Will testing rules apply to me for my New York trip?
Q My flight from New York to London leaves on the evening of 3 October and arrives in the UK at 8am on 4 October. I understand the UK’s new restrictions go into effect during my flight. Would they apply to me – ie no need for a pre-departure test and a lateral flow test instead of PCR?
Jeff Z
A Just as those people who arrive in the UK after 4am today from former “red list” countries including Egypt, Turkey and Sri Lanka, you will be a beneficiary of a change in England’s testing rules.
The test is: what rules pertain at the moment the wheels on your flight touch the ground at Heathrow? You will arrive after 4am on 4 October. By then, assuming you are fully vaccinated in the US (or the UK, or one of 52 other nations), you will not be required to show a “test to fly”. Accordingly, even though your flight departs New York at around 1am UK time, when the existing rules are in force, you will not need to take and present a pre-departure test result. (If I were you, I would let the airline know that you do not intend to test before flying – I am sure they will be aware, but it can do no harm to explain your position.)
The final part of your question, however, is incorrect. Demonstrating its unceasing ability to complicate everything it touches in the field of travel restrictions, the UK government will apply no fewer than three different policies for fully vaccinated arrivals to the UK in the month of October.
The change on 4 October is solely removing the requirement for a test to fly.
The downgrading of the requirement for a post-arrival test from PCR to lateral flow takes place later in October, but there are few clues about the precise date.
So you will still need to take a PCR test. As you are landing at Heathrow, I urge you to take a test at Terminal 2 or Terminal 5 (depending on where you arrive). The “day two” label is misleading; the test can be taken on arrival or either of the two following days. And you should be able to get a test for around £60, conducted professionally for maximum medical value.
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