Timing of test and Barbados

I'm not sure if anyone will have an answer on the below but I thought I would give it a shot. I tried calling Virgin (because to be honest it would be in their interest to know) but didn't really get a clear answer from them:

I was wondering if anyone has had any experience getting through Barbadian immigration since the UK was put on the high risk register:

My partner and I are scheduled to arrive at BGI on 13 October on VS131, scheduled to land at 1405 local time.

We know we need to get a test within 72 hours of arrival (therefore after) 1405 local time on 10 October, which is the equivalent of 1905 British Summer Time.

The challenge we have is that it is impossible to get a test on Sunday in the UK (and waiting until 12 October means we wouldn't get our results in time) so we have booked our tests for 10 October 1610 British Summer Time (which would be 1100 local time). This would be just under 3 hours outside the 72 hour window.

I actually e-mailed the Chief Medical Officer in Barbados and the response I got was:"I am sure the Public Health Team at the Airport will honour this request". Which sounds nice but is hardly definitive.

Given that almost everyone on that flight would face the same issue I would think there would be flexibility but if anyone has direct experience I would really appreciate to know about it

Hi - I'm looking into this our trip in December and trying to work out the timing - booking 3 days before gives a bit more contingency to get the results back in good time but will technically mean it's just over the 72 hours window. I'd imagine they'll be a bit flexible too but would have the same concern.

Are you having your test done by Screen4 ? They do have a test centre in Birmingham (Sutton Coldfield) that is showing as being open on Sunday, though I'm not sure if they have availability on the 11th October

https://screen4.org/covid19-pre-travel-testing/

Good luck and please let us know how you get on

I actually spoke to Screen4. At the time they actually said that the information on the website was inaccurate as the Birmingham site was closed due to lack of clinicians. However by the time you need them it might be fine

The issue with Sunday for us is that even if we could get a test in London, to get a guaranteed result in time you have to pay almost £300 Vs £175 for 48 hour turnaround. But 48 hour would be too late if we waited until Sunday.

Actually a lot of places in London will not even guarantee the 48 hour. We are going with one who will

looking on other forums it appears that authorities at BGI are satisfied if the test has been carried out 3 days previous , they dont appear to be too concerned about the strict 72hrs.
Re getting tested in the UK just about the only place I have found who test on a Sunday and guarantee next day result is the Hale clinic , trouble is its £225 a go

That's great to hear. Planning this trip has been a nightmare but I know it's even harder for others. I have never booked/cancelled/rebooked hotels so many times!

would be interested to hear how you get on when you get to barbados if you post an update

Hi

We've been having the same problem. We arrive in Barbados on the Tuesday flight, meaning we need to be tested (ideally) on Saturday. This means that we can preload our certificates on Monday for the Tuesday flight (ie the evening before)

I've found that the London General Practice in Harley Street will do just about anything you want and seem to be open over the weekend. The price is high, but tbat's the only way I could make things work

Peter

We are using Corona Test Centre in Fulham although I did look at London General Practice. I can't remember why i didn't got with London General Practice. What time are you having your test taken? We are having ours just after 4PM

We’re being tested at 4:50pm - last appointment of the day, and as close to 72 hrs (within 72 if you don’t take time difference ), and just over with the time difference

Peter

Very similar strategy to us. We are at 1610 and 1650. But i think the samples go to the lab at 6PM so I am going to ask if they can use that time as the time of our test

Unfortunately, the time they have to use is the precise moment of the test. It’s noted on the form, bottles and the electronic system that’s sent to the lab ahead of samples arriving. I only know as I test football teams for UEFA for extra money when not doing my nhs role. However, it should still satisfy border control. Sometimes the players test are just over 3 days prior to away games abroad and it causes no issues. Xx

Oh drat but good to know!

Why does everything have to be so complicated?

Hi I've just realised that I'm having my COVID test at 4:30pm on Sat 24th October. We arrive in Barbados on the Virgin flight at 3:05pm local time on Tuesday 27th October. That's less than 72hrs local time to local time (actually 70hrs 35 min)

However, to make it more complex, at 2am on Sunday 26th October, the UK alters its time from BST to GMT (going back an hour). Meanwhile Barbados keeps the same time all year round. Does this give me a total time between text and landing now of 70hrs 35min, plus 5 hrs (for time difference when test was done) + or - the hour?

Should I just hope that the immigration people can't work it out either?

Peter

Why does everything have to be so complicated?

Hi I've just realised that I'm having my COVID test at 4:30pm on Sat 24th October. We arrive in Barbados on the Virgin flight at 3:05pm local time on Tuesday 27th October. That's less than 72hrs local time to local time (actually 70hrs 35 min)

However, to make it more complex, at 2am on Sunday 26th October, the UK alters its time from BST to GMT (going back an hour). Meanwhile Barbados keeps the same time all year round. Does this give me a total time between text and landing now of 70hrs 35min, plus 5 hrs (for time difference when test was done) + or - the hour?

Should I just hope that the immigration people can't work it out either?

Peter

Neither, you have done your calculations correct originally (apart from not adding the 5 hour time difference between BST and GMT-4 in the 1st paragraph). You're having your test done on Saturday 24th @4:30pm BST and you're arriving on Tuesday 27th @3:05pm GMT-4. Neither of these facts change when the UK moves to GMT on Sunday 26th

Test time: 4:30pm BST (GMT+1) == 11:30am GMT-4
Arrival time: 3:05pm GMT-4
Time difference= 75 hours and 35 minutes

We just arrived in Barbados and actually had little trouble once we got here although our tests were 3 hours outside the deadline. In fact at LHR the Virgin staff said they only need to look at the date but the actual time of the day wasn't important. I suppose if you did it too early you might have an issue when you land but it's unlikely as Virgin said they would be heavily fined. I had called Flying Club a few days ago to ask about this but they weren't aware. However hopefully this will help others thinking of travelling.

The service on the flight was great. It is definitely simplified and the food presentation felt more economy like (you get your main course sealed in a container) but had no issue with drinks throughout the flight (although they did run out of champagne). They have also significantly dropped the quality on much of the alcohol but given the circumstances I couldn't complain. And the crew were amazing as well

Thanks Matt and NY-LON

It's reassured me that NY-LON got into Barbados, and gives us confidence we're doing the right thing!

At least we don't have a date line to cross, that would realy complicate testing times etc....

Peter

By the way I just saw this on Turning Left for Less. Just confirms what Virgin told me

Barbados
If you are travelling to Barbados there has recently been a minor change to the testing protocols. The 3 day/72 hours has been causing a lot of issues and confusion so the latest guidelines which start from 16 October, state that it is now 3 days. So for example, if like me you were traveling on Sunday, you can get your test anytime on the Thursday. You can’t use a home test and it must have a date and time stamp on a lab report with the negative result.

May I recommend a company to use for pre travel covid testing?
It’s called Alldaydoctor.com
They are an approved supplier and with code : FLYALLDAY it reduces cost to £135. I work for this company as a sideline to my nhs job doing covid swabbing and it’s the same test kits and lab we use to swab the UEFA football players. Very quick and reliable . X

Just a bit of an update on our trip. Virgin just cancelled our return flight on the 24th for "operational reasons" After waiting hours on hold managed to get flight two days later (we were originally booked to go on a flight 2 days earlier but why give up our holiday when we don't have to). When I talked to flying club they didn't have a good reason for the cancellation except probably it was a super light load. I get that but it's one thing to take out a flight to NYC when there are several options to rebook same day, it's another when you only have a few flights a week to begin with.

Sorry to hear that NYLON. Any comments on how things are shaping up in Barbados itself? I am eyeing up a week in December (as where else can I go..) - are you staying in a resort? Or something else?

It could be worse. Fortunately we are a couple and work at places that are being flexible

Otherwise it's been great. We started out at Treasure Beach, which is the holding hotel Waves uses until you get your second test. You can tell the hotel has only been open about a week and is working with a skeleton staff but boy do they work hard to minimise any discomfort! Also it was nice to be able to use a gym and pool where some other hotels keep you in your room until the 2nd test. At Waves now until Monday and loving it here too. We haven't been out of the hotel yet to see much of the rest of the island. We were going to eat dinner out tonight but probably won't because the food here has been so good. Monday we are having a day tour and also using that to transfer to the Sea Breeze for 7 days (was meant to be 5).

One thing I will say is that whatever you book keep checking pricing. Yesterday we were prepared to have to fork out quite a lot to extend Sea Breeze. But at some point they dropped their pricing this week so in the end we are only paying £100 more to stay 7 nights instead of the original 5. I also think, with Expedia at least, you get different pricing whether through website or through app so check both

That's interesting to see you mention Sea Breeze as that's one of the resorts I have my eyes on! In terms of pricing, I sadly don't think I'll get much movement as we're looking at Christmas time so are expecting to fork out big bucks. Unless VS are willing to change some of my open tickets (nearly £3k worth..) into VH vouchers. I've made an enquiry to that effect.
I'd be really really interested to hear how things are at Sea Breeze, like whether they are closing restaurants, bars, are masks needed at the beach, that sort of thing. If you wouldn't mind feeding back that would be great

No worries. Will let you know how it is once we get there!

Just an update - going to be making use of some open tickets and book LHR-BGI in mid-December as you can get Economy Delight & Upper Class back for a tad over £1k. Looking like we'll opt for Sea Breezes as it has some facilities available for folks waiting for their second test. Hope the place is nice!

SlimpyJones-I was going to write more about Sea Breeze shortly. It is definitely a place to consider staying, especially if you are a family. But in terms of their quarantine facilities, there are a few things to note. One, the rooms are "classic" rooms, but if you wanted to stay in the luxury rooms (which I strongly recommend), you still end up paying that higher rate even when quarantined. Second, we heard that Sea Breeze was being very strict on paperwork. So even though you might get tested and get cleared within 24 hours of arrivals, we heard of one couple that was forced to stay in quarantine for another couple of days before the official paperwork came through. Thirdly, when we enquired, we were told we have to sort out tests ourselves

On the latter 2 points, I would talk to the hotel directly to see if there is a way to expedite the paperwork and if the hotel can help arrange second test (free on governments, approx £150 if you want private doctor to come to your room).

We booked at Waves for first week. They had you stay in Treasure Beach until you had all clear. But as separate resort, we had access to gym and pool although meals had to be in rooms. But the rooms themselves were proper suites, the hotel arranged all tests and we got paperwork right away when we got results. As soon as we got it, they transferred us to Waves so it was fairly painless

One psychological point. When we were at Treasure Beach, everyone there was in the same boat. At Sea Breeze, you are in your own section but almost like you are in a zoo, looking out at the rest of the guests having much more freedom