We have a 6 hour layover at Heathrow, flying from Milan to Seattle. We will have our PCR test results to board in Milan, but British Air told us that we will need to test again during our layover (we're assuming on site).
Has anyone had this experience while laying over at Heathrow? Did you test in the terminal? Did you do a PCR test 48 hours prior to departing another European city (twice)?
Is that only on your return flight? Are you transitioning thru Heathrow on your way over? I'm interested, as we are flying BA soon, but we won't be in Italy. Our connections sure wouldn't give us enough time for testing.
Did BA send an email?
Thx for sharing and I look forward to this discussion.
I don't hace an answer to your question, but are you flying to Italy via Heathrow as well? Are you aware that you then need to quarantine upon arrival in Italy?
We are flying into France, traveling through the Swiss alps, and then fly back home via Milan. Having entered Italy via Switzerland I don't believe we will have to quarantine.
Pat, we called British Airways yesterday but I am not 100% satisfied with the customer representative's approach to our question and his answer. Hence, putting the discussion up here on the forum. He put us on hold, apparently asked his superior, then said we absolutely 100% have to "book" a Covid test at the airport. Later in the day I read this on the UK gov't website:
"When you transit through England to international destinations
You do not need to quarantine on arrival or take a COVID-19 test on or before day 2 and day 8. This applies if you are transiting airside or landside.
You must either:
remain within your port of entry until your departure from England, or
travel directly from your port of entry to another port of departure in England"
Diane, I had read that if you are staying in the UK, you had to book a covid test immediately, to be taken two days later. You are allowed to travel within the UK at that time. Perhaps the Agent misinterpreted that.
We have had several OP's print a hard copy of their airlines' and destinations' covid rules, as employees at the airport were not fully informed.
Let's hope that's the situation.
Thanks for responding and good luck!
We are flying into France
A direct flight to France or with a stop in the UK?
Diane, Given the quotes you found on the official source, I would ignore BA's advice and be certain to have along a copy from the official source.
It seems to me that as long as the test taken in Italy is sufficient to meet both the UK and US governments requirements you shouldn’t need to do any other test.
Travel to the UK from Italy which is currently an Amber country (again currently!) requires a negative PCR, LAMP or antigen test in the 3 days prior to travel and travel to the US from the UK currently requires a negative antigen or NAAT test in the 3 days prior to your flight.
Therefore, though I’m not an expert, I would imagine, given the layover, that a negative result from an antigen test taken sometime in the 2 days before your flight from Italy should cover it.
If you are just transiting through (i.e. not leaving airport, not visiting UK) you do not need another test at the airport but you do need to test before you leave. Read the rules as to timing of tests for both UK and the US. Then read them again and again as they are confusing to say the least.
So do we know the answer to this yet? The last post said you need a test before you leave? So if I get a test prior to entering the UK, do I need another test to go landslide? If so, how do you get that at the airport?? Leave it to the UK to flub this up!
Ry, protocols are always subject to change with the Delta variant and government responses to its spread. Although we got what we think is faulty information from the British Airways phone representative, we feel confident that the UK Gov website gives us the most accurate information. https://www.gov.uk/uk-border-control
In our case, we are at Heathrow for a layover (called "transiting" on the UK Gov site). We believe that if we don't leave the airport terminal we will NOT have to be tested for Covid again. We will be tested in Italy to board our flight.
HOWEVER, if you leave the terminal, be sure to check out the UK Gov. site (link above) to make sure you know exactly what their protocol is at the time you are flying.
Best wishes,
Diane
