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Better Have Ducks In A Row Before Travel to Hawaii

It’s not smooth sailing when you arrive without these. Our latest update on travel to Hawaii includes comments from readers and their experience.

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188 thoughts on “Better Have Ducks In A Row Before Travel to Hawaii”

  1. I just went through this process. I made an appointment before leaving the mainland to get a “quick response” test only to be told Hawaii didn’t accept it. I took the longer test knowing I wouldn’t get test results till after landing and I would need to quarantine for about two days. Despite my loading test results in about 2 days, it took two more days with follow up emails and calls to get this resolved. The hotel was close to calling the police and having them escort me to the airport but fortunately all was resolved and I was able to join my family who are residents of Hawaii.

    In my opinion, the process the State of Hawaii has set up is a necessary one to safeguard the people of the islands and for the most part, it works well. I would recommend improving the process for follow-up when some quarantines pending test results. Sadly it seems despite all measures taken, Hawaii may need to shut down again.

  2. Tested using both Vault and CVS. Both came back the morning of travel. Couldn’t get either to upload, but printed off and showed paper results in HNL and breezed through.

    Sat in KOA for an hour waiting on rapid tests. All negative.

    8 negative tests between the two of us just to get to my mothers home on B.I.

    But we followed the ever-changing rules up until checkin the day of travel.

    1. Did you follow the Vault time guidelines to test? I’m concerned it’s not enough time to get results back. But you seemed to get the results in time?

      Mahalo

  3. After multiple calls over two days we finally got to a real person (800-8004700), within an hour he had all of our test results approved. Have a tee time later today and excited to enjoy the rest of our time here. Thank you Michael S with the Safe Travels Team for getting us released. My suggestion for everyone flying to the Islands is to find an approved testing firm that does the instant testing. It was not available in our home town and we will drive or fly to a city on the mainland that does the next time we come over. Good luck to all.

    1. Trey…. Unless things have changed, the “instant testing” is not a PCR test which is what is required!

      1. Interesting comment. My wife is headed back to Hawaii next week. We will call Walgreens and confirm one way or another. Thanks for the heads up Barbara!!

  4. Please let me know if Nsight in Newport Beach, Ca is an “approved” testing facility for the required negative COVID Test. Thank you very much!

    Sincerely,
    Robert C

    1. Hey Robert
      Go to the Walgreens in Santa Ana at Bristol & Segerstrom. We got our results in less than 2 days and have been having a great time on Kauai since 10/15.
      Aloha & Good Luck Phil L.

  5. I took my test at CVS 10/19/20 and got my result the following day 10/20… my flight was with American Airlines on 10/22. I filled up the safe Travel form 24hrs before flight… with CVS, they will have you download an app called MyChart and there it will have a copy of your test results. As long as you follow everything promptly… it will be easy. You get in line at the airport after you landed and have everything ready… once you filled up the Safe Travel form it will give a “QR” barcode( this is very important to have) and just pull up your test result from the my chart app and your good to go. I love Hawaii and feels so happy to be back.

  6. To upload negative results after you leave the airport be sure your document is only one page long.

  7. I sympathize with the gentleman who said no one answered the phone as he was calling to get out of quarantine
    That was one more reason i canceled my Nov 7th 17 day trip to Oahu: i kept ing, three times, the Safe Travels Desk, with encountering only a voice message option. Left three Messages….No one responded to this day!
    I ‘love’the stories about how Hawaii would not accept even results from the Mayo Clinic nor probably Walter Reid.
    And how screenshots of results are not what they want…give me a break
    ..at 70 plus, lucky I can use my phone!
    I must admit, i got a real person to answer questions when i called Gov Ige’s office ! Helpful, and recommended Vault for pretravel test. Only at that time all i could Google as a result came up as men’s health only.
    Gave up.
    Waiting till they accept all clia approved labs. Just got back my Covid negative results , because of a fever, performed by tbe nys national guard, under the nys health department and the state university of ny. Nasal swab naat test took just over a day for results…dont think it was a pdf file…i would have screen shot to share..so much for my skills.
    Good luck Hawaii. Aloha, but……

  8. Thank you for the information. I will be flying to Honolulu in January and would appreciate any information you can give concerning COVID.

    Again, Thank you.

  9. First, thank you for this site. It has been very helpful.
    In planning for our trip we bought tickets on United out of SFO because of no service from SMF. Called to make res on the site for instant testing & was told no appointments avail on my day, Oct. 22., but to just come in. I was nervous about that. They charge 250.00.
    CVS started charging 139.00 for Hawaii travelers, so tried Walgreens. Got my test at noon on the 19th, to be within the 72 hour rule.
    Got my results at 11pm on the 20th. GREAT service from Walgreens, and no charge. Only problem was in HNL. They should have put those of us with results in a separate line. They had everyone in one line & many had not done their homework & did not do the online work ahead of time.
    Having a good time in HNL, but only a few favorite restaurants open. Many say opening in Nov., or unknown, and many gone forever.

  10. Laura – My husband just returned home to Hawai’i from fighting fire on the mainland. He went through CVS. You can make an appointment online 2 days prior to taking the test which needs to be done within 72 hrs. of arrival to your final destination in Hawai’i. His results were emailed to him in 48 hrs. He uploaded the result to his cellphone so he could show it to the National Guard or police at the airport. You also need to fill out a Safe Travels form right before your trip online to get a QR code (go to travel.hawaii.gov which has a great video explaining the whole process). He said the process was easy. This was the first time he was not quarantined coming home from fires since July so we were actually able to go out and enjoy the island together immediately when he got home!

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