TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Hopefully Arriving Tuesday

We go in the morning to get our covid rapid antigen test ahead of our Tuesday flight to St. Maarten. Will be sending test results and other necessary info to St. Maarten shortly thereafter and hoping for a quick approval. Given that tomorrow is Easter I'm not sure how long it will take to get that approval. Fingers crossed that all goes well and we make it on Tuesday. Looking forward to making it back to our favorite island.

Best wishes!

Thanks Carol.

Wishing you safe travels and no issues with travel docs. Enjoy!

Fingers crossed for you Carib....keep us posted please!

Thanks all. And Happy Easter!

Wife and I were tested this morning....both negative. Had my EHAS form completed and submitted by 11:15 a.m. and had approval back in less than 45 minutes. Had the wife's form submitted shortly after 11:30 a.m......and I'm still waiting. It's almost as if someone worked til lunch and then left (it is Easter). Hoping I will hear something soon as I still have some reservations to make that I have held up on because I will be out the money if wife doesn't get approved. Oh well.

worse case.....resubmit. see what happens. nothing to lose

Thanks Carib...best of luck on your wife's approval. If not today, you still have all day Monday to hear back. I'm with Ed....resubmit and then call the 800 number first thing Monday....or even today.

I'm curious what time your last leg flight to SXM is from the US? I'm assuming it's Tuesday late morning or afternoon so that you are within the 48 hour window? I always worry about having a delay that might put us over the 48 hour window.

The applications are distributed to different people, most of whom are working from home. Hopefully you'll get her approval soon.

All's well that ends well. Finally heard back on my wife. She was DENIED after I was approved. I went into panic mode. Denial was due to antigen test not being from an approved supplier. Finally realized that our test reports just included a generic term for the antigen test....not the specific test used. Thank goodness I live in a small town. Since the lab used was at my local hospital, and since I knew the folks who work there, I was able to get the test reports modified to include the specific test info. Resubmitted to St. Maarten and had approval for my wife within 2 hours. Currently sitting in the terminal waiting for our flight. Interesting how St. Maarten approved my application even though it had the same test information as my wife's...who was denied. I told my wife they love me more. One other note of interest....when I checked into my flight this morning, the lady at the counter looked at my approval form and said, "it says pre-approval. Do you have final approval?" I told her that is all you get because St. Maarten reserves the right to refuse you entry once you get there. This pre-approval just allows you to get on the plane. She finally went to a supervisor before eventually printing my boarding passes. Getting to St. Maarten can't come soon enough.

CaribLee--Glad you are on your way. I thought ANY antigen test was acceptable these days, according to the information on the official SXM website. And thanks for the note about the "pre approval", as I have heard some other people mention that also. Sad and kind of scary, that the airlines do not know that part of it, after all the hoops one has to go through, in order to get there. Hopefully clear sailing from here on out!

Thanks Carol. Plane taxiing to runway now. Should be in St. Maarten by 1:30.

Enjoy!!

Lee....enjoy every minute!! Just be careful of the ''time bandit''....He is working hard to steal people's time on the island. He just stole the quickest three weeks of my life!! I think he is working harder than the ''sand Looking forward to your reports.

Has to be an FDA approved test.

Well, yes, any FDA approved test..

welcome, just completed 12 days 25 March and am ready to return already. Looks like November is the next trip

Thanks Ed. And I enjoyed reading your trip reports. You made good use of your 3 weeks. We are here 17 days so we look forward to visiting old favorites as well as trying some new adventures. I tend to read more than I write but will try to post a few of our experiences and observations.

Thanks bizz. Here 17 days and returning again in August. I know the time will pass quickly.

CaribLee....so glad things worked out for you!

Couple questions...

Did EHAS provide an explanation as to why you wife's application was denied or did you have to call/email them and find out why it was denied?

Did they offer an explanation as to why yours was approved and hers was denied when the lab results were identical?

Lastly, can you tell us what EXACTLY the form said that they didn't like and what the revised form said that allowed it to be accepted.

We are working with a short window of time with a weekend and holiday(Memorial Day) in between testing and departure.

Greatly appreciate you sharing your experience!

The email said DENIED--test not an approved test. There was no other explanation. I went back and looked at our lab test reports. Under test it simply said COVIDAG. I googled that term thinking it might be a type of antigen test. I quickly realized it was just a generic term used by the lab--not the specific antigen test (manufacturer of the test) and that was confirmed by my lab contact. I assumed this was the reason my wife was denied. I told the lab they needed to add the specific test used to our lab reports. Thank goodness I live in a small town and know who to talk to to get things done. The test and lab work was done at our local hospital and they literally let me walk back to the lab, talk directly to the lab manager and stand there while he typed in the info I needed and printed it out. Don't think you would be able to do that most places. He added "Beckton Dickinson Veritor System 256082 for rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 authorized by EUA for emergency use in USA" to my lab report. Again....identifying the specific antigen test used. I resubmitted my wife's application with the updated lab report and wife was approved in less than 2 hours. I have no answer for why I was approved initially and my wife was not. I assume one person looked at my test and made the determination that it was fine while someone else reviewed my wife's and didn't see the specific info they were looking for. My recommendation is to make sure that your test report lists the specific antigen test used.

CaribLee--I think that is probably the answer, your file was looked at by a different person than your wife's. There have unfortunately been many instances in which the information was exactly the same for two parties and one was accepted and one rejected.

Carol, I'm pretty sure that was the case as my application was approved in less than 45 minutes while it took 6 hours to hear back concerning the wife.

Very helpful information, CL....thank you so much!

Have a great vacation!