TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Flying Through SJU to EIS

In June we are flying DCA to SJU and then Island Birds SJU to EIS. For BVI it is a COVID test within 5 days.

Does anyone know if we have to follow the PR guidelines (portal and 3 day test) if we are just connecting to Island Birds and not leaving the airport?

Thanks in advance

From everything I have heard, unless you are staying in San Juan, you do not need to fill out their portal.

Just did it with Cape Air a few weeks ago.....just tell the National Guards that you are connecting and show them your flight info..no issue..

Macaroni-

Did you do this with checked bags?

Thanks

Yes...got our bags, went to the side of the head of the line passing by the National guards, and told them we were connecting...have your flight connection info out for them to see..they let us right through....I was stressed about this part but was told on this sight that I would not have a problem....still stressed until I went thru...we were running short on time and there was a long line, but an airport person told us to go to the front and not wait at the back and just tell them. Then we went to check in with Cape Air and go thru security again.

Perfect...stressed as well and would prefer the COVID test 5 days before as opposed to trying 3 days prior

thanks my friend

Enjoy....we had a great land trip and did not mind the quarantine at all....it was 4 days of relaxing, our pool and had beach use. We did some bbq-ing and some take out delivered.

That is correct, traveling through your BVI test and approval is good.

Kindly visit our website for all your provisioning needs in the BVI
www.firstchoiceprovisioning.com

We are taking the "belt and suspenders" approach. The early flights from Miami to San Juan seem to arrive early, but ours is often late. That would mean missing Seaborne's only flight and possibly spending the night in San Juan.

By that time, we would be beyond the 3-day limit. They do testing at SJU, but it's super expensive. So we're getting a second PCR test the day before leaving home, results of which should be available. It's basically a $50 insurance plan.

Hi everyone--

So we are flying into SJU but because we are west coasties we will arrive late and will be staying at the airport hotel --inside the airport so not leaving the terminal--

I'm thinking that because we are overnighting we will have to comply with PR entry regs as well as BVI...

Does anyone here think that by late October the restrictions might be lifted for fully vaccinated?

Any thoughts are appreciated--

Margie

Those I know who've stayed at the airport hotel have had to complete the PR portal. No point speculating about October.

We will be flying in to SJU Friday and staying at airport hotel. Will do the portal to be safe, but will report back if it was necessary.

Flew in 8:00 pm tonight. Got a Porter to help with dive bag, etc. took us a back way to the hotel, But our portal downloaded QR code was scanned and ID checked. Did not have to go through PCR or temp screening. Hope that helps.

Fully vaccinated will not require PCR or any testing to enter PR

No PCR test for fully vaccinated people arriving on domestic flights; still required if arriving on international flights. Good news, but it looks like you still need the PCR exit test from the BVI.

That is not likely to change quickly - there is a lot of vaccine hesitancy in BVI in general - more so in Tortola and the government has to start incentive programs to get it done.

We flew MIA-SJU-EIS on American Airlines/Cape Air but booked as one record locator through AA. This is significant because bags are transferred quickly and without having to leave the secure TSA controlled area; we just walked from Terminal C, Gate 7 to Terminal D, Gate 4 which was 8-10 minutes.

Once arriving at EIS, here is what happened and how I wrote it for our family arriving later:

1) From the plane, you will be walked to a building where each of you will need to show your vaccine card, passport and travel authorisation. Much easier if these are printed out and you just hand them over. If not, do screen shots and have them ready. They will then hand you a test tube and a “Covid-19 FULLY VACCINATED” card. They will ask you to verify your name and DOB that is on the test tube. (The walk was 5 minutes adjacent to the tarmac into the building. The time inside was 3 minutes)

2) From that window, you will be instructed to go into an adjacent room for PCR testing. Sit in the chair and they will confirm your name and DOB on the test tube. They didn’t tell us anything about the “Covid-19 FULLY VACCINATED” card but you will NEED it later so hang onto it. (60-90 seconds)

3) Once you leave the room where the PCR test was done, you will be escorted to immigration where you need to show your negative test results (email or web link) from the place that did your Covid testing, BVI travel authorisation letter, vaccine card and passports (3-4 minutes)

4) From there you will be escorted to pick up your luggage. (30-60 seconds)

5) Now through Customs for declaration of fruits, foods and they will ask a couple questions about what is in your bags. We were each charged $10 for environmental fee. They did not search our bags. (2 minutes)

6) You will be escorted to the taxi stand kiosk which is just inside the exterior doors. He will need to see your BVI travel authorisation letter. Once he sees it, he will take you outside to a white table. (60 seconds)

7) At that white table, they will provide you with a GPS tracking device and charge each person $105 (paid Amex). This is where you must turn in the “Covid-19 FULLY VACCINATED” card.

8) The taxi driver will take your designated Quarantine location.

9) We stayed at the Wyndham Lambert Beach which was nice but very slow for room service due to high volume of people in quarantine. The guy that brought our room service was very nice and he delivered our dinner, breakfast and lunch ... hard worker! Be sure to check your order if staying here because each time there was something missing that he had to retrieve. The front desk staff was wonderful.

10) We were tested at EIS on June 4 between 4:55 PM and 5:05 PM and received our Quarantine Release Certificate at 4:53 PM on June 5 ... almost 24 hours exactly.

11) This is the information listed in the release:

If you are traveling with others, please ensure that everybody has been released before leaving quarantine.

While you are allowed to exit quarantine, you are still expected to ensure 6ft distance between you and others outside of your household, to wear a mask in public spaces and to regularly wash or sanitize your hands while in the British Virgin Islands. Failure to adhere will result in penalties.

Please do not cut, tamper with, or remove bracelets. Bracelets and tracking devices must be returned to the nearest police station using this certificate as evidence of release.

If you should develop symptoms of COVID-19, please call the Medical Hotline at 852-7650. Symptoms include, fever, shortness of breath, joint pains, headaches and loss of taste &/smell.

We flew MIA-SJU-EIS on American Airlines/Cape Air but booked as one record locator through AA. This is significant because bags are transferred quickly and without having to leave the secure TSA controlled area; we just walked from Terminal C, Gate 7 to Terminal D, Gate 4 which was 8-10 minutes.

Jay how did you book with Cape Air as one record locator?

Same question... All AA flights through SJU seem to be using Seaborne for codeshare connecting to EIS. From other comments, I would trust Cape Air a lot more than Seaborne / Silver to not cancel flights....
(For us, timing is critical to make the same day ferries to VG. I'd rather drive to the villa in the dark on VG than have to overnight on Tortola.)

So if you cannot codeshare, how much time would you add to the process at EIS to gather checked bag and go through security again?