Skiers Urged to Check Covid Entry Requirements

13th April 2022

Last modified on April 15th, 2022

Tens of thousands of people are still arriving at UK airports without the required Covid test certification for their destination country. Many ski countries do not require a negative test for vaccinated travellers but do for unvaccinated. UPDATED

The USA is the only main ski destination country that still requires a negative test for international arrivals.

Many still require a negative test for unvaccinated travellers.

The company, Cignpost ExpressTest, that has testing facilities at UK airports has said it has provided tests for thousands of travellers during the start of the Easter holiday break.

Some arrive at their airport unaware that they may need a negative test to enter the country they are heading to.

The UK has lifted all Covid restrictions so some people assume that all testing everywhere else has ended, but this is not necessarily the case.

“Many countries still have some level of Covid testing in place for arrivals. They include the US and most of Europe’s short haul destinations,” said the co-founder at Cignpost ExpressTest, Nick Markham.

“We are urging all holidaymakers to check the entry requirements carefully for their destination before their departure date, and to book all necessary tests at the airport or in advance.”

Cignpost ExpressTest offers a free tool for travellers to check the latest rules for any country at https://www.expresstest.co.uk/find-the-right-test/

Here at PlanetSKI we have checked the main ski nations in Europe – Andorra, Austria, France, Italy, Norway, Spain, and Switzerland.

Fully vaccinated travellers do not need a negative test, but negative tests are required by some for the unvaccinated.

It comes as travel disruption continue this week with some predicting the situation to get worse this coming Easter weekend.

PlanetSKI travelled to Tignes via Heathrow and Geneva, plus Andermatt via Gatwick and Zurich.

On Monday morning PlanetSKI reporter, Justine Gosling, was travelling from Gatwick to Zurich as she heads to the Swiss resort of Andermatt.

“Before 6am at Gatwick North the security queues were snaking the around the whole of the departure hall.

“They were moving and I got through in 30 minutes, but the queue was getting longer and longer.”

Her flight took off 30-minutes late as it was held on the runway, and then there were long queues at the border control in Zurich.

“I’ve been standing in the security queue for 40-minutes already and the queues are going back up the stairs and out of sight.”

Zurich airport. Image c/o PlanetSKI

It was better news for PlanetSKI’s Chief Reporter Jane Peel as she arrived at Heathrow to fly to Geneva en route to Tignes.

“I was pleasantly surprised at the relatively short queue for Swiss Air check in at Terminal 2 when I arrived just before 11.30 this morning,” she said at Heathrow.

Swiss Air check in at Heathrow Terminal 2 – photo © PlanetSKI

“It was moving quickly until three of the four bag drop desks closed and it was a while before the new shift of staff arrived.

“In the end I was done in 37 minutes from joining the queue to dropping my bag.

“The better news was that I got through security in about 3 minutes. Fingers crossed the other end goes well.”

The crossed fingers seem to have worked for Jane.

“The flight was delayed by about 45-minutes,” she later said on arrival at Geneva.

“There was a bit of a queue at passport control at Geneva but not too bad and the bags arrived efficiently.”

She then sped on her way to Tignes.

Worker shortages mean airports and ports are facing a “very difficult summer”, a border staff union has said.

Lucy Moreton, from the Immigration Services Union, warned that Border Force was “catastrophically under-staffed” and that it took nearly a year to train new officers.

Oe aviation recruitment expert said it would take at least a year for shortages to ease.

“Brexit has not helped with the issues we’re facing at the moment because we had a natural attraction of individuals from the European market who would apply for vacancies within UK airports,” said the managing director of The Aviation Recruitment Network, Kully Sabdhu, to the BBC.

“We no longer have that talent pool to recruit from and we are relying on individuals within the UK.”

We do our very best at PlanetSKI to ensure the information provided here is as complete and up-to-date as possible. However, please be aware that we assume no liability in this respect. Information provided by PlanetSKI should be checked with the official information provided by the authorities. The situation regarding travel warnings and local rules changes quickly.

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