Need help confirming I can do this: US to London, and then straight to Eurostar to Paris

I can’t imagine they are going to let you enter England under those circumstances, but what do I know.

A friend who works on Eurostar said last week that Eurostar will finally, as of Monday (June 28), up its offering of London-Paris trains to 3 a day Monday through Friday (from the ONE they have been running for months).

The rules are constantly changing. (They changed yesterday.) If you haven't been to this website it should answer your questions:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-safer-air-travel-guidance-for-passengers#transiting-through-england

If you go directly from Healthrow to St. Pancras for the Eurostar, it seems that is okay. You will need a negative test. As long as the test you take in Arizona is less than 72 hours from your official entrance into France it should suffice. You will need your vaccination card to enter France. (Not sure if it has changed because of Covid, but the French Immigration portion of Eurostar is usually done in London so give yourself time and that would gain you a couple of hours leeway.)

https://www.eurostar.com/us-en/travel-info/service-information/coronavirus-and-eurostar-service

You can also take a flight directly to Paris from Heathrow.

Kim - Can you please expand on what you mean? We are flying into Heathrow, which is permitted. As per UK government, we are required to isolate and take tests on day 2 and day 8 if we stay in the UK, but we are transit passengers, and, therefore, do not need to do this (we will be leaving the day we arrive). If you wouldn't mind helping me understand what you're thinking in case I'm missing something, I'd appreciate it. Hoping I'm ok but just want to make sure and any advice is much appreciated!

Frank II - Thank you. Yes, I've seen that page and I agree that it seems we are ok. Eurostar times are better than the flight times (and it's cheaper) so that's the only reason we're looking at Eurostar, but may consider flying too. Though I'll look into entry port being on the London side as that's a great point in that it will buy us more time. Hoping current rules stay as they are...

You are throwing of lot of connections when you will be jet lagged. You indicate it will be cheaper for the Eurostar but I am assuming you are looking at discount tickets on the Eurostar. There is some risk in buying tickets in advance since the discount tickets are no change, no refund. However, the walk up price is fairly expensive. You have assume you plane lands on time, no extra delay transiting both immigration and customs, no problems with the train, and you need to be at the Eurostar at least an hour to an hour and half to process immigration for France because it is done at the British end and you just walk off the train in Paris. I don't how much of a time gap you are planning between Heathrow and the Eurostar but six to eight hours might be reasonable. For that reason alone I would try to fly to Paris from London.

Personally I have never liked booking independent on-going transportation tied to the arrival day. Have done it with wide time windows. However, three years ago our out-going flight from the US was cancelled and widest window is not handling a three day delay. Lost a couple hundred dollars in discount airline tickets.

All very good points, Frank. We still have the option to stay one night at my sister-in-law's. If the rules stay intact, we should be OK, I think. If we got the first Eurostar of the morning, then we'd be in London only 24 hrs and our test result from AZ would still be within the 72-hr window. Thanks for all the input.

I agree with you that the current rules appear to allow your to execute the strategy you put forth in your original post. Are you feeling lucky? Go for it (though give yourself plenty of time and check the rules again before you leave to make sure they have not changed). My inclination is the same as Frank's -- I would try to catch one of the Air France non-stop flights to Paris.

Flying and not leaving the airport will eliminate some risk.

You can’t enter the U.K. and stay a night as entry for tourism isn’t permitted.

Thanks, Dave. Appreciate it. I'll look at flights again.

Jennifer - as per gov.uk, we would be considered in transit: https://www.gov.uk/uk-border-control/layovers-and-transiting

There are 2 types of transiting:
‘airside’ - you do not pass through UK border control before you leave on your connecting journey,
‘landside’ - you do pass through UK border control, but come back through it and leave the UK within a short amount of time (usually 24 hours)

I'm afraid that you are likely to have problems.

The quote you just showed is ONLY for transiting at an airport, the same airport.

St Pancras International Station where the Eurostar starts is not the same airport at which you arrived.

As soon as you leave the vicinity of the airport your 10 day quarantine must begin.

You will not encounter French Immigration in Paris. Everything is done in London for Eurostar to Paris. You would have to clear security after check in, then you meet UK Border Force who I am sure will be wondering how what you are doing complies with the regulations. If they let you proceed you will then meet French Immigration. Are you aware that anybody travelling from the UK - vaccinated or not - into France has to quarantine for either 1 or 2 weeks?

I think this route is absolutely fraught with hazards which may make those other costs look tiny.

I hope you make it to France

Nigel lives in England and has kept the forum up to date. Heed his comments.
Why don’t you fly into France and eliminate all this troublesome stuff. Maybe the rules will be relaxed on your return home and you can visit the sister in law at that time.

Thanks, Nigel. I didn't see that it has to be from the same airport - do you know where you may have seen that?

I found this information on the UK's US Embassy site https://uk.usembassy.gov/covid-19-coronavirus-information/
If transiting but passing through UK border control and entering the UK, you may travel directly between ports (such as Eurostar to Heathrow) without self-isolating.

Also, I was confused about this statement: Are you aware that anybody travelling from the UK - vaccinated or not - into France has to quarantine for either 1 or 2 weeks?

I believe that on June 9 that changed when the French government announced its traffic light-based travel rule system (and put UK on its amber list).

Appreciate the help. We have a plan b and c, but hoping plan a works out.

Nigel, the rules clearly state:

"If you are transiting landside, you must be entering England for the sole purposes of continuing a journey to a country outside of the Common Travel Area or to the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.

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"

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-safer-air-travel-guidance-for-passengers#transiting-through-england

In regard to France, people who are fully vaccinated do not have to quarantine.

In light of the "travel directly from your port of entry to another port of departure in England" language, you may want to consider having your Eurostar ticket purchased before you head to the UK. Without that ticket, I don't see how you prove that you fall into that second category of people mentioned above. I know that the flexibility to deal with delays favors waiting until you get to the train station but in this case, I think you will need the ticket as proof of your onward journey out of the UK.

I have to agree with Nigel. Trying this Eurostar connection is madness. You are not "within the Port of Entry" when you travel from Heathrow to St Pancras. You'll be mingling with other UK citizens, putting them in perceived peril. Change your ticket to direct to Paris. Changing UK covid policies gives you an excuse.

You are not "within the Port of Entry" when you travel from Heathrow
to St Pancras.

But the OP would be within the guidance on the website of the UK Embassy in the US (at least what appears on the website today). It does not really make sense, but no quarantine for landside transit is where the rule stands now. From the UK Embassy webpage linked above by Frank:

When you transit through England You do not need to quarantine on
arrival or take a COVID-19 test on or before day 2 and day 8 if you
are transiting airside or landside to a country outside of the of the
Common Travel Area or, from 4am 29 June, to one of the Crown
Dependencies (Channel Islands or Isle of Man).

If you are transiting landside, you must be entering England for the
sole purposes of continuing a journey to a country outside of the
Common Travel Area or to the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.

Apparently the UK does not want to shut down to travelers transiting from the US to the EU, even if it does not let them in for tourism without a quarantine. Perhaps the policy is a bone to BA since the UK has not lifted the quarantine requirement for tourists.

OP,

I hope you will report back to us on what option you decide to go with and on how that choice plays out.

And hopefully the 'gatekeeper' the day you arrives does not have a different interpretation of the rules than what you think they are.

Thanks, Dave. Yes, absolutely, I'll report back.

joe32F - yep, this is my fear that they have their own interpretation of all rules cited on this post. Though this one seems pretty clear:
"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"

There's certainly a risk as this is new territory and it is constantly changing.

Really appreciate everyone's input. I'm definitely leaning towards getting on a non-stop flight direct to Paris now :)

I am assuming that cost might be an issue here. Can't you just fly from London to Paris? Why travel all the way to the Eurostar, stand in those lines when you are already in Heathrow and can be in Paris in 1.5 hours?? I may be missing something here about the Covid rules.

Threadwear - yes, 100% cost related. Though I think I'll just swallow it and make life easier.

I'm definitely leaning towards getting on a non-stop flight direct to
Paris now :)

I think that's a better plan than the Eurostar! 🙂

You probably already know this, but don't book a tight connection. If your inbound Heathrow flight is so late that you miss your Paris flight, Air France will not honor/rebook your ticket, and you will have to buy a new ticket on the next available flight at the walk-up price.

I try to avoid separate tickets when flying but have done it a handful of times when there was a significant cost savings (e.g., I can sometimes save $1,500+ on a business class seat by buying a ticket from my local airport to JFK and then a second ticket from JFK to my European destination instead of buying a ticket from my local airport to the European destination). If I have two tickets, I build in a long layover between flights on the two tickets -- at least 4 hours but usually something like 6-8 hours as a hedge against weather delays, mechanical failures, etc.

Good luck traveling in these crazy times!

I'm definitely leaning towards getting on a non-stop flight direct to Paris now :)

yes, 100% cost related. Though I think I'll just swallow it and make life easier.

When doing the accounting , do not forget to factor in the savings of all the Xanax and Tums, you will not need to buy.