PCR test has ended up being just outside of 72 hours

[Crochetandcoffeebreaks]

Posting here for traffic, not an AIBU at all.
I have a flight at 3.45pm on the 30th and had my PCR booked for today at 4pm. I ended up arriving a little early because I was unfamiliar with the area, and ended up having my test done at 3.26pm.
Will this be an issue at the airport? I've been so stressed about this since booking it, I can't believe I forgot all about the timing of it at the actual appointment!

But that’s within the time limit isn’t it?

I thought it would need to be from 3.45pm onwards to be within the the 72 hours?

Isn’t the key point the time before arrival of the flight in the other country? Or is this for permission to board the plane at all?

On the gov site it says "Passengers arriving from the UK will need:

A medical certificate indicating a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of travel (for passengers aged 10 or over)" - wouldn't this mean from the time of boarding?

I’d get another one ASAP. They may not accept the early one.

Depends how strict the staff are when they check. I would get another one just in case.

Needs to be done up to 72 hours of your arrival at your destination and not the time your flight departs at

I was dreading that @soontobe60 @overthebow 😔 I'm so annoyed at myself. I said I would wait until 4pm for my appointment but because it was quiet they let me go ahead with it!

@Crochetandcoffeebreaks

On the gov site it says "Passengers arriving from the UK will need:

A medical certificate indicating a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of travel (for passengers aged 10 or over)" - wouldn't this mean from the time of boarding?

Yes, it’s always been 72 hours max. before flight departure. I’ve never heard of what another poster mentioned re: flight arrival at destination. That would be a disaster to figure out. And especially as they’re trying to ensure you don’t have COVID before you get on the plane.

You can call the airline to make sure, but as we’re talking about a 19-minute difference, you’ll be inside the plane hopefully before that point. HOWEVER, since 72 hours is the maximum, they might advise that if your flight got delayed, even an hour, I’m honestly not sure if it would be acceptable to fly at that point? You have three more days to get another test and I would.

In general, I would be doing my test with a minimum 12+ hours to spare in the future.

I'm pretty sure it's arrival, eg look at these guidelines for spain:

documentation certifying that you have undertaken a COVID-19 nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT - e.g. PCR, TMA, LAMP or NEAR) within 72 hours prior to arrival in Spain and tested negative.

@sudokuwillnotsaveyou thank you for that reassurance, that's what I had thought from reading the gov site as well - they do another test once arriving in the country anyway so what would be the point in doing the test depending on the arrival time.
I'll call the airline tomorrow, and will look into another test. I'm definitely not looking to travel again during all this - I'm just looking to be reunited with DS after almost 2 years apart

I had to do a similar thing the other day and arranged it so that it was within 72 hours of my arrival time in another country (not departure from the UK).

In the end they didn't actually check anything in my arrival country.

The whole thing is a nightmare, as you have to consider 2 sets of rules for 2 countries (or even a 3rd stop over country), and the rules are constantly changing :(

I don't know what to advise, you will probably be ok, but probably might not be enough for you depending on your personality.

It sometimes is arrival time. Of course your flight could get delayed and I think they would be accepting of a flight delay but a friend went to Crete and at UK airport in August they were turning people away who had done it too early. It was arrival time in Crete. Not departure time at UK airport.

If it is arrival time it's not clear at all on the gov site :( all it says that it need to be with 72 hours of travel - for me travel begins at boarding.

We went to Portugal and they checked it from the arrival time. Nightmare to work out admittedly, but that was how they were calculating it back in August with Easyjet - at least on our flights

This happened to a friend of mine, she had to retake the test at the airport as she was 10 mins over the 72hrs. She ended up missing her flight.

It should be clear on the gov.uk travel site for that country (I know this is a hope, though). So for example, the people mentioning Crete are correct about Greece that it needs to be 72 hours before arrival (sorry, hadn’t heard of that). But then again, it also happens that if it’s Greece, if you're vaccinated, you don’t need a test at all, which it says on the page.

You can make sure you have the clear, correct, current advice by googling “country gov uk travel advice” and the first result should be “Country Travel Advice - GOV.UK”. Hit the “Coronavirus” section on the page and it should tell you very clearly, hopefully, what you need to travel to that country just like the part for Greece that I’ve attached, as an example. Make sure you’re in the coronavirus section, not just general travel section.

@hadjab that's really bad :( knowing my luck I'm sure the same will happen to me. I'm not sure if I can even afford another test right now, that's the worst part. Literally kicking myself over this.

Is it Barbados? Check their guidelines they have a timing plan.

The rules vary from country to country so you would need to check the advice for your arrival country. Most usually it is maximum of 72 hours before scheduled departure time, but this does create ambiguities. The US has changed its rule for this reason and specifies 3 days instead - so that if you are flying, for example, any time on Friday, you can take your test any time on the previous Tuesday. Then no one has to worry if the test was 20 minutes early (or whatever).

You might get lucky and find that your airline / arrival country takes a similarly relaxed approach where the test does not have to be done to the minute.

I hope you have a lovely time visiting with your son!

OK so I was looking at the entry requirements page earlier, on the corona virus page it says:

"In addition to the COVID-19 test requirements for entry (see Entry requirements), the government also require passengers to carry a negative test certificate for COVID-19, issued by a government authorised facility, on departure from Bangladesh." so this would be from boarding, right?

I feel like nothing makes sense anymore haha.
Thank you @fatannethedealer, I do hope they are more relaxed for the few minutes of the idiocy of my part, and will definitely have a good time once I get past this shitstorm :)