International Travel Review: It's Complicated

Confusing. Unclear. Conflicting. Expensive. Inconsistent. What the hell?

These are just a few of the reactions to the travel requirements we recently experienced when we traveled to Portugal on a Rick Steves “Heart of Portugal” tour in March/April (to be clear, NO complaints about the tour itself!). Note that YMMV depending on destination and airline - and hopefully, much of this will go away or at least get streamlined in the near future.

Flight Check-in

Tried doing this online with Delta with no success - even though Delta kept sending me reminders to check-in, and use their FlyReady program. At no time did I ever get a message stating WHY I could not check-in online, or why the FlyReady program would not work.

At the airport, the Delta counter agent - clearly annoyed that I would even ask - informed me that there has been no online check-in for international flights in 2 years. Like I’m supposed to know that. Our vax cards were checked, our test results were not, and we received a paper boarding pass (can’t even remember the last time I had one of those!)

COVID requirements

As I mentioned in a previous post, our US vaccination cards are persona non grata in Europe, because they are not digital. Since they are not accepted by the EU - and the US is not on the reciprocal country list - proof of a negative COVID test is required by many destinations.

We connected in Amsterdam, which maybe required a negative test (stated as required in one section of entry requirements, but vague in another) and a filled-out entry declaration form. Portugal absolutely required proof of negative COVID, so in an abundance of caution in case of delays, we opted to get a rapid PCR test that would be good for 72 hours. We printed and filled out the form for the Netherlands. We completed the locator form for Portugal - another exercise in frustration, as it would note errors in fields, but provided no information as to what was incorrect about the info (can we just have a universal format for phone numbers?) - uploaded it, got a QR code.

Amsterdam checked nothing except our passports.

Lisbon did not even check those. Seriously. We walked off the plane, through the airport, and into a taxi with no checkpoints for anything.

One theory is that Amsterdam is a gatekeeper - once you are through Schiphol, you are good to go pretty much anywhere in the EU. HOWEVER, this is NOT AT ALL what any of the websites - airlines, countries, embassies, official tourism sites - state, at least as of our travel dates (March 20-April 5). But I have never heard of passports not being checked in every country, EU or not. And in fact, tour members who flew directly to Lisbon had a very different experience, with passports, forms and test results all being checked in Lisbon.

COVID Testing Abroad

Our tour required a negative test, and since we arrived a few days early, our PCR results would not be valid. We brought the proctored BinaxNow kits in our luggage and used those for the tour, and later for re-entry into the US. They were about $25/each via EMed, and worked great - no need to go find a test site. COVID testing on our trip ranged from free to 15-30 Euro ($16-32) depending on location. The street kiosks in Lisbon were apparently free; pharmacies and other test locations (easy to find and well-marked) charged a range of fees, with airport locations being at the higher end. Results for all of these options are emailed to you within 15-45 minutes.

Returning to the US

Again, we were unable to check-in online, or use the FlyReady program. The first leg of our trip was on KLM, so Delta website/app jumped over to KLM for online check-in. Most of our info was already there, but we had to provide contact information - twice. Once for KLM, and also for a “US requirement.” None of this worked, no messages as to what was wrong.

Airline agent in Lisbon did check our COVID test result, though, so there’s that! No additional forms required. Amsterdam again checked nothing other than passports (which made sense since our test results were checked and noted in Lisbon), but at the gate required a paper attestation form (promising we had tested negative, etc) that they promptly tossed into a luggage cart without reviewing. You will have to search for the pile of forms, or ask - there were no announcements or anything about it, and you’ll lose you place in the boarding line to go fill it out.

Conclusion

The requirements are all over the place, vary by airline and country, and maybe won’t be followed anyway once you get there. You’ll have to determine your own risk/comfort level. In retrospect, we would probably have been OK with an antigen test at departure- and they are offered at the Detroit airport although you sure wouldn’t know it if you searched online - depending on flight schedule. It’s not clear if “within 24 (or in some cases 48) hours of boarding” is by flight segment, or the start of your whole itinerary. I was annoyed that we went to the trouble of finding a rapid PCR test for a result that was never checked, but it was probably worth the peace of mind to have all schedules, time zones and any delays covered.