Changing Covid testing requirements

[cvchief]

If I was flying out on the 5th and tested positive on the 4th, I would immediately get another test to confirm. If still positive I would test everyday afterwards and try to fly out next day after a negative. Assuming asymptomatic, of course.

On a side note, anyone here had to extend due to a positive? How does it work with changing flights? How do you change to an unknown date? Fly standby once negative? Change to a month later then change again once you know? Cancel outright and rebook fresh?

Actually with Southwest I could just keep rebooking for the next day. for free...

The missus actually had a slight cold starting on the 2nd. She took a home test and of course it was covid. She is over it, but still showing on an antigen. So I guess we will work on getting a letter or arranging to get a letter in MX end of the month.

 

[ggunn]

I automatically dismiss anything on FB that says "I heard" or "I was told".

That's pretty much my universal policy no matter where I see or hear it..

 

[ReefHound]

I THINK this is the takeaway:

• If you test positive for covid, don't tell the airline - get retested
• If you test negative after testing positive, don't tell the airline
• If you test positive and are symptomatic and determine that you MUST recuperate in Cozumel, cancel your flight without telling the airline why you're canceling so you can retest to go home when you're feeling better - and get a letter from the doctor saying you have recovered
• Check with your airline to see what THEIR policy is IN MEXICO to determine how long you will be required to stay in Mexico after a positive test, if you do have symptoms and have to recuperate there.

The guy on the FB post was telling his personal story and I have no reason to suspect he was lying. I think his mistake was in admitting, up front to United, that his wife tested positive for covid. Her symptoms were a little bit of congestion for one day, three days prior to the test. But once United knew she had tested positive they decided how they were going to apply the 'rules'. This is a problem all over the place - there's no consistency in how the 'suggestions' or 'rules' or 'regulations' will be applied. If United wants to be more stringent in Mexico there's nobody who can tell them 'that's not what the cdc says' and get home faster. (Unrelated, but related to the inconsistency of applying 'rules', there's a preschool near here that says that for 90 days after your child has had covid, they won't have to quarantine if exposed to covid. But not all preschools or elementary/secondary schools have that rule.)

What we see on the cdc's website range from 'suggestions' to rules - they also recommend that we get tested 5 days after returning from travel, and to quarantine for two weeks after returning home. NOBODY does that! (Well, I don't - not intentionally anyway - but I work from home so I may quarantine for 2 weeks and not realize I've done it! Time flies when you're having fun.)

As for the last bulletin point, you can negate this if the airline never knows you were positive. As for the second point, not sure why you would not share a negative result so long as they don't know about the positive. You would appear to them as any other traveler showing a negative test and getting on the plane.

If your airline finds out and wants to be stringent, I'd just fly home on another airline. In the last few years it seems that one-way tickets are little more than half of RT tickets. Worst case, fly to a border city and walk across. No re-entry testing requirement at all for land crossings.

One upside, if you test negative after a positive and the airline still wants you to wait longer, seems to me you are free to enjoy more vacation time.

Yes, CDC has rules and recommendations but the issue is many businesses use the recommendations as their rules.

 

[ReefHound]

That's pretty much my universal policy no matter where I see or hear it..

Absolutely. I just mentioned FB because it was mentioned in the thread and is the worst for it. At least on SB most contributors are regular whereas you get a lot of drive-by comments on FB. Something pops up in their feed, they spout off without a second though, then never look at the discussion again.

 

[Kimela]

If your airline finds out and wants to be stringent, I'd just fly home on another airline.

That's what this guy did - he ended up flying home on American.

As for the last bulletin point, you can negate this if the airline never knows you were positive. As for the second point, not sure why you would not share a negative result so long as they don't know about the positive. You would appear to them as any other traveler showing a negative test and getting on the plane.

Agreed.

Yes, CDC has rules and recommendations but the issue is many businesses use the recommendations as their rules.

Yes. And that stinks. It's challenging enough - how things are going to be handled should be clearly stated somewhere.

 

[MASunfish]

If I was flying out on the 5th and tested positive on the 4th, I would immediately get another test to confirm. If still positive I would test everyday afterwards and try to fly out next day after a negative. Assuming asymptomatic, of course.

On a side note, anyone here had to extend due to a positive? How does it work with changing flights? How do you change to an unknown date? Fly standby once negative? Change to a month later then change again once you know? Cancel outright and rebook fresh?

Haven’t got to that point but another week in the Caribbean wouldn’t be too bad…

 

[ReefHound]

Haven’t got to that point but another week in the Caribbean wouldn’t be too bad…

unless you lose your job for not being back to work on time.

 

[BRT]

I THINK this is the takeaway:

• If you test positive for covid, don't tell the airline - get retested
• If you test negative after testing positive, don't tell the airline
• If you test positive and are symptomatic and determine that you MUST recuperate in Cozumel, cancel your flight without telling the airline why you're canceling so you can retest to go home when you're feeling better - and get a letter from the doctor saying you have recovered
• Check with your airline to see what THEIR policy is IN MEXICO to determine how long you will be required to stay in Mexico after a positive test, if you do have symptoms and have to recuperate there.

The guy on the FB post was telling his personal story and I have no reason to suspect he was lying. I think his mistake was in admitting, up front to United, that his wife tested positive for covid. Her symptoms were a little bit of congestion for one day, three days prior to the test. But once United knew she had tested positive they decided how they were going to apply the 'rules'. This is a problem all over the place - there's no consistency in how the 'suggestions' or 'rules' or 'regulations' will be applied. If United wants to be more stringent in Mexico there's nobody who can tell them 'that's not what the cdc says' and get home faster. (Unrelated, but related to the inconsistency of applying 'rules', there's a preschool near here that says that for 90 days after your child has had covid, they won't have to quarantine if exposed to covid. But not all preschools or elementary/secondary schools have that rule.)

What we see on the cdc's website range from 'suggestions' to rules - they also recommend that we get tested 5 days after returning from travel, and to quarantine for two weeks after returning home. NOBODY does that! (Well, I don't - not intentionally anyway - but I work from home so I may quarantine for 2 weeks and not realize I've done it! Time flies when you're having fun.)

We are in Mexico. We had one person fly out Saturday and another couple leave today. One person went to a lab where they do a lot of different kinds of tests and they probed a lot deeper than he thought was necessary, he got his results after an hour. The couple went to a covid testing place. They lightly probed barely inside their noses and had the results in minutes. Guess which one we will go to when we fly?

 

[dberry]

On a side note, anyone here had to extend due to a positive? How does it work with changing flights? How do you change to an unknown date? Fly standby once negative? Change to a month later then change again once you know? Cancel outright and rebook fresh?

Returning home from CUN last month we were told at the airport our flight was delayed indefinitely due to "mechanical issues". A massive line at the customer service desk ensued and the guy next to me was desperate. He had tested positive and had been unable to fly out for more than a week after his original itinerary.

And although the "extra week in the sun" sounds great at first, it turns out there is a quarantine "hotel" somewhere on coz where you are basically confined to your room with meals brought in. Once the doctor reported a positive test they would not let him extend his stay at his original hotel.

 

[DandyDon]

And although the "extra week in the sun" sounds great at first, it turns out there is a quarantine "hotel" somewhere on coz where you are basically confined to your room with meals brought in. Once the doctor reported a positive test they would not let him extend his stay at his original hotel.

Sounds like solitary confinement with a better bed and food.