PAL covid test facility

[justinedr 27]

Has anyone tried doing the covid test at PAL Learning Center (Manila) or PAL Gate 3 (Pasay)? How true is their turnaround time of 24 hrs to release the results? 

[flicks1998 1,044]

1 hour ago, justinedr said:

Has anyone tried doing the covid test at PAL Learning Center (Manila) or PAL Gate 3 (Pasay)? How true is their turnaround time of 24 hrs to release the results? 

I’ve heading there Thursday morning for a flight Friday night. I wouldnt use any other place as my thought is I’ve booked a flight through them, I’m arranging a test through them so they should make the cutoff times. I wouldn’t trust other places though. Also you can do an antigen test which turnaround time is 30 minutes. I’ll post how it goes. 

Edited February 16, 2021 by flicks1998

[justinedr 27]

6 minutes ago, flicks1998 said:

I’ve heading there Thursday morning for a flight Friday night. I wouldnt use any other place as my thought is I’ve booked a flight through them, I’m arranging a test through them so they should make the cutoff times. I wouldn’t trust other places though. Also you can do an antigen test which turnaround time is 30 minutes. I’ll post how it goes. 

Thanks. Looks like we're heading toward the same timeline. My flight's next week Friday night, and planning to take the test Thursday morning too. But I'd like to do the RT-PCR test rather than the antigen one.

[flicks1998 1,044]

5 hours ago, justinedr said:

Thanks. Looks like we're heading toward the same timeline. My flight's next week Friday night, and planning to take the test Thursday morning too. But I'd like to do the RT-PCR test rather than the antigen one.

Are you on the PAL LAX or JFK?  Im on the Feb 19th flight to JFK.  Despite the higher costs, the PCR test is the better one to take and much more reliable.  Although the federal law in the US states that an antigen or PCR test is OK, some states require a PCR test.  I believe most of the antigen tests in the Philippines come from China and tend to have a higher rate of false readings, although there can be much more false negatives compared to false positives.  

 

PAL says results come in within 24 hours.  Since Im on their flight, Im sure they will make it happen.  It would be a disaster if the Learning Center could not meet the 24 hour period.  Ill be there sometime between 8-10am on Thursday morning and will post what happens afterwards. 

[justinedr 27]

1 hour ago, flicks1998 said:

Are you on the PAL LAX or JFK?  Im on the Feb 19th flight to JFK.  Despite the higher costs, the PCR test is the better one to take and much more reliable.  Although the federal law in the US states that an antigen or PCR test is OK, some states require a PCR test.  I believe most of the antigen tests in the Philippines come from China and tend to have a higher rate of false readings, although there can be much more false negatives compared to false positives.  

 

PAL says results come in within 24 hours.  Since Im on their flight, Im sure they will make it happen.  It would be a disaster if the Learning Center could not meet the 24 hour period.  Ill be there sometime between 8-10am on Thursday morning and will post what happens afterwards. 

i'll be on PAL's LAX flight. i agree, rt-pcr would be the more reliable option. i'm just being overprepared about the timing. i appreciate your feedback.

[flicks1998 1,044]

We did the PCR test today. Everything was done quite efficiently although at first they recorded both our birthdates wrong. I didn’t see anyone doing an antigen tests but seemed most people there were flying to the Middle East.  
 

They said 24 hours turnaround so let’s see. There is a possibility our flight to NY is cancelled with that storm coming which is going to create chaos if it happens. We have to beat the Feb 24 visa expiration date so we may immediately rebook to lax or take the ANA flight if the worse case happens.  Oh, Taal volcano may blow again.  

[flicks1998 1,044]

On 2/16/2021 at 9:07 PM, justinedr said:

i'll be on PAL's LAX flight. i agree, rt-pcr would be the more reliable option. i'm just being overprepared about the timing. i appreciate your feedback.

We got our PCR test results back in about 10 hours.  Now hoping the flight is not cancelled tomorrow.

[justinedr 27]

thank you for the update @flicks1998! wishing you a smooth and safe flight. 

[Talako 778]

8 hours ago, flicks1998 said:

We got our PCR test results back in about 10 hours.  Now hoping the flight is not cancelled tomorrow.

Good luck

[flicks1998 1,044]

On 2/18/2021 at 8:04 AM, justinedr said:

thank you for the update @flicks1998! wishing you a smooth and safe flight. 

We made it back OK.  No questions were asked at Immigration although they seem to have a different process in place where before you check in, a person screens everyone making sure they have the proper documents.  We had to show the visa, CFO paper and the sealed packet of papers from the Embassy.  At immigration, she just gave them the copy of the CFO and passport, but no questions were asked.  Just stamped through.

 

Im not a big fan of PAL but since it was a direct flight and we had alot of "stuff", it was easier to take this then connecting.  They were EXTREMELY strict on everything, even the size of the carry on, measuring things down to the inch if they had too.  I dont remember them being like this before, especially for a flight that was only about 60% full or so.  Once travel gets back to normal, we will fly different airlines going back.  

 

Youll need to show your COVID test results at about 3 different places.  First at security before you enter the airport, then at check in, and then just before you board your flight.  When we arrived at JFK, the National Guard was there just after you leave customs collecting the NY state quarantine forms.  They didnt ask any questions, just collected the forms.

 

 

[justinedr 27]

4 hours ago, flicks1998 said:

We made it back OK.  No questions were asked at Immigration although they seem to have a different process in place where before you check in, a person screens everyone making sure they have the proper documents.  We had to show the visa, CFO paper and the sealed packet of papers from the Embassy.  At immigration, she just gave them the copy of the CFO and passport, but no questions were asked.  Just stamped through.

 

Im not a big fan of PAL but since it was a direct flight and we had alot of "stuff", it was easier to take this then connecting.  They were EXTREMELY strict on everything, even the size of the carry on, measuring things down to the inch if they had too.  I dont remember them being like this before, especially for a flight that was only about 60% full or so.  Once travel gets back to normal, we will fly different airlines going back.  

 

Youll need to show your COVID test results at about 3 different places.  First at security before you enter the airport, then at check in, and then just before you board your flight.  When we arrived at JFK, the National Guard was there just after you leave customs collecting the NY state quarantine forms.  They didnt ask any questions, just collected the forms.

 

 

Very helpful update. I may have to rethink my carry-on if thats the case these days. Never had issues with it before with PAL but if they do ask me to fit my big backpack in a sizer it’s not gonna go well. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[flicks1998 1,044]

On 2/21/2021 at 2:27 PM, justinedr said:

Very helpful update. I may have to rethink my carry-on if thats the case these days. Never had issues with it before with PAL but if they do ask me to fit my big backpack in a sizer it’s not gonna go well. 🤷🏻‍♀️

They werent necessarily measuring by that metal sizer that some airports have.  I had a painting that measured in total 45 inches, which 45 inches is the allowed carry-on maximum dimensions.  I was repeatedly told I could not bring it on the plane and luckily I had a tape measure in my check in bag and measured it for them.  I also had another art statue that measured 46 inches and it took a ton of pleading to allow that to be carried on.  Thats all the two of us had and we were well within the restrictions set by PAL of having a carry-on, plus a laptop bag, plus another personal item.

 

In PAL web-site, they say if you have any questions on what you can bring onboard, use the TSA website.  TSA says frames with glass are OK, but PAL at the airport was saying frames with glass is not OK.  Luckily I had told them there was no glass on the painting and it was so well wrapped in bubble wrap they decided to not go any further.  Also, we had 3 checked in bags (we are entitled to 4 between the two of us) and one bag was 24 kilos.  They made us take out 1 kilo which was basically the 4th bag that I had placed in another bag.  Check in took 30+ minutes.  Total time at immigration tooked 1 minute   Total time at security took 1 minute   

 

 

Edited February 22, 2021 by flicks1998

[***Abby*** 0]

Good day! Just want to ask if you will be allowed to return to your home after you do the swab test at PAL facility? I have a flight on Friday and will do the swab test tomorrow. Someone told me I won't be allowed to return home because they will quarantine me after the test. Is that true? I was asked through PAL's health online form, where I want to be quarantined and I put home. 

[justinedr 27]

Just now, ***Abby*** said:

Good day! Just want to ask if you will be allowed to return to your home after you do the swab test at PAL facility? I have a flight on Friday and will do the swab test tomorrow. Someone told me I won't be allowed to return home because they will quarantine me after the test. Is that true? I was asked through PAL's health online form, where I want to be quarantined and I put home. 

Yes youre free to go anywhere after the swab test. Quarantine after the swab test is not required. I wasnt asked some attestation or address or contact number at the facility that would make me think they were requiring me to quarantine. 

[***Abby*** 0]

1 minute ago, justinedr said:

Yes youre free to go anywhere after the swab test. Quarantine after the swab test is not required. I wasnt asked some attestation or address or contact number at the facility that would make me think they were requiring me to quarantine. 

I see, thank you so much!