What does a maximum of 72 hours before travel mean?

[TedOnTheBed]

Morning, my brain is just not comprehending what this means. I have no excuse except for I am stressed out about travelling for the first time since covid because I don’t want to get it wrong and be denied entry on arrival. We are travelling to Turkey May half term, 2 adults fully vaccinated, 2 teens fully vaccinated and a 9 year old which is treated the same as a full vaccinated traveler as under 12. You have to fill out a health form for entry a maximum of 72 hours before arrival. I just want to check what this means, if you travel Friday afternoon at 5pm you have to fill out the form no earlier than 5pm Tuesday? Then I doubted myself didn’t want to be late with the form and now not sure if it means the latest I could fill the form out would be Tuesday 5pm?

Yep, if your flight is at 5pm on Friday, the EARLIEST you can fill out the form is 5pm on Tuesday.

But you've mentioned arrival time. Normally it's from when the flight takes off, rather than arrives. So check that wording. Or do it 48 hours beforehand to be on the safe side.

Also have you done your visas?

Oh sorry, it's changed and you don't need a visa now. Used to be £20ish online before travel. Sorry!!!

Thank you @colourmebladd, you no longer need visas to enter Turkey, this visitor health form has replaced them due to covid as far as I can tell from the website.

This is a difficult one because I've read about people being tripped up by time differences, take off/landing times and even flight delays.

But as it's a maximum of 72 hours before travel, you need to do it closer to travel, not earlier (if you did it too early, you'd have more chance to get covid in the interim so the form would be less valid).

To avoid getting it wrong due to any of the above, I'd do it well within the window, eg about 48 hours before.

No more than 72 hours before.