VeriFLY: What’s My Favorite Word? “Stupid!”

VeriFLY is part of the Punxsutawney TPOL Trip Report, where TPOL leaves the basement. It’s finally happening despite inconsistent policies, interruptions, and human stupidity as explained in these posts:

• 11 Reasons Why I Still Don’t Want to Travel
• North Korea – Level 4: Do Not Travel
• We’re All In This Together, So Long As You’re Miserable
• Air TPOL Retiring From Travel
• Kayak Answers, “Can I Travel to…?”
• Don’t Route Via Panama
• Breakthrough Infections: Another Reason Not to Travel
• COVID Test for Return Travel Is Stupid

TPOL’s TIP: While Colombia does not require proof of vaccine or a negative COVID test, it does require that a health questionnaire be completed at least one hour before departure.  If you’re searching for the United States as your country of origin, you won’t find it. It’s under ‘Estados Unidos’.

The challenging, stressful part for my first international trip was attempting to check-in via the AA app. To do so, I had to download the VeriFLY app, a stupid app with a stupid name. And that’s putting it nicely.

First, there are no directions on AA for using the app. I logged in and had no idea what to do after the initial setup. I Google VeriFLY and learned that I needed to create a new pass. I attempted to do so by clicking on ‘visit to Colombia’. Why the list starts with ‘visit to’ and is not just an alphabetical list of all countries, I do not know.

After I selected Colombia and put in my flight information, I was instructed to forward a health declaration form to colombia@everifly.com. This reminded me of the ancient days when I would have to manually forward booking emails to the TripIt. I received a reply saying that my information did not match up. I tried it again and it worked the second time. For some reason, the app still didn’t show that I had met all the requirements. One hour later, I gave up. The next day I went to the airport and I still could not check-in online. Old school again, I had to go to the ticket counter and show the health declaration form.

The app is supposed to save time and make travel less stressful. It did not.