Covd Vaccine Pass For Travelling By Air

[iloveglee]

I, and 7 other members of my family are flying to Spain in a couple of weeks time. This is the first time any of us have flown since the start of the pandemic. We are all fully vaccinated with boosters, and the vaccine is acceptable to Spain.

What I can't work out is who do we have to show this to, we are not checking any bags in so won't have interaction with the airline staff prior to boarding. The airline website leads you to what is required for the journey we are making, and has a facility to access your nhs app to download the pass. So far so good.

I have read stuff on various websites/social media that you have to upload this information to the airline, so that they know you are cleared to travel. There is however, no facility to do this.

There must be someone on here who has flown recently, and who can point me into the right direction. We are flying with BA (for our sins), and I have made several attempts to contact them on social media to ask this question. With no response on every occasion. I fear and dread that our flight is one of the ones they are cancelling just now, because making contact with them seems to be almost impossible.

[Patsy33]

I thought all that had finished a few weeks ago?..

[Buenchico]

There are now no travel restrictions in place, either outbound or inbound, at the UK end of your journey:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/all-covid-19-travel-restrictions-removed-in-the-uk

The rules for entry into Spain are stated here:
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain/entry-requirements

The rules that apply within Spain (e.g. on the use of face masks) are given here:
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain/coronavirus

Full information from BA can be found here:
https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/incident/coronavirus/entry-requirements

[iloveglee]

It's not the arrival back in the UK I'm bothered about. But there are restrictions to enter Spain, even though it's only that you need to be fully vaccinated to enter, or show evidence of negative test, or previous recent infection if you aren't. I also am aware that the health control form has been scrapped, at least for vaccinated people.

What I am wanting to know is, to whom do you show these pieces of evidence. Along with your passport and boarding pass at passport control or what? If this is the case, that's fine, but I was under the impression that it is an airline's responsibility to ensure that all passengers are eligible to enter whatever country they are travelling to. Hence having to pre-enter passport information etc before being able to check in.

As we will be checking in online, and won't be seeing or speaking to any BA personnel prior to going airside, I needed to know what is the procedure for making sure they know we are eligible to travel, from a covid point of view.

I can't imagine an airline allowing anyone to board their plane without making sure that the passenger won't be refused entry at the other end. So, maybe you show this at the boarding gate? I admit I have no idea

[Neveracrossword]

Iloveglee, I was in Tenerife last week - I'm not sure if they have the exact same rules as mainland Spain, but the process was all very straightfoward. When we flew out, our airline didn't ask for anything (other than passports and boarding cards), when we arrived, we were asked to show our Passenger Locator Form, but not our vaccine certificates (which we'd been told were crucial).

[Buenchico]

You might well find that nobody at all actually checks on your documentation. I've got friends in Italy, who've got a flat in the UK, who've been travelling backwards and forwards between the two countries for ages. Despite Italy having some of the toughest Covid rules in Europe (e.g. rigorously enforcing the wearing of face masks on the street with hefty fines and restaurants being strict about not allowing anyone in without proof of vaccinations), nobody seems to have checked on their documentation on arrival into Italy or, when Covid travel restrictions were still in place here, in the UK either.

It seems that you just need to have proof of your Covid vaccination status to hand if anyone actually asks you for it but it's quite likely that nobody will anyway.

[Prudie]

When we flew BA to Spain during the pandemic BA asked for NHS proof of vaccinations to be uploaded to our booking 48 hours before or flight. It's definitely confusing as Spain has dropped the locator form for all vaccinated travellers so don't know why it's required in Tenerife.

[jazzyjen]

When we flew into Alicante recently there were tables set up in the arrivals hall near the luggage carousels in such a way that nobody could exit without passing by and showing Covid passes (paper or digital). These were scanned and we were waved through.

[bobbinwales]

Been there done that. SPain has its own form you got to complete- see here
https://www.tui.co.uk/holidays/where-can-i-go-on-holiday/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Entry-requirements-for-our-holiday-destinations-140422.pdf
Part of this requires your vax proof- they read your vax record and put it onto the form
Simple.
It was checked on arrival in SPain

[bobbinwales]

Ours was 2 weeks ago. Our form was the SPain Health Form
It may be they relaxed it in the last week- the Spain website suggets you need a Spain form or a NHS proof of double jabbed form

[rockyracoon]

My husband went to Spain on Wednesday. He didn’t show the airline in the UK and it was random when he arrived in Spain. He never had to show it at all.

[iloveglee]

Spain has scrapped its health control form, or passenger locator form or whatever it is, so I am assuming the vaccination evidence was uploaded at the same time as filling that in. It certainly seems there is no way to do it now, so maybe they don't require it any more.

I am going to be doing the check in for everybody, so I wanted to make sure in advance that I have everything I needed from them before I make a start on it. I've trawled the BA website again for the information, gone through the step by step online check in and there is no reference to anything of this kind.

What I definitely don't want to happen is to find I can't do the online check in and to have to stand in line for the check in desk, when we don't have any bags. I expected to be able to go straight through to security when we arrive at the airport.

[rockyracoon]

My husband didn’t upload his pass anywhere, he just had it available on his phone in case he got asked for it.

[iloveglee]

Well it seems from here that nobody wants this uploaded any more, and it may or may not be asked for at some point during the progress through the airport at either end!!

We will have a copy of this in several different formats just in case. Don't like relying on phone, what you can rely on is the battery will run out just as you need it. I'm old school, I like a paper copy of everything. I have heard of people relying on getting into their app to show it, the app went down, and they were refused boarding. This was at a time, presumably when airlines wanted to see it. Now - who knows. It'll be like a magical mystery tour.

[smurfchops]

This is precisely why I am not flying anywhere. Celebrity Cruises need an Antigen or PCR test the day before boarding at Southampton, as we are visiting Spain.

[iloveglee]

Very odd that they require an antigen test because you're entering spain as spain doesn't require tests if you're fully vaccinated, at least if you're flying in. Maybe it's because you're coming in by sea and the rules are different. Or because the cruise line itself want to ensure everybody is negative for covid? That would make perfect sense given what happened with cruises early in the pandemic.

Wouldn't it be nice though if there was some consistency about the whole thing.