Current Covid Rules - Interactive Questionaire

Thank you for posting this.

This is great, but I'm confused.

Everyone in these forums is going on about not transiting through the UK, so I was considering switching our flights to transit through Amsterdam, even though I'd have to leave a few days earlier (because my carrier stops flying to anywhere in Europe towards the end of October, but has flights to London all year round.) This would not be a horrible thing, since we've never been to Amsterdam, but it would seriously complicate our house and pet sitting options.

However, when I took the questionnaire, the results said a 5-day quarantine is required if transiting through the UK, but 10 days if transiting through Amsterdam, Frankfurt, or Paris (Frankfurt and Paris being our other possibilities). I don't know if I'm misunderstanding the results. If I had a direct flight from Canada, I wouldn't have to quarantine at all, but the only ones available are triple the cost of our current booking.

So, I'm confused. Of course, I'm hoping these requirements will be lifted before our trip (November), and we'll likely have to cancel if they aren't. But I can't see any disadvantage to flying through the UK, nor any potential advantage to switching to an Amsterdam layover.

Flying thru the UK will result in a quarantine in Italy, [looks like thru Dec 31, but pls check for yourself.]

Maybe you should track your booked flights to determine if the airline is actually flying the routes, using Flight Aware or a similar tool. We sadly discovered that our booked flights haven't actually flown since March 2020, -and guess what- we were just canceled!!!

Safe and healthy travels!

This is confusing to me. We had our Covid tested flight canceled by American Airlines. We were rebooked on a flight from JFK to Madrid with a two hour layover there, then on to FCO. So am I considered to be coming from Spain or from the USA? I shouldn’t have quarantine upon arrival with my CDC certificate, right? I must be overthinking this.

Right, Pat, but currently it looks like coming through Amsterdam would result in a 10-day quarantine. This is what is confusing me.

"So am I considered to be coming from Spain or from the USA? I shouldn’t have quarantine upon arrival with my CDC certificate, right?"
BOTH. You have to look up the rules from going from Spain into Italy; they will apply to you. The big issue so far has been for flights transiting through Heathrow-even if only in Heathrow for 2 hours (air side) you will still have to quarantine in Italy. If you want to guarantee NO quarantine then fly direct, non-stop into Italy.

We were rebooked on a flight from JFK to Madrid with a two hour layover there, then on to FCO. So am I considered to be coming from Spain or from the USA?

The questionnaire First asks from wich country one is entering Italy (Madrid). Then the country where one has been spending the previous 14 days (USA).

Right, Pat, but currently it looks like coming through Amsterdam would result in a 10-day quarantine. This is what is confusing me.

How long are u staying in the Netherlands? If you fill the questionnaire as I explained above this is the result and there is no mention of a 10 days in the relevant paragraph:

If you are travelling to Italy from Canada, Japan or the United States:

• You must fill out a digital Passenger Locator Form (or, in case of lack of necessary technology, a self-declaration);

• You may present to the carrier, or any other authorised person, a Covid Certificate (also known as Green Pass or Covid-19 Green Certificate) issued by your local health authorities in Canada, Japan or the USA, showing proof that you have either:

  been vaccinated against COVID-19 with an EMA authorised vaccine and you have completed the prescribed vaccination cycle since at least fourteen days;

  received a negative result of a molecular or antigenic test carried out in the 48 hours before your arrival;

  recovered from COVID-19 and you are no longer under prescription of self-isolation.

Today, is July 24. Your trip is in November. That is approximately 3.5-4 months away. The rules will more than likely change many times until then.

I have a trip planned for October that starts and ends in the UK but will take me to France, Spain and Italy (all in a week--just kidding.) While I'm watching what is going on now, I'm not panicking.

Let's say you switch over to the Amsterdam flight. And then there is a surge of Covid in the Netherlands while the UK show improvement. Then, travel through the UK will be fine but you will have problems transiting through Amsterdam. Will this happen, who knows.

Traveling over the next few months will be a constantly changing game of trying to figure out what will happen next. But no one will be able to. You might luck out and have no issues or you might be banned from entering entirely. No one knows.

What's interesting to me is that the most popular European countries such as France, Italy and Spain have constantly changing rules while countries in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia seem to be consistent.

It seems that my wife and I, both fully vaccinated, flying nonstop from ATL to FCO are good to go with our vax cards - without a PCR test.
Do we have to take a PCR test to return to the U.S.?

Yes
All must test before returning to US

I think you would be transitioning in and not coming from your connection city
Therefore not subject to quarantine
That’s just how I interpreted it
I’m flying from San Francisco to Florence
But changing planes in Munich. I don’t leave the terminal, it’s not a “country I visited “

Thanks. Yes, I know my trip is in November, and things are likely to change by then. That's what I'm hoping for. But some people are saying restrictions from the UK will be in place until the end of December. I can't find confirmation of this, but it concerns me.

Do we have to take a PCR test to return to the U.S.?

You have to take either a PCR test or an antigen test within the three days prior to your return to the U.S.

Antigen tests are cheaper and you get the results faster, FYI. So you don’t HAVE to get a PCR test; an antigen test will suffice.

"I think you would be transitioning in and not coming from your connection city.
I don’t leave the terminal, it’s not a “country I visited “"

Your transit airport is IN a Country (you didn't land on a cloud). When you fly out of your last airport and into Italy THAT is the country you are coming from. It doesn't matter if you were on the ground for 24 hours or 24 seconds. Once the plane touched down on the runaway and came to a stop that is now the last Country you visited. Just transiting or staying air side doesn't mean a darn thing- you are still in 'that' country; coming into contact with inhabitants of 'that' country.

This is why the form asks what country you are coming from and separately what country you were in during the last 14 days- to catch 'transit' stops. It is also why on the last page-that advises you if you can enter Italy or not- it specifically sets rules depending upon where you have visited or "transited".