United Airlines to offer free pre-flight coronavirus testing on some flights to London

United Airlines is trying out a plan to offer free COVID-19 tests to passengers heading abroad.

From Nov. 16 to Dec. 11, United will start offering rapid coronavirus tests to people boarding flights from the airline's Newark, New Jersey, hub to London's Heathrow airport. The Abbott ID Now rapid tests will be available for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday flights, and passengers will have to show up three hours early and schedule an appointment to be tested in United's lounge.

Passengers who refuse a test will be moved to other flights to "guarantee that essentially everyone on board just tested negative for COVID-19," a United spokesperson told CNN. Still, travelers arriving in the U.K. will have to quarantine for 14 days when they arrive, as COVID-19 cases are sharply rising both there and in the U.S. once again.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has decimated the airline industry, and without a government intervention, airlines are trying whatever they can get passengers back on board.