Please sign in to post.

Can't beat the paperwork

This came up on another forum and I thought I'd throw this out here for consideration.

When returning from France last month we spent most of the night before in our hotel room scanning and uploading documents to Delta proving that we were fit to fly (and nowadays there are many, many documents). We also had to forward forms to the front desk to have them printed out for us. Without a comfortable environment and reliable internet (not to mention our various cellphones and tablets), we would have been doomed. Especially because there's something about my wife's CDC card that does not scan well or isn't received well and it took many tries. We also took comfort in knowing that, worst case scenario, there was a computer and printer available downstairs in the business lounge.

So make sure that, in addition to arranging the tests you need to come home, you also allow for all the paperwork you're going to have to deal with. As they say, hope for the best but plan for the worst. Yet another reason we chose to spend our last night in an airport hotel with all the modern conveniences and a short walk to our terminal in the morning.

Posted by
8967 posts

phred, we had to upload CDC cards to Hawaii for recent trip and found it much easier to just photograph them (on phone) and send the images. Sizes are more manageable. Would that have worked? Good point about airport hotel.

Posted by
14738 posts

Stan, I did the same with the Safe Travels Hawai'i site. I actually found that site harder to navigate than the old Pass Sanitaire site for France, lol.

I don't think I did anything special when I returned on Delta in October but I had a paper copy of my negative Antigen test and before I left home had printed out copies of the attestation form that was needed at that time to return to the US.

Still, it is a good idea to be in place a couple of nights before departure as with things changing you don't know what you will need going forward.

Posted by
2768 posts

What paperwork is needed to return to the US, besides negative test results? I do not always have access to a printer so am interested so I can plan for it for my trip in March.

EDIT - I’m looking and the test result is the only thing required beyond the obvious like passport and ticket. Oddly enough, US citizens can enter the US even if not vaccinated so vaccine proof isn’t required by the US for citizens. I’m fully vaccinated so that’s not relevant.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/international-travel/travel-assessment/us-citizen-national-lpr-immigrant.html

Posted by
1155 posts

We flew home December 14 from Geneva, through CDG to ATL, and didn't fill out anything in advance. We got our COVID tests on the day before and the pharmacy printed our negative result. I think we had to show that in Geneva but honestly I can't recall the details of check in there - it was easy. When we got to the gate at CDG, we had to present the test along with our CDC cards, and we had to fill out one additional form and turn it in during boarding. It was a bit of a cluster at the gate but everyone got on board and we left on time. I was glad I had waited to get the test printout at the pharmacy instead of just having the electronic version on my phone. Simplified the process at the gate.
The testing requirement changed from 3 days to 1 day while we were in France, but we got text messages and emails from Delta and it was no problem to get the test in Chamonix. There were multiple pharmacies that were doing them, no wait.

Posted by
4262 posts

We flew home from Zagreb in October 11 and just had to show our negative Covid test results. Nothing uploaded or downloaded. We took the test at the airport the day before. We did have to complete a form at the Amsterdam airport, but they provided the form, we just read, signed and dated it.

Posted by
6713 posts

I never travel without paper documents. When I got my test in Berlin last fall I insisted on a printout and got it (in both languages). The e mail they sent me didn't make it past the spam filter on my tablet. Hotel printers can be worth their weight in gold.

Posted by
1321 posts

My experience with Air France at CDG in late November was similar to Celeste's.
I was staying in a rental apartment without access to a printer and I had paper copies of what I needed to present at the airport -- vax card and negative antigen test, and passport, of course, although that had been loaded with my original ticket purchase. The attestation paper was handed out at the boarding gate.
For what it's worth, the people at Air France could not be nicer. I was prepared to play the "old lady card" if anyone gave me grief for not having uploaded all the required documentation, but everything was as smooth as could be.
For what it's worth, I did see one woman at the my boarding gate who couldn't locate one of her documents and was asked to step aside where she was going through her purse and suitcase without any luck. I don't know how she got as far into the airport as she did... perhaps she lost her paper copy? I had no problem as I kept everything I might need to show (multiple times!) in a designated pocket of my bag.

Posted by
16278 posts

I flew home last week. All I needed besides my passport was proof of a negative Covid test and the attestation form that takes no time to fill out.

As stated previously, U.S citizens don't need to prove vaccinations to return.

What other paperwork are you doing?

Posted by
4853 posts

As of last month we were supposed to print out and fill in a very long attestation form (over 10 pages, most of which were irrelevant). Then at the CDG ticket counter they didn't want to see it and gave us a one pager to fill out. Delta wanted us to send pix of our CDC card AND our one day prior test results.

Another interesting wrinkle, as we were walking through Terminal 4 to get to the ticket counter in the middle of a hallway there were two brusque guys asking to see tickets. We had paper copies which satisfied them, not sure if having something on your phone would have worked. I had so many printed things in my carryon, in both directions, when I got home I had a big shredding party.

Posted by
14738 posts

I was stopped by security entering CDG from the taxi stand. He wanted to see my ticket. Fortunately I'd screen shot my itinerary and had that easily to hand. That was OK with him.

In October I just needed the 3 or 4 question one page attestation page. Delta had it on their website so I printed BOTH the Arriving in France and Arriving back in the US forums before I left home and had them in my paperwork folder for easy retrieval.