 150. After 23:00 & until 07:00 the tests are conducted at the testing point on the arrivals level.
• RAPID Antigen tests for Covid-19 are conducted daily on a 24 hour basis at the specially configured testing point of Athens Medical Center on the “Arrivals” level, between exits 2 and 3.

You may proceed for testing without an appointment. Payment options available at the testing points include the use of POS machine accepting debit / credit card or cash.

Registration & payment procedure for the Molecular(PCR) test can be also accomplished electronically through the platform https://payments.iatriko.gr/. Details and important information are included in the section “Frequently Asked Questions” of the platform.

Test results for molecular (PCR) test will be delivered to you, by email, within approximately 24 hours. Response time varies according to sampling time or volume of tests.

Test results for rapid (Antigen) test are available by email ,15-20 minutes after completion of sampling. For any further information, please contact Athens Medical Center representatives at [email protected]

xooz

My son got tested in Rethymno the day before our flight to CDG from HER. It was an antigen test which took about 15 minutes and provided paper and email results. I think we went to this link to find the location. I will say that when we had flown out of Athens to Heraklion several days before, there was a healthy looking line of people queued up at the testing place at the Athens airport. We were happy we had gotten our tests downtown the day before.

ETA: Modified link

dergon darkhelm

Wait .... you got tested for ATH to HER? I thought the intra-greece flights didn't require testing?

xooz

Yeah... we all got tested, but I think we did not have to. My son was actually vaccinated but lost his card. He had to get tests several times on our trip. We flew ATH-JTR and noted in this link that my son needed to get tested to travel:

• As of May 14, 2021, all passengers age 5 years or older traveling within Greece by air or ferry to the Greek islands must provide either:
  • Proof of full vaccination at least 14 days prior to travel; or
  • A negative PCR test no older than 72 hours; or
  • A negative rapid or self-test no older than 24 hours; or
  • Documentation by a health care professional of recovery from COVID-19 within the previous 2-9 months.

We all got tested, but I can't remember whether anyone looked at any documentation in ATH, JTR, or on arrival at HER. Air France did check documents when we flew from HER to CDG.

JNelson113

More info about this here: https://www.discovergreece.com/covid...vellers-greece