30 hours connection flight 11 December 2021 at 4:24PM in Coronavirus travel help & info 7 replies 244 views

salimnina

Hi,
My sister is transiting the UK going to the US.
The layover is 30 hours, and wondering what are the rules if she comes for an overnight stay London.

salimnina

She will get out of the airport and wondering if she can, or what tests she will have to take

Voyager2002

What passport does she hold. The UK visas website will say whether she is allowed to leave the airport.

She also needs to complete Covid tests and passenger locator form as if travelling to the UK, and the USA may require her to take a test in the UK and obtain a negative test result before boarding her onward flight.

salimnina

She holds US passport, no problem with enteringthe UK.
I'm wondering what test does she needs, the  gov website isn't clear.
My understanding is she needs PCR on arrival, she will do another test before leaving to the US, however if she gets out of the airport, does she need to do any further tests, or quarantine, what are the requirements 
, thanks

Thrugelmir

salimnina said:

 however if she gets out of the airport, does she need to do any further tests, or quarantine, what are the requirements 
, thanks

What does her airline specify? 

salimnina

Airline is OK, she knows what are requirements, its the government regulations that we don't know what they are.

onashoestring

To qualify as a landslide transit passenger by UK rules “You must either:

• remain within your port of entry until your departure from England
• travel directly from your port of entry to another port of departure in England”

Leaving the airport for an overnight stay doesn’t meet this criteria so she will need to follow the same rules as any other arrival

- assuming that she hasn’t been in or passed through a Red country and is fully vaccinated -

the UK rules state she would need to book a PCR test to be taken in UK on or before Day 2 , complete the PLF, take the PCR test on arrival ( or before Day 2 ) and quarantine until the negative results are received - the UK rules allow her to leave the UK before Day 2 , even if results not received.

However , she will need to comply with the US testing requirements before her next leg of the journey . 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-safer-air-travel-guidance-for-passengers

cx6

Taking it in reverse order:

LHR to USA - she will need a negative covid test in the day before the flight to USA or she will not be allowed to board. So if the flight leaves on a Friday say, she can get tested on Thursday or Friday. This is likely to have to occur at LHR landside because of the extended layover. LHR does have landside testing facilities so she is likely to have to enter the UK and then get a covid test to be able to board her usa flight . If they had airside facilities she could use those but as far as I know they don't

start destination to UK - as she will have to enter UK to get the covid test for the USA leg she will have to comply with UK requirements before flying - basically a pcr covid test within 2 days of starting, proof of vaccination, proof of booking a day 2 arrival test even though she won't use it  and fill out passenger locator form

That's my understanding anyway but nothing is joined-up and it's a complete mess.