Check-in Repatriation

[husky]

 

When I went to check into the flight they tried to convince me that the Covid-19 tests were not valid since they needed to be within 72 hours of the connecting flight.  The tests (I had 2 just to be on the safe side) were done 2 days before the departing flight.  I had never read anywhere that the tests needed to be done with the clock starting from the connecting flight.  Also they wanted all the documents that I had submitted to Thai immigration to get the COE pertinent to family in Thailand.   I did have most of those documents on the laptop, but then the manager wanted to see the Passport of Thai spouse at which point I basically cried foul.  There is no assumption that a Thai spouse has a passport and I explained that this was nothing Thai immigration would ever ask for (they would want the ID card).  He basically didn't agree but said that is OK as far as the COE documents 'for now', he would send pictures of the other documents to Thailand including my extension of stay and ask for clearance from Thai immigration.  

So I had to wait while everyone else checked in their baggage until shortly before the plane took off.  Two attendants then came out and I was thinking 'This doesn't look good', but actually they said everything was fine, Thai immigration had said all was OK.

The process for clearing immigration in Thailand was straightforward and pretty well designed.   Overall a pretty good process as far as things go, glad I made it through.  The biggest problem is with the airlines in that it all depends on how the check in people feel at that particular point in time as they apply a unique set of rules that may or may not correspond to what Thai immigration would mandate.  
 

[Whale]

Where?

 

[userabcd]

Lodge a complaint to the airline about this individual doing the checkin who seems not to be trained properly.

[husky]

Quote

Lodge a complaint to the airline about this individual doing the checkin who seems not to be trained properly.

It was actually the manager who came over to check documents.  I am not sure if there is any validity to the 72 hours before connecting flight (instead of the departing flight) from the report date, as I had even asked the consulate and had never heard that.  

[husky]

Quote

Where?

Korean Air, San Francisco to Incheon South Korea

[Sheryl]

And the problem was at Incheon?

[husky]

 

57 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

And the problem was at Incheon?

No, checking in at SFO

 

[Sheryl]

56 minutes ago, husky said:

 

No, checking in at SFO

 

OK, thanks.

 

So staff at SFO objected to a test done within past 72 hours on the grounds that it will be more than 72 hours by the time you reach Incheon? That is insane....

[husky]

Yes, two tests done on Tuesday with check in on Thursday.  One test cost me $295 to guarantee results within 24 hours.  The other test was done on Tuesday and the results were not available until Thursday but there was no report date on the second test.  In any event the check in staff and manager said the tests could not be used because the 72 hours had to be from the connecting flight, not the departing flight.  They were quite adamant.  Very surprised about it has I had not heard that in any research, or from the Consulate, or from any other source.  

[husky]

BTW, if I was doing it again I would use the 24 hour company $295 service and get the test done the day before (as opposed to 2 days before).  

[sometimewoodworker]

16 hours ago, Sheryl said:

OK, thanks.

 

So staff at SFO objected to a test done within past 72 hours on the grounds that it will be more than 72 hours by the time you reach Incheon? That is insane....

Not really insane, just bureaucratic but unfortunately understandable.
 

You could be in-transit in the hub airport for a long time, specially as flights are often cancelled at the moment. So if the airline has that policy they should have testing available in the hub. 
 

The airlines are doing their best in protecting passengers and flight crew, & I would not be happy being on a flight with someone who’s testing is that long ago.

 

Yes that inconveniences passengers but contracting COVID-19 is between inconvenient all the way up to deadly.
 

Your inconvenience is your problem.

 

Yes the airlines could communicate more but the 72 hours before a flight isn’t exactly new news, neither is the fact that you will take 2 flights on the 1 ticket.

[Pilot3Boz]

3.2 A Medical certificate with a laboratory result indicating that COVID -19 is not detected, using RT-PCR test, issued no more than 72 hours before departure....

Pretty straight forward here “Issued 72 hrs before departure” ... I am getting ready to get my test for my upcoming trip and this is the guidance that I am following from their website!!

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, Pilot3Boz said:

3.2 A Medical certificate with a laboratory result indicating that COVID -19 is not detected, using RT-PCR test, issued no more than 72 hours before departure....

Pretty straight forward here “Issued 72 hrs before departure” ... I am getting ready to get my test for my upcoming trip and this is the guidance that I am following from their website!!

That guidance isn’t exactly clear. As I mentioned above each leg of a flight that requires a change of plane can logically be considered a fresh departure. It will be up to the airline to decide exactly how they interpret those words, since they are the ones who govern if you are allowed to board or not. 
 

A sensible way to avoid any possible problem would be to get your test as close to departure as you safely can.

[husky]

Quote

A sensible way to avoid any possible problem would be to get your test as close to departure as you safely can.

Yes I agree with this.  For me there was a private lab that guaranteed 24 hour turn around, you just have to hope there is no delay in getting the results.  The test (in my case) does not show a time, only sample collection date and date reported.  This being the case it would probably make sense to get the test early in the morning on the day prior to the trip, then stop in to print it on the way to the airport.  The test in my particular case $295, I also had a free test done which took 2 days to get the results (which is not as good).  The tests are getting quicker an more reliable so I image it will get easier in the future.   I have not calculated the exact amount of difference between the test and the flight, there was a 14 hour layover, but if you assume the test results were at the end of the day it would be very close to the 72 hours.  In a future case I would be prepared to argue the elapsed time with a time calculator as I think the check in personel and manager were just looking at the raw dates (which make it look much longer than 72 hours since there is a time difference).

 

 

 

[CANSIAM]

I have read that the Covid 19 test RESULT needs to be issued 72 hours prior to departure ( RESULT WAS PRINTED IN RED ). In most cases there is a 2 - 3 day wait after the TEST date.  If your flight is on the 28th, ( 00:15 hrs. ), have your TEST on the 23rd or 24th ?  would that be safe and correct ?  Does the Covid test certificate have a TEST date and RESULT date ?  I can foresee a misunderstanding at check-in.... thanks

[husky]

For me on the paid test there was a collection date and result date.  The result was produced on the same date as the collection.  Both were within 48 hours of check in.  Note that Thai immigration was fine with it, it was the airline check in staff which questioned it and would only allow check in after verification from Thai immigration. 

[treetops]

23 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

That guidance isn’t exactly clear. As I mentioned above each leg of a flight that requires a change of plane can logically be considered a fresh departure. It will be up to the airline to decide exactly how they interpret those words, since they are the ones who govern if you are allowed to board or not. 

That is completely incorrect.  Airlines make these decisions using Timatic, which is managed by IATA.  IATA in turn use a definition of departure which says:

 

The day/time of the flight on which the passenger is booked/ticketed to travel.

NOTES:
1) Before departure: the definition refers to the first flight of the pricing unit
2) After departure: the definition refers to subsequent flights of the pricing unit.

 

The words "first flight of the pricing unit" make it pretty clear the OP's flight from SFO is where the 72 hours should be measured from.  He/she met incompetent check in staff.

[KhaoYai]

Slightly different but my wife had an issue at check in at Heathrow on 18 October.  The Thai Embassy in London simply states that a 'Fit to Fly' certificate is required, they don't say what they want from it.

 

My local GP agreed to provide a certificate but asked what was required as a proper fit to fly would involve and ECG, Blood Pressure etc. etc. which would be quite expensive.  I had seen some examples from clinics the Embassy was listing on its website which were just a few sentences long and purely stated that the patient was not presenting with any Covid 19 symptoms - I passed those on to my GP.

 

The letter from my GP was almost identical to the ones I gave him so I thought all would be OK.  The problem at check in was because my GP's letter didn't state 'Fit to Fly' in the title as the others did.  It did say my wife didn't show any symptoms of Covid 19 and that she had stated she was feeling well.  It also said that in his opinion for the purposes of Covid 19 screening she would be OK to fly.  To be fair, I think my GP was covering himself because to actually state 'Fit to Fly' without a full examination and tests could be problematic in the future - I fully understand him on that.

 

My wife was eventually allowed to board but this was typical Thai craziness.  I had asked the embassy what they wanted and they simply said 'Fit to Fly' - when I pointed out that the examples from their listed clinics were not actually 'Fit to Fly' certificates, they didn't reply.

 

In any case, these so called 'Fit to Fly' certificates are nonsense - most of the clinics listed by the Embassy conduct their assessment of a patient's condition by phone!

[sometimewoodworker]

9 hours ago, treetops said:

That is completely incorrect.  Airlines make these decisions using Timatic, which is managed by IATA.  IATA in turn use a definition of departure which says:

 

The day/time of the flight on which the passenger is booked/ticketed to travel.

NOTES:
1) Before departure: the definition refers to the first flight of the pricing unit
2) After departure: the definition refers to subsequent flights of the pricing unit.

 

The words "first flight of the pricing unit" make it pretty clear the OP's flight from SFO is where the 72 hours should be measured from.  He/she met incompetent check in staff.

That is one interpretation. However the airline has no legal requirement to follow that. Airlines are capable of requiring that different procedures are followed. 
 

As you well know there can be very significant delays at the moment. Your insistence that a passenger be allowed to board a flight some indeterminate number of hours beyond 72 could result in the passengers being denied boarding for all legs of the trip. This decision can be made unilaterally by the captain, whose authority is absolute.

[husky]

Quote

I have read that the Covid 19 test RESULT needs to be issued 72 hours prior to departure ( RESULT WAS PRINTED IN RED ). In most cases there is a 2 - 3 day wait after the TEST date.  If your flight is on the 28th, ( 00:15 hrs. ), have your TEST on the 23rd or 24th ?  would that be safe and correct ?  Does the Covid test certificate have a TEST date and RESULT date ?  I can foresee a misunderstanding at check-in.... thanks

That was one of the problems, one of the reports did not have a report date, which would have been 24 hours before the flight.  Just telling what I would do, if going again I would get the test done the day before (morning) and use 24 hour guaranteed service.  However the consolate advised the report date must be 72 hours before departure, similar to what you are suggesting.

 

The airlines has a lot of latitude for allowing one to board and I can see there is a lot of CYA going on.  When I called the tour company (ticket book through tour company) they could not give me any information (which surprised me), likewise checking with the airlines yielded the same result (could not give any information).  I suppose they err on the side of caution.  Denying boarding to someone who should be allowed to board is better in their eyes probably than allowing boarding to someone who later gets denied entry at the final destination.   

Quote

He/she met incompetent check in staff.

 

If you got denied boarding incorrectly I think it would be hard to get any positive result.  As in my case it was already the check in person and when she wasn't sure she called over her manager.  So yes they were wrong probably but unfortunately you operate at their discretion when checking in, not sure what remedy you would have if incorrectly denied boarding.  Better to overkill it, next time would get test within 24 hours and bring all docs that went in to applying for the COE.  

[husky]

Quote

The Thai Embassy in London simply states that a 'Fit to Fly' certificate is required, they don't say what they want from it.

From the USA it might be easier with regards to the fit to fly, we are given a choice of two different documents, the doctor just needs to fill out and sign them.  I believe just any one is required, but I had the doctor sign both of them.  My MD had no trouble with the documents.  

[jimn]

On 11/5/2020 at 11:19 AM, husky said:

 

When I went to check into the flight they tried to convince me that the Covid-19 tests were not valid since they needed to be within 72 hours of the connecting flight.  The tests (I had 2 just to be on the safe side) were done 2 days before the departing flight.  I had never read anywhere that the tests needed to be done with the clock starting from the connecting flight.  Also they wanted all the documents that I had submitted to Thai immigration to get the COE pertinent to family in Thailand.   I did have most of those documents on the laptop, but then the manager wanted to see the Passport of Thai spouse at which point I basically cried foul.  There is no assumption that a Thai spouse has a passport and I explained that this was nothing Thai immigration would ever ask for (they would want the ID card).  He basically didn't agree but said that is OK as far as the COE documents 'for now', he would send pictures of the other documents to Thailand including my extension of stay and ask for clearance from Thai immigration.  

So I had to wait while everyone else checked in their baggage until shortly before the plane took off.  Two attendants then came out and I was thinking 'This doesn't look good', but actually they said everything was fine, Thai immigration had said all was OK.

The process for clearing immigration in Thailand was straightforward and pretty well designed.   Overall a pretty good process as far as things go, glad I made it through.  The biggest problem is with the airlines in that it all depends on how the check in people feel at that particular point in time as they apply a unique set of rules that may or may not correspond to what Thai immigration would mandate.  
 

Well sorry to say you encountered an idiot. However you are not blameless. You needed to have everything printed out in multiple copies at least 3 of each. I checked in with Qatar in the UK. I had to hand my ticket, COE, ASQ details, Fit to Fly and Negative Covid test Result 72 hours before the flight, my insurance, the T8 form and the declaration form. Armed with that you should not have had any issues. Any proof you provided to get your COE is no business of theirs.

[KhaoYai]

On 11/7/2020 at 12:47 PM, KhaoYai said:

Slightly different but my wife had an issue at check in at Heathrow on 18 October.  The Thai Embassy in London simply states that a 'Fit to Fly' certificate is required, they don't say what they want from it

Note, the Thai Embassy in London have now improved their information.

 

'Fit to Fly health certificate, issued within 72 hours before departure – this is a statement by a doctor that you are free from symptoms and fit to fly (must be separate from COVID test)'

 

https://london.thaiembassy.org/en/publicservice/119247-requirements-for-certificate-of-entry-during-travel-restriction?page=5d6636cd15e39c3bd00072dd&menu=5f4b6eb3f6ae4b236972c562