72hrs test. When does if start from ? UK to Spain

Hello

Here is the link from  Spanish  Travel Health . The PCR test has to be taken 72hrs before your relatives  arrive in Spain

https://spth.gob.es/info-pcr

Cheers

Elinspain

It has already started, there are various companies doing it with quite a difference in prices from around £150 up to almost £300. Worth searching the Internet. 

Hi Sue and Jack,

Count back 72 hours from the time of arrival in Spain - that's the MAXIMUM time, so for example, if your relatives are due to arrive in Spain on, say, Thursday 14 December at 8pm, the earliest they would be able to have their test would be Monday 11 December at 8pm.  They will then need to receive a negative result before they get their flight for presentation when they arrive at Alicante.

Kind regards,

Kim

It is relatively easy to work out when you need to do the test so that it is still valid when you arrive in Spain if you are flying.

It is another matter if you are driving & taking the ferry to Spain.

It virtually means that you get on the ferry in the U.K. probably not having received your test results by e-mail from the test centre you have used. My partner was lucky and received the result, which he could print out before leaving home, within the 48 hours. However, you will be allowed on the ferry pending a negative result. 

Should you receive a positive result what happens?

Do they send you back (you pay the return fare) with a fine, or do they let you through with a warning to isolate?

Depends who checks.

Janice

Hi Janice,

The requirement for a negative test only applies to those arriving in Spain by air or ferry port, so if you're arriving into Bilbao or Santander, you'd need the test result and, as you say, it could leave some people travelling without having received their results, but if you arrive on a ferry into France and travel across land, there's no requirement for the test at the France/Spain border.

Personally, I'd like to think that if someone arrives with a positive test result, but the dates of their test and ferry booking prove that they tried to comply with the rules, they would be let through on the basis of a mandatory isolation period.  But how would that be monitored?  And even if that was possible, I can see border force officials applying their own interpretation of the rules, as can often be the case with Spanish bureaucracy.

Thankfully, the Spanish Health Ministry announced last Wednesday that it has changed the requirements for compulsory PCR testing for arrivals by sea and air, and from 10 December it will also accept a negative TMA (Transcription-Mediated Amplification) test, a more rapid form of testing using a blood sample from a finger prick, rather than a nasal swab:  

https://english.elpais.com/society/2020-12-10/spain-changes-coronavirus-test-requirements-for-air-travelers-exempts-children-under-six.html

Hopefully, the TMA tests will make it much easier (and they're cheaper!) for those arriving into Spanish ferry ports to meet the required timeline.  It would be good to receive feedback from those who try it.  Good to hear that your Partner made it, even via the PCR route :o)

Kind regards,

Kim

Hi Kim, 

To tell you the truth nobody asked my partner or his travel companion for their test results on arrival in Santander, but both were able to produce the certificate if necessary. However other passengers were asked for their results. We do not know the outcome of these queries.

Yes, it would be interesting to know if anyone was refused entry. 

Janice

FYI

Lot of problems this end with test results ( mine included 😢) not through on time when promised due to taking everyone’s money (150) then lab not having capacity 😡

Turned about 25 away from boarding from Leeds in last day or so . 

😢

Sorry to hear that Joe.  Do you have any recourse against the test supplier or lab?  Makes me wonder how Covid-19 related circumstances outside of one's control may affect (or effect) an individual's insurance 🤔

Interesting to hear that a UK airport didn't let you board a flight without the negative result - or was it the airline's responsibility?  Not sure that they can take the same approach with UK to Spain ferries though, when the journey takes around 36 hours 🤔

Thanks for the helpful feedback, hope you can get it sorted.

Kind regards, 

Kim

Kim wasn’t me personally who got to airport I was just informed from someone at airport they had been turning back travellers.
I was supposed to be going today but didn’t even set off due to no results.

I hope can get my £149 back but as for flights , train to airport etc that’s lost 😢

The chemists should not take the business if can’t supply end results too.