Flight travel during Covid

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

The new restrictions will also play havoc with anyone with connecting flights.

For example, if you arrive in Canada in Vancouver from Asia for example with a connecting flight to Calgary. You will have to quarantine in Vancouver then continue on to Calgary once cleared.

Hold on - what about if you get PCR tests before you fly? I have a flight coming back from outside of Canada through Toronto to Calgary on the 17th, with a 2 hour layover. Then I fly out to Vancouver on the 21st. Surely they won't say "sorry, I know you have a negative test from less than 72 hours ago as required, but you can't catch your flight back to Calgary until we get the results of this new test"? That would be absurd.

I've already booked these trips. That's potentially thousands of dollars that they'd be causing me to lose.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I had to show my PCR test results coming back from San Francisco. Paid $350 US for the damn thing.

And I had to show mine coming home from Kauai the end of October. That was in Dallas, flying with American Airlines, and they were very specific that if you never showed your PCR test and got a red stamp on your boarding pass, you would not be on the flight from Dallas to Calgary. I paid $150 US in Kauai for the test...seems the mainland is at least twice as high.

Then I had to show it again at the Calgary Airport, just before you go through the declaration area and customs.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Hold on - what about if you get PCR tests before you fly? I have a flight coming back from outside of Canada through Toronto to Calgary on the 17th, with a 2 hour layover. Then I fly out to Vancouver on the 21st. Surely they won't say "sorry, I know you have a negative test from less than 72 hours ago as required, but you can't catch your flight back to Calgary until we get the results of this new test"? That would be absurd.

I've already booked these trips. That's potentially thousands of dollars that they'd be causing me to lose.

Sorry man, the government is screwing you. You will have to do the PCR to get on your flight and the PCR in Toronto. You will have to wait in TO for a negative result before you can continue onwards. It is so stupid.

It sounds like the loophole might be traveling through the US. See if you can modify your travel plans to make a stop in the US before Canada and you won't have to do the arrival PCR and isolation.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Hold on - what about if you get PCR tests before you fly? I have a flight coming back from outside of Canada through Toronto to Calgary on the 17th, with a 2 hour layover. Then I fly out to Vancouver on the 21st. Surely they won't say "sorry, I know you have a negative test from less than 72 hours ago as required, but you can't catch your flight back to Calgary until we get the results of this new test"? That would be absurd.

I've already booked these trips. That's potentially thousands of dollars that they'd be causing me to lose.

You'd still need to be tested on arrival. But I'd be shocked if they didn't allow people to take connecting flights before the results of their test came back. I expect you'd just have to isolate at home until you got your result back.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Hah, I just tried calling Air Canada. The hold time is more than 3 hours.

There's no possibility of booking a stopover in the USA. The notion that they would require you to test before you take off, then again when you land, then wait for a result before getting on another plane to take you home, is absolutely asinine. Like, enough that people should be fired immediately for obvious gross incompetence. I mean, who has any confidence that the "you have to quarantine until your results come back" thing is going to last less than 24 hours?

The sheer volume of chaos this is going to cause, not to mention the needless expense... I guess all I can do is hope they fix it somehow before I have to come back. I don't even care that much about the quarantine requirement as long as a) I can do it in Calgary after I get back and b) it doesn't take more than a day or so for the results.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by opendoor

You'd still need to be tested on arrival. But I'd be shocked if they didn't allow people to take connecting flights before the results of their test came back. I expect you'd just have to isolate at home until you got your result back.

What would be the point of doing the arrival PCR if they were to just allow people to hop on a connecting flight without having a negative result?

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

What would be the point of doing the arrival PCR if they were to just allow people to hop on a connecting flight without having a negative result?

Having you isolate at home before spreading it in your arrival city, basically. If everyone on the plane is getting the test you're risking transmitting it to a plane full of people rather than everyone you come into contact with subsequently, and the plane's air filtration system makes transmission considerably less likely (as I understand it, that's been established for a long time).

They've been doing random PCR tests for people arriving in Canada for a while, and even if you're randomly selected, you're allowed to take your connecting flight and quarantine on the other end. If they treat this the same way, fine provided test results can don't take multiple days - I'm fine staying home for the day. But if they cause you to miss your connecting flight, costing you hundreds of dollars, and cause you to have to book a room at a now-suddenly-overcrowded-because-everyone-else-has-to-too airport hotel for hundreds of dollars... basically, that's ####ing insanity.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

What would be the point of doing the arrival PCR if they were to just allow people to hop on a connecting flight without having a negative result?

To catch imported Omicron cases that they otherwise might not have and limit the spread of any positive cases. I haven't seen anywhere say that people have to isolate at their point of arrival and I'm assuming the new rules are similar to the pre-August 9th ones, where everyone was tested on arrival, but those who took connecting flights were still allowed to transit to their destination.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Weitz

I hope not. I’ve got 3 trips booked in the next 4 months. Enough of this garbage.

This does not seem encouraging:

Duclos said Canada is preparing for a “possible extension” of this policy to include the United States and the land borders if the situation evolves to the point that re-imposing further restrictions on Canada’s borders is warranted.

Originally Posted by opendoor

To catch imported Omicron cases that they otherwise might not have and limit the spread of any positive cases. I haven't seen anywhere say that people have to isolate at their point of arrival and I'm assuming the new rules are similar to the pre-August 9th ones, where everyone was tested on arrival, but those who took connecting flights were still allowed to transit to their destination.

If the purpose is to catch cases and limit spread it seems stupid to test on arrival but allow the travel to progress on one or more domestic flights and through domestic airports as a potential positive case. The safest approach would be to isolate at the point of arrival.

I agree with Corsi though that implementing this policy again is asinine especially for vaccinated people. Vaccines were supposed to be our key to a return to normalcy.

[Weitz]

If after every variant they start to panic and close borders this will never end.

How many people aren’t even getting tested when sick anymore? I imagine it’s a large amount of people.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

If the purpose is to catch cases and limit spread it seems stupid to test on arrival but allow the travel to progress on one or more domestic flights and through domestic airports as a potential positive case. The safest approach would be to isolate at the point of arrival.

Well, you have to weigh safety against practicality. The marginal benefit of isolating fully vaccinated people at airports to prevent them from being on a plane with other fully vaccinated and masked people likely isn't going to be worth the disruption that it would cause. And it would effectively discriminate against people who don't happen to live near a major airport.

The main benefit of the policy is that it alters the number of close contacts travelers have before they're cleared. Right now someone can enter Canada and do anything, and if they don't show symptoms (or get tested if they do have symptoms) then they can spread it. Now they will be tested and are required to go straight home and isolate until their test comes back negative. The fact that people will likely be able to travel on connecting flights to get home doesn't completely undermine the benefit.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by alexle

Did you get a last minute rapid PCR test or something? That's really expensive.

That's what I had to pay to get the turnaround I needed. Might have been able to chance it but I didn't have an option of not getting back on schedule.
I also wonder if they were charging premium prices as it was Thanksgiving and a very heavy travel period.

[flamingreen]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Sorry man, the government is screwing you. You will have to do the PCR to get on your flight and the PCR in Toronto. You will have to wait in TO for a negative result before you can continue onwards. It is so stupid.

It sounds like the loophole might be traveling through the US. See if you can modify your travel plans to make a stop in the US before Canada and you won't have to do the arrival PCR and isolation.

I would imagine the US is going to implement more restrictions to enter their country as well. I don't see such a loophole lasting very long, if at all.

[Yellefan]

it's going to be tough to use up my 2 WestJet companion fares before they expire on Dec 31 at this rate. Might have to fly to Winnipeg or something. Might be time to cancel the WestJet credit card and get some other sort of perks.

[calgaryred]

Just wait these are precautionary measures until real reports on omicron are released.

Federal officials said Tuesday to expect the situation and federal policies to continue to evolve.
“This is what we are doing today, it may well be that as we gain time we find that the new variant is of less concern than what some experts might be fearing, but the situation might also evolve differently, so we're reminding Canadians that travel rules and border rules in particular can always change… and we will be watching the situation as all Canadians will do over the next days and weeks,” Duclos said.


Once news comes out these measures will change if this variant isn't the fears it could be rules will change.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/health...cron-1.5687538

[FFR]

Can someone help dumb this down for me because I read the news and the Government website and I’m still confused.

We have a trip planned to Costa Rica in the coming few weeks. Our flight home is via Toronto. So from what I understand, we will have to take a test upon arrival in Toronto, and then quarantine in Toronto until we get our results? If we change our flight to arrive direct, we will test in Calgary, and then quarantine at home until we get our results?

My kid is not fully vaccinated (obviously, because he’s 7), so by the new rules, he has to fully quarantine/isolate for 14 days?

But if we go to the USA, none of these rules apply?

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by FFR

Can someone help dumb this down for me because I read the news and the Government website and I’m still confused.

We have a trip planned to Costa Rica in the coming few weeks. Our flight home is via Toronto. So from what I understand, we will have to take a test upon arrival in Toronto, and then quarantine in Toronto until we get our results? If we change our flight to arrive direct, we will test in Calgary, and then quarantine at home until we get our results?

My kid is not fully vaccinated (obviously, because he’s 7), so by the new rules, he has to fully quarantine/isolate for 14 days?

But if we go to the USA, none of these rules apply?

Your kid will have to quarantine/isolate for 14 days regardless of how you get back to Canada and the child has to do an arrival and day 8 test.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Your kid will have to quarantine/isolate for 14 days regardless of how you get back to Canada and the child has to do an arrival and day 8 test.

I don't think this is correct. It doesn't match what it says on the government site.

https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/tr...etermine-fully


Unvaccinated under 12 years old doesn't have to isolate/quarantine if they are travelling with vaccinated parents. They can't go to school.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I don't think this is correct. It doesn't match what it says on the government site.

https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/tr...etermine-fully


Unvaccinated under 12 years old doesn't have to isolate/quarantine if they are travelling with vaccinated parents. They can't go to school.

It is a modified isolation/quarantine. They are essentially supposed to isolate/quarantine but the government realized that isn't necessarily feasible for parents so they are allowing for the kids to do a minimal amount of things with a mask on such as going to the grocery store.

[Lubicon]

So if an international traveler arrives directly from overseas they need to test and isolate upon arrival but if they arrive via the US they do not? Maybe that's not how it works, but if so all this does is put Canadian airlines at a disadvantage to US airlines who can funnel Canadian bound passengers via the US.