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Laker4115

I have been traveling to Colombia for many years and am accustomed to a lot of the complications of the Colombian bureaucracy, but their latest antics have created a new high in their art of making life complicated to enter their beautiful country.  My wife and I just entered yesterday and were familiar with the Covid PCR test that had to be done within the 72 hour window prior to entering the country, we did this and had the document ready to go to Colombia.  However our big surprise happened when we arrived at American Airlines in Minneapolis.

We learned there that what used to be a physical information document that you would fill out on the plane prior to arriving in Colombia, now needs to be on line before American will let you board the plane.  This includes not only address, phone, etc. of where you will be in Colombia but also pictures of the PCR test results, passport photographs,  and all the airline information.  Once the Migra of Colombia has all of this in their records you get a certificate sent to your phone so American let's you board the plane.

We are elderly and only use the phone for calls and do not have the manual dexterity with a phone that  today's young texters have.  We had no idea that this little bureaucratic trap had been set-up by the airline and the powers that be in Bogota,  and all of this at three in the morning when we have to board a five a.m. flight to Miami.  Plus we do not have the latest iPhones so our connection to the Colombian Migra kept getting dropped in the Minneapolis airport.

Fortunately for us there was a young twenty something Colombian binational who had also been stopped from boarding because he had a Covid test but it was not the PCR test required by the Colombian government, so he saw our distress and had the time and the physical dexterity to help us get the certificates from the Colombian Migra to get through all these landmines so that we were able to board the plane and come to Colombia.  I write this because neither the airline or the American Embassy in Bogota have the resources to let you know about travel to Colombia in today's world.

Landstryker

Yes, tbey have been doing this for a year now. It's called Covid.

cccmedia

Landstryker wrote:

Yes, tbey have been doing this for a year now. It's called Covid.


That's a bit flippant. 

The rules have changed over the course of the past year.  The imposition of new changes and requirements should be communicated early to Boomer Expats who did not grow up inhaling later generations' online skills and may not be equipped in knowing how to apply them under pressure at an airport.

The lesson is to check and keep checking on government and your airline's rules, so you arrive at the airport prepared to the extent possible.

cccmedia

ivnbeach

I'm a retired American Airlines pilot living in Cartagena. The rules are changing frequently. The best think to do before you travel, is go on the American Airlines web site and look up the current COVID, Pre Migracion, etc, requirements before you book travel. They have a special section where you select the country you are traveling to, with the latest COVID related requirements for travel.

Landstryker

Yes, it was. My bad, but as travelers we have a responsibility to check the requirements for travel beforehand, especially during a year-long pandemic. I took some umbrage at the attitude that somehow the Colombian government had gone out of its way to make life hard for travellers. Most governments have been implementing these kinds of requirements during this pandemic.

cccmedia

ivnbeach wrote:

I'm a retired American Airlines pilot living in Cartagena. The rules are changing frequently. The best think to do before you travel, is go on the American Airlines web site and look up the current COVID, Pre Migracion, etc, requirements before you book travel. They have a special section where you select the country you are traveling to, with the latest COVID related requirements for travel.


While good in concept, the American Airlines site page for passenger requirements appears to be out of date.

For instance, I searched on the site at the world map for USA travel to Ecuador.  The site told me that travel is available with restrictions. What restrictions?  Doesn't say.  Am I looking at the right page?  Readers, please provide a link or search terms if necessary to locate the information.

Item... A covid test is required for the trip, the site says.  Nothing about proof of vaccination instead of testing, or in addition to testing.  Again, a link might be useful to track down the full story.

cccmedia

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