Airlines allow flight postponement to those who test positive for COVID-19
The airlines that operate in the Dominican Republic are flexible with the date changes to passengers who test positive for COVID-19, allowing them to postpone their departure date without the application of any penalties.
Counter service personnel of Jet Blue Airways, American Airlines and United Airlines at Las Americas International Airport confirmed the information.
“Those passengers who have their air tickets and reservation 72 hours before their departure and the PCR or Antigen tests are done and they come out positive for the virus, what we do is place them at a future date for their trip without applying any penalty for the change or the delay of the trip”, they pointed out.
An average of 300 daily PCR or Antigen tests are being carried out by the clinical laboratory contracted by the Dominican Airports XXI company, a subsidiary of the French international network, VINCI AIRPORTS, to serve travelers who arrive at the terminal without the COVID-19 test.
“At American Airlines we are not applying fines or penalties to travelers for changing the departure date of their trip because they have tested positive for COVID-19”, said an executive of the North American airline.
On January 26th, the United States government established that all international travelers aged two years or more had to present a negative test for Covid-19, as a requirement to enter its territory. Days later the same measure was established by the Spanish authorities.
At the beginning of the restriction measures, many travelers were left without traveling because they did not have the negative test document, in time, however, that situation has already changed as people have become aware of the situation.
“Already those here from the tests at the airport is not a problem. Passengers have become aware that they have to come to the airport beforehand with their anticovid-19 test carried out to be able to board the planes”, expressed an executive from JetBlue Airways.
Passengers arrivals
Likewise, personnel from the Ministry of Public Health continue to apply rapid random breath tests, apart from travelers entering the country, through the Las Américas International Airport.
A health staff on each of the flights randomly separates travelers who are subjected to the random COVID-19 breath test before allowing them to enter the Dominican Republic.
In the corridor that leads from the boarding area to the arrival migration room, there are tables with the medical and laboratory personnel of the Ministry of Public Health, where travelers are required for the health examination.
In the event that one of the passengers tests positive for the virus, he is transferred by health personnel to a specialized center located in the area to receive special assistance and remain in quarantine.
However, many foreign travelers aware that, in the country, the test against COVID-19 is being required to allow them to enter the national territory, they come with their document of their test already previously carried out.
Despite the restrictions placed by national and international authorities on travelers at airports due to the increase in COVID-19 cases, passenger flights to and from abroad are leaving with a good average occupancy.