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If I have one or more connecting flights to the US, does the 3-day period apply to the first flight or the last one? Do I need to get another test if I have a connecting flight?
If your itinerary has you arriving to the US via one or more connecting flights, your test can be taken within the 3 days before the departure of the first flight.
If the 3-day testing period expires before one of your connecting flights, you only need to get retested before boarding connecting flights if:
- You planned an itinerary incorporating one or more overnight stays en route to the US. (NOTE: You do not need to be retested if the itinerary requires an overnight connection because of limitations in flight availability.), OR
- The connecting flight is delayed past the 3-day limit of testing due to a situation outside of your control (e.g., delays because of severe weather or aircraft mechanical problem), and that delay is more than 48 hours past the 3-day limit for testing.
So it depends on whether "the itinerary requires an overnight connection because of limitations in flight availability".
Note also that they count it as 3 days, not 72 hours. So for your second flight departure, even if that is considered as the point of departure, any test taken in the 3 days before that flight, even very early in the morning, is valid. Of course timezones may play for or against you :-)