American Airlines is starting to give home-to-home COVID-19 tests to domestic flyers to help them meet the various requirements of the state’s various travel bans, the company announced Tuesday. The airline is partnering with direct-customer home testing company Letsgatechecked, which will sell at 9,129 on top of travel costs.
Home tests examine passengers for the most common travel restrictions enforced by states, with a negative result before departure or after arrival. It will also help customers get reliable access to the test, which is still a hit-or-miss in many parts of the United States. But there are still holes in the process; For example, it is still possible to get an infection at the airport or on the road.
Different states also have different restrictions. Some states require passengers to be segregated despite having a negative test result. So American Airlines and Letschaded advise customers to make sure they have what they need when they land. American Airlines, formerly offering domestic tests for passengers traveling to international destinations with restrictions such as the United Kingdom, Belize and Chile.
LetsgateCheck’s Kit Kit uses a nasal swab, so customers will need to take a home sample and send it back by mail (using a UPS) to run through a polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, test. That whole process takes a few days, so Letsgatecheck said passengers should make sure to order their tests at least five days before their flights.
American Airlines is the first to offer domestic test access to domestic flights. But other major airlines and airports are also trying to introduce test protocols as part of encouraging passengers to return to the skies. Delta Air Lines and Alitalia recently announced that they will test passengers several times on flights from New York’s JFK Airport, New Jersey’s Newark Airport and Georgia’s Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport to Rome’s Femicino Airport.
Historic suffered historic losses but despite billions of dollars in government assistance, companies like American and Delta are trying to revive the industry after the devastating air travel of the coronavirus epidemic earlier this year. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of flyers over the Thanksgiving holiday, despite cases being counted and warnings from disease control centers, but it is not yet clear whether people will be ready to fly.
