I'm getting really concerned I'm not going to be allowed to board my flight to Costa Rica :/
I have a stopover in for a couple of hours in Houston, I won't need to leave the airport so assumed I'll be fine but I'm just doing my online check in (I'm due to fly Tuesday morning) and it's saying I can't board that part of the journey if I'm unvaccinated. WTF.
yeah, it’s true; airlines won’t let you board at all if there’s any risk to them as they are on the hook if you are denied entry
afaik, all requirements to enter US apply even if just in transit 🥴
Can you get an exemption?
Possibly, but I'm cutting it fine to even get seen by a doctor to sign off on that.
Yeah definitely call the airline ASAP.
I just did a kayak search of flights to Costa Rica with plane change in Houston and it does list conditions but I see no mention whatsoever of vax requirement. I'd call this a pretty substantive omission.
A quick search of requirements for transit passengers suggests an amended health order does also catch transit passengers, but following the links I can't easily see this information. I would ask the airline to direct you to it.
There are definite doubts about the CDC being able to make orders that have force of law, not least in the wake of the judgement against the EPA which says only Congress can pass laws. However, as a transit passenger you may have difficulty asserting any rights in this regard, and at this point the airline probably are the law. However, they may have failed in their contractual obligation, in fact I would say this omission is outright misleading, and may be intentional, since they profit from selling seats people can't take up. Showing it's "your fault" may mean double-booking laws don't cover it.
There is one other angle I can think of, and that is that participants in covid vaccine trials are exempt from this requirement. There is no harm getting yourself onto the control group https://vaxcontrolgroup.com/ and then stomping your feet that it is both discriminatory and damaging to the trial to refuse you travel.
Freedom Travel Alliance (Delores Cahill) may also have an angle.
https://www.freedomtravelalliance.com/
Good luck!
Just look this up. …..
*Important update (January 13, 2023)*
There are no special requirements related to Covid-19 with the exception of visitors from China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan who have been in those territories during the last 14 days.
These visitors must provide a PCR-RT or antigen Covid-19 test with a negative result that was performed by a laboratory less than 72 hours before their entry into Costa Rica.
Furthermore, individuals from the above-mentioned places of origin over the age of 12 must have a document that makes it possible to verify that they are up-to-date on their Covid vaccination.
Yeah, this is what I was working with so I thought I was fine. I didn't realise a transit through a US airport would mean extra restrictions.
This isn't looking great for me right now. I'm really gutted.
Seems like the best I'm going to be able to do is get credit from United for the cost of my flight. Seeing that all their flights go through the US that's going to be pretty worthless to me until/unless these insane rules change.
