Small child transiting Germany
#1
Original Poster




Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: SFO
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Small child transiting Germany
We are planning USA-FRA-BUD in the coming weeks. Two adults (vaccinated) and a three-year old, all on EU passports. German government regs exempt 6-year olds from tests and all. For adults it's either a test or vaccination certificate.
I did a Timatic check just to verify. If I put Germany as destination than "This does not apply to passengers under the age of 6" shows up. But if I put Germany as transit country with Hungary as destination, then the under 6 year old exemption does not show up. This is obviously a mistake in Timatic, but that's what the check-in agents will see. What should we do in this situation? It's actually hard to find a testing site that does tests for small children. All the travel testing services have a minimum age around 5-6.
Any thoughts, should we arrive at the airport days before departure and be prepared for endless back and forth until they check the actual government regs?
EDIT: Does it help if we are flying Lufthansa who should be more familiar with the rules? (Don't have the ticket yet, trying to score a last minute mileage ticket)
I did a Timatic check just to verify. If I put Germany as destination than "This does not apply to passengers under the age of 6" shows up. But if I put Germany as transit country with Hungary as destination, then the under 6 year old exemption does not show up. This is obviously a mistake in Timatic, but that's what the check-in agents will see. What should we do in this situation? It's actually hard to find a testing site that does tests for small children. All the travel testing services have a minimum age around 5-6.
Any thoughts, should we arrive at the airport days before departure and be prepared for endless back and forth until they check the actual government regs?
EDIT: Does it help if we are flying Lufthansa who should be more familiar with the rules? (Don't have the ticket yet, trying to score a last minute mileage ticket)
Last edited by fatlasercat; Jun 13, 2021 at 9:24 pm
#2
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: MUC
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 52,734
https://lufthansa.travel-regulations...arget=external
It seems Hungary requires a test/immunity cert for all pax, so you will need to get a test for your 3 year old.
Strange that US labs won't test small kids, because the US requires tests from all children >2 yrs...
It seems Hungary requires a test/immunity cert for all pax, so you will need to get a test for your 3 year old.
Strange that US labs won't test small kids, because the US requires tests from all children >2 yrs...

#3
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I thought that perhaps the Abbott supervised home antigen test might be usable for the OPs needs, but it has a minimum age of 4 years.
https://www.emed.com/products/covid-...stkit-six-pack
Must be at least 18 years of age to order.
Test authorized for use by persons age 4+.
Test takers 14 or younger must be accompanied by an adult during specimen collection.
Test authorized for use by persons age 4+.
Test takers 14 or younger must be accompanied by an adult during specimen collection.
#4
Original Poster




Join Date: Feb 2015
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#5
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: MUC
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 52,734
Ah, digging deeper into the HU entry rules: Information on general rules of border crossing | A Magyar Rend?rsg hivatalos honlapja
It seems you can't enter unless vaccinated or recovered. The vaccinated and recovered can bring one person under 18 with them. Interesting.
In that case you only need to follow the german transit requirements:

Which means you need no test for your <6 year old.
It seems you can't enter unless vaccinated or recovered. The vaccinated and recovered can bring one person under 18 with them. Interesting.
In that case you only need to follow the german transit requirements:

Which means you need no test for your <6 year old.
#6
Original Poster




Join Date: Feb 2015
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Programs: UA 1MM 1K, BA Gold
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Yes, that was my understanding all along. I just got worried that Timatic doesn't have the under 6-year old exemption. (It has it for entry into Germany, but not for transit). Hopefully LH or UA (whichever we check in with) will be able to figure it out.
#7
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Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1MM 1K, BA Gold
Posts: 480
Made it to Frankfurt. The first checkin agent (looking a bit inexperienced) read through Timatic and promptly asked for a test for our 3-year old. I told him she is under six, after which he had a 60 second conversation with a colleague and that was it. So there wasn't a big problem, but the below 6 exception definitely doesn't show up first.



