Boots RAT for entry to USA

[TedL]

Has anybody used the Boots In-store Rapid Antigen Test for entry to the USA, a test taken for you at £30. Used it in January for entry to Portugal.

[DJC]

Used the service in Jan for a trip to Antigua. Slightly convoluted booking process via Recova before being able to make booking in-store. No waiting on day for swab and result back within the hour. Make sure you take your passport to the store at time of test.

[TedL]

I certainly will, doing it at T5 4 hours before our flight, that way I can use the same one for boarding a cruise two days later. Worst scenario would be to get to US then have to do another test before the cruise which was positive.

[NorthernLass]

We’ve booked to do ours at Lloyds Pharmacy for £29.99, they seem to offer it more widely than Boots where I live.

[ChrisC]

TedL wrote:

I certainly will, doing it at T5 4 hours before our flight, that way I can use the same one for boarding a cruise two days later. Worst scenario would be to get to US then have to do another test before the cruise which was positive.

I’d be checking the cruise company’s requirements again.

Will they really accept a lateral flow test taken that far in advance of your boarding?

[ChasP]

there have been reports that lloyds have taken online bookings when the local branch was unable to fulfill
https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1217215&highlight=lloyds

so I would telephone the local branch just to double check

[harley]

Booked this for my sister a couple weeks ago who needed to transit through LAX to south america, annoyingly still had to do the test even if transiting. Boots was ok- bit of a faff on the website but one good thing is payment was only taken once in store so more flexible cancellation if needed

[TedL]

@ChrisC, the requirement is two days prior to boarding so Friday morning test is fine for a Sunday sailing.

@harley, was a bit convoluted but once you are registered second time around is easier, hopefully there wont be a third!

[Andrew.]

ChasP wrote:

there have been reports that lloyds have taken online bookings when the local branch was unable to fulfill
https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1217215&highlight=lloyds

so I would telephone the local branch just to double check

Found the opposite for a colleague. The online checker had no appointments but by phoning in they were able to accommodate them.

[TedL]

Update: Took our tests yesterday at 10:30 and 10:45 at Boots T5 landside, both results back by 11:06. Then have to go to the Recova-19 website and log in to get the pdf downloaded. Then hit a snag, couldnt open the pdf’s on my tablet, kept asking for a password, which I have still not discovered. After much stress I emailed them to Mrs TedL who could open them on her iPhone. Didnt bother with trying to put them into VeriFLY just went straight to the Club checkin. There the test results were not even looked at presumably as we did the Attestation there while ckecking in!

[NorthernLass]

Thanks for the update. We’re getting ours done at a local Lloyds Pharmacy the day before to build in plenty of time for stuff like this! The Attestation is the separate document for the US, right? Someone posted yesterday that they’d done VeriFly but nothing else was required which I wasn’t sure about!

[TedL]

NorthernLass wrote:

Thanks for the update. We’re getting ours done at a local Lloyds Pharmacy the day before to build in plenty of time for stuff like this! The Attestation is the separate document for the US, right? Someone posted yesterday that they’d done VeriFly but nothing else was required which I wasn’t sure about!

If you have leadtime for VeriFLY to pass all your docs it is worth doing, it includes the Attestation. Unfortunately only getting the test right before booking in it was easier to use the checkin desk than be waiting for the VeriFLY tick to arrive. By doing the test so late we can also use it for our cruise departure tomorrow.

[NorthernLass]

Thanks again! We would no doubt have done both otherwise. Obviously going to the US you’re not going to even hope that you’d be given the benefit of the doubt if you hadn’t got the right paperwork. I was once queuing to drop luggage going to IAD and the man in front of us hadn’t got an ESTA. I think the whole queue felt the trauma of the dressing down he got from the ground crew.

[Ladyshopper]

ChasP wrote:

there have been reports that lloyds have taken online bookings when the local branch was unable to fulfill
https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1217215&highlight=lloyds

so I would telephone the local branch just to double check

I’m on the Dibb, and also a number of Orlando groups on FB, as you say, there have been a lot of complaints about Lloyds and being let down by them.

Northern Lass, I’d definitely double check with the branch you’re booked in with that there aren’t likely to be any last minute cancellations.

[Michael C]

NorthernLass wrote:

Thanks again! We would no doubt have done both otherwise. Obviously going to the US you’re not going to even hope that you’d be given the benefit of the doubt if you hadn’t got the right paperwork. I was once queuing to drop luggage going to IAD and the man in front of us hadn’t got an ESTA. I think the whole queue felt the trauma of the dressing down he got from the ground crew.

Anna, is the US day-before test any time on that day, as opposed to literally 24 hours earlier?

[NorthernLass]

Michael, that’s my understanding, all the articles I’ve seen have said that. I will double check now you’ve mentioned it 🤦‍♀️

LL – will do, it’s a little rural pharmacy so I suppose it could go either way. But we seem to be spoiled for Lloyds in my area, there’s one in every town and village so hopefully we could find somewhere if there were any last minute hitches.

[ChrisC]

US policy is the test can be taken no earlier than the day before the flight for antigen and 2 days for PCR.

[NorthernLass]

Great – tests are booked for 10 am-ish on the Monday, flight is 1730 Tuesday.

[Michael C]

Thanks, all! And sorry to harp on, but just to confirm that the
“Randox pre-departure antigen results in 60 minutes for 30 quid”
is the one valid for USA?!
(Lloyds won’t do kids!)

[Jacob]

ChrisC wrote:

US policy is the test can be taken no earlier than the day before the flight for antigen and 2 days for PCR.

Where did you get the “2 days for PCR”? That was before omicron. Now it’s 1 day no matter what type of tests.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/testing-international-air-travelers.html