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covid test - clarification needed

nanone
Explorer C

I am flying from Mexico to the US soon and want to make sure Southwest lets me board my flight if I get a negative covid test one calendar day before my flight as per the CDC requirements (see below).  The customer service rep at SW told me that I will only be able to board my flight if my negative covid test is within 24 hours of my flight.  This doesn't seem right, but I don't want to risk missing my flight.  I leave at 2:45 pm on 12/14 and want to take the test one calendar day earlier on 12/13.  Any advice?

 

.  The new CDC requirements say:

"The 1-day period is 1 day before the flight’s departure. The Order uses a 1-day time frame instead of 24 hours to provide more flexibility to the air passenger and aircraft operator. By using a 1-day window, test acceptability does not depend on the time of the flight or the time of day that the test sample was taken.

For example, if your flight is at 1pm on a Friday, you could board with a negative test that was taken any time on the prior Thursday."

 

My flight is on a 

1 REPLY 1

Re: covid test - clarification needed

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

As you see on the CDC's site, the requirement is one day, not 24 hours.  I suspect since the order was new and not fully implemented the correct information was not yet available to the agent you spoke with.

 

--TheMiddleSeat