What is your Experience of arriving at US airports during covid?

[ClareHan 0]

I may be flying from the UK to USA within the next few days. I'm a UK citizen with a green card, married to a US citizen. I've been out of the USA just under one year. Interested to hear from people who have arrived at a US airport from abroad (especially the UK) during covid. Was there an enhanced screening process by immigration (CBP) and what did this involve?

[PBabz 137]

15 minutes ago, ClareHan said:

I may be flying from the UK to USA within the next few days. I'm a UK citizen with a green card, married to a US citizen. I've been out of the USA just under one year. Interested to hear from people who have arrived at a US airport from abroad (especially the UK) during covid. Was there an enhanced screening process by immigration (CBP) and what did this involve?

I've recently returned from the USA to the UK. I'm a UK citizen, not a green card holder, married to a US citizen.

Do feel free to stop reading if my profile indicates that my information may not be helpful to you (no offence taken!)

 

On arrival, temperature checks and a review of a form that needs to be completed. Questions are about your travel history, COVID symptoms, etc. 

A CBP officer asked the usual questions, purpose of trip and length of stay, he asked to update my fingerprints and then put my passport into a lockbox and told me to follow an officer to secondary screening.

 

Honestly, it was a tireless albeit painless process, only because I had a long day, late flight and it was approaching 11pm.

 

No questions out of the ordinary, although the CBP officer seemed like he wanted to quiz me about my husband's middle name, he asked a couple times. 😂

 

No issues though, I stayed for four weeks and made an equally uneventful return home to the UK. 

 

Hope that helps  

[gregcrs2 1,777]

We returned to the USA in September but not from the UK.  Flew into Miami, they gave us contact tracing form to fill out on the airline.  But once at POE, nobody collected it and there were no temperature checks.  It was business as usual.  Just the new normal 6 foot social distancing in the line to CBP. 

[Boiler 43,438]

Do you have a re entry permit?

[ClareHan 0]

1 minute ago, Boiler said:

Do you have a re entry permit?

No.

[ClareHan 0]

20 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Do you have a re entry permit?

When I return I will have been out of the USA just under one year. 

[bobjennyhitched 99]

I flew in via Newark to Denver in April 2020. I was screened on exiting the plane. CDC officer took temperatures, then we had to do contact tracing forms and quarantine for two weeks in our final destination. They also gave us masks to wear if we didn't have one (I did :)).

[Mollie09 1,543]

2 hours ago, ClareHan said:

No.

 

2 hours ago, ClareHan said:

When I return I will have been out of the USA just under one year. 

 

You may be questioned on the length of your stay outside the country. Did you work? Use healthcare services reserved for UK residents?

[Elrona 101]

Returned to US just a week ago. Entry point was Chicago O'Hara. Had to fill in a COVID paperwork on plane that noone collected or cared about. CBP officer even said they don't need it anymore. No temperature checks or anything. 

 

What was a surprise was that flight from Chicago to Denver was 100% full. No empty seats at all.

[JFH 12,189]

We flew into LAX from Mexico last week. No contact tracing, no temperature check, no questions asked. No different from any other arrival. The only difference was we had to wear masks at the airport and they wanted as many people as possible to use the self-service kiosks for passport checking to minimize the amount of contact the CBP agents have with passports. 

[M_H 14]

11 hours ago, ClareHan said:

I may be flying from the UK to USA within the next few days. I'm a UK citizen with a green card, married to a US citizen. I've been out of the USA just under one year. Interested to hear from people who have arrived at a US airport from abroad (especially the UK) during covid. Was there an enhanced screening process by immigration (CBP) and what did this involve?

My husband had arrived to USA from

UK on 10/07/20 with a CR1and before he arrived he was told to get a COVID test done just in case and he did....Only thing at port of entry he was told what he does for living? And how long he been in UK? Made it to USA after 2 years he’s home with me! Thank god everyday for that safe trip...🙏🙏

[Elllena 84]

Flew from Istanbul to Chicago mid August, nobody cares at all about covid or quarantine. No temperature checks or forms to fill.  There’s nothing special to worry about, the line went very fast too.

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

7 hours ago, Elrona said:

 

 

What was a surprise was that flight from Chicago to Denver was 100% full. No empty seats at all.

Airline dependent. Some airlines are keeping all middle seats open, others aren’t. Certainly something I’d check in advance.

 

To get back to the original topic - a little while back, the administration decided we didn’t need to have COVID checks on arrival anymore. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-10/u-s-ends-airport-covid-19-screening-of-international-arrivals

[Boiler 43,438]

Begs the question what difference a seat distance matters, 2m/6ft is the minimum.

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

1 hour ago, Boiler said:

Begs the question what difference a seat distance matters, 2m/6ft is the minimum.

...without masks. Some airlines are also better at enforcing mask policy than others, something else to look into. Nothing is foolproof but the more you can do to minimize the chances the better. Having a stranger in a seat right next to you can occasionally lead to accidental physical contact. Uncomfortable at the best of times, much more so now. Yes, flying is not ideal, but for those who do, every little bit helps. It matters for me, I have had to fly a few times in the last few weeks. YMMV. The funny thing is that the “budget” airlines (Southwest, JetBlue, Alaska) seem to be doing this better than the “full cost” airlines, at least one of which is both packing planes and not enforcing mask policies properly.