COV-19 testing flying USA to London Heathrow to Edinburgh (only changing planes in Heathrow)

I can only address the return, as we did it in Sept, 2021.
We did the Emed BinaxNow antigen proctored self-test in Zurich, and transitioned thru Heathrow seamlessly . We brought the self-tests with us. The tests were easy and we had results in 15 minutes, with QR codes.
But note- mandates change.
Safe travels!

My brother-in-law flew back to Seattle on Monday from Rome, changing planes at Heathrow. He had his rapid antigen test done at a pharmacy in Orvieto three days before the flight and that was sufficient.

I did something similar this week ...change planes at Heathrow only I stayed in England. (I was on BA as well.)

It doesn't matter where you do your Day 2 test because the easiest is to do it in your hotel. When you purchase your test, just have it delivered to your hotel. You do the test yourself, have the results in 15 minutes, and then send a photo to the testing lab. Very easy.

On your passenger locater form you will only be asked for the test registration number that you will get when you pay for the test. Remember, the test must be booked and paid for prior to your arrival.

I've used this company twice:

https://covid19.oncologica.com/

For the return. You can do the test in Scotland.

One suggestion...download the "Verifly" app on your phone and use it for your flights. It will make your BA check in easier.

In September I flew from Houston to Istanbul to Budapest. My US test report was late in arriving so I was under the impression that I could get a test at the airport in Istanbul before going on to Budapest. No way Jose. My ticket originated in Houston and Turkish Air said I had to have the test BEFORE I got on the first flight on the ticket. The option was to split the ticket into two. One to Istanbul (in which case I would have to conform to Turkey's entrance requirements (I would by way of my vaccine card). Then I could get tested in Istanbul to get my boarding pass to Budapest. Five minutes after this explanation my test report arrived and all was good.

Returning to the US. Same rules.

May I take my day 2 COV-19 test in Edinburgh?

yes; either on arrival day (day 0), or the next day (day 1) or the next day (day 2). Order the kit, have it sent to your address in Edinburgh, test yourself, post it back, job done.

Is there any requirement to take a day 2 COV-19 test in England even though I am only changing planes at Heathrow?

No

I plan to take a COV-19 test in Edinburgh to satisfy USA entry requirements

You can book this at a branch of Boots if you want to https://www.boots.com/services/covid-19-testing

I have triple citizenship and currently living in London but my mother still lives in the US and I went there this past summer as she was alone during all the lockdowns. (She is a cancer survivor so once we were both vaccinated was when I traveled to see her.)

For the test to the US (which I took in June), I used Express Test in the UK. They were really professional and I had my results the following day at 10 PM. I would recommend them: https://www.expresstest.co.uk/

It doesn't matter where you do the Day 2 test, and there are drop boxes pretty much everywhere on the websites. I did mine with Randox Health when coming back to the UK next month. There was no issue coming back.

I am planning on going to Italy in two weeks and I will likely use their services again.

I flew with Delta (the airline, not the variant) back to the USA and they accepted my Express Test without an issue.

As a note whilst flying into the UK, as I can say I've done it twice during the pandemic, don't read too much into the chaos at Heathrow Arrivals. I might have been lucky, but I am also organised. I had no issues coming back into the country. There were no lines/queues and no one to check my documents. They did check twice in the US for my departure, once at the check-in desk and again at the gate desk prior to the international flight. I did see some people removed, but as much as I did try to eavesdrop, I didn't understand fully why they were removed. One of them was an American (I think American citizenship only) and Virgin Atlantic staff was telling him that he only had one of two of his vaccinations and that the one he got wasn't approved, so again I wasn't privy to reading his documents.

My suggestion for anyone travelling in these times is to have printed copies of your documents (COVID entry forms, vaccination status, test results) just to be safe and they are handy to have. I saw a woman at the gate desk whose phone's battery was dead yet she had all her docs on there.

Let me clarify, actually correct, a couple of postings.

Twice in this thread there is mention of posting the Day 2 test back to the lab. With the less expensive antigen test now accepted there is no need to post anything. All you have to send back is a photo via the internet.

Many thanks for these helpful replies.

That is correct. The Day 2 antigen test that can simply be photographed is now accepted in the UK. However, the at-home Day 2 PCR tests are also still available to order and need to be dropped off at designated places. Both are accepted and some may prefer one test or the other for their own peace of mind or "wallet". There are some merits to taking the pricier Day 2 PCR test as they are often considered to be more accurate.

This was changed a week after I came back from the US. The prices have also decreased in the past month.