It’s not smooth sailing when you arrive without these. Our latest update on travel to Hawaii includes comments from readers and their experience.
188 thoughts on “Better Have Ducks In A Row Before Travel to Hawaii”
Comments are closed.
It’s not smooth sailing when you arrive without these. Our latest update on travel to Hawaii includes comments from readers and their experience.
Comments are closed.
Thanks for that info. It’s a catch 22 in meeting Hawaiian requirements. We ordered our COVID test kit from Vault labs, as recommended. We ordered on Thursday for our flight the following Wednesday. The test was supposed to be shipped with UPS expedited shipping. Per UPS tracking, we won’t receive the kit until Monday. If we get it early enough on Monday, we might get results in time.
Thanks
AFC Portland is an “approved” partner for Hawaii Safe Travels. I am in Orange County California where there is AFC Urgent Care that says thaey have the NAAT Fast test that with results in about 20-25 minutes. They say they are contracted with Hawaii. Is this true? Can you go to any AFC Urgent care?
Thank you,
Robert
Hi Robert.
We can’t answer that. Others may comment or you can try to contact the state’s help desk 1-855-599-0888.
Aloha.
On Big Island we had all necessary test and documentation, but Oahu scanned our safe travels code so we had to “re-do” our safe travels at the gate and show negative paper results, not the uploaded version. Once we did that, we were tested by a person in a hazmat suit that was on our flight from Oahu (wearing the suit, booties & gloves) that never changed her gloves, even between people she tested. Glad we’re here, but not confident in the testing system. Thank you for trying, but please re-think the process.
We had a direct flight from phoenix, AZ to Maui. Got our test results from CVS they day before we left home. Uploaded everything on line to safe travels form, also brought photocopies (which we needwd) went thru the airport and got our pink slip with no problems. This was on October 16th. (Also had to show our paperwork to HERTZ Rental car and the hotel/condo front desk)
Ask the question before you use a quote. Did the test come from a “trusted partner”? If not, verification WILL take longer
Thank you, BOH, for your regular travel updates. I took the covid test at Walgreens on 10/22 for my flight to HNL on 10/25. Rec’d negative results late late evening 10/23. Then noticed the results showed incorrect “specimen collection date” of 10/21 10:00 PM – putting it outside of the 72 hour pre-travel time frame. Wonder if anyone else has had this problem? Had no confidence that the Walgreens lab could reissue a report showing the correct test date, and didn’t want to be at the mercy of the HNL screeners. Fortunately was able to get into another approved testing partner today, 10/24, and got an approved fast response test with negative results to upload on the Safe Travels website. Will keep fingers crossed that I can arrive at HNL tomorrow 10/25 and get exempted from quarantine.
Hi Jon.
How did it go on your arrival in HNL? Thanks.
Aloha.
Aloha BOH,
I would give this arrival screening a grade of 110 out of 100, with the extra 10 points for the welcoming attitude of the interviewer. The screeners were waiting for the arrival of our flight at gate a20 (HA11 SFO/HNL). The screening interview took less than 5 minutes. The lab report uploaded on the safe travels website the prior day had not yet been acted upon. So, she asked for a hard copy, took it to the supervisor of the interview station who approved it, and I received the exemption.
The screening station seemed to be dedicated to just our arriving flight. I was fortunate to be among the first passengers to disembark. So I did not have to wait in line at all. Realistically though, on an arriving flight with say 200 passengers, there will be someone who is the last to disembark and have to wait in line.
I do think the Hawaii state government and the airlines are doing the best to make the arrival screening process as easy for passengers as possible.
Mahalo.
Hi Jon.
Thanks. Some welcome good news.
Aloha.
If I’m flying to Maui next Saturday, should I get a covid test Wednesday or Thursday? The chart on Vault seemed to say Wednesday, but my friends who are traveling with me said they thought they should do it on Thursday. I don’t want to get it done too soon, but want to make sure my test results get back before I leave. Also, does it matter what time We fly out on Saturday as far as timing for testing goes? Any thoughts?
We took ours 70 hours before our flight. Worked out perfect for us.
I’m with vault too.. and it tells me to test Monday before my flight Wednesday. I think it’s too tight. But fingers crossed because even if I test on Sunday they can’t pick up and sent out my test till late Monday. So can’t test more than 72 hrs in advance. This is a crap shoot using these labs.
Test must be no more than 72 hours from last leg of flight to Maui.
Do no believe that is correct. 72hours from leaving for Hawaii! Not before last le of flight!
Here is the direct quote…With the Pre-Travel Testing Program, as it is officially called, in effect, out-of-state travelers arriving in Hawaii will need to furnish evidence of a negative FDA-approved nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT), performed using a nasal swab by a CLIA-certified laboratory, that was taken within 72 hours before arrival on the islands—in order to bypass the quarantine.
Copied and pasted from hawaiicoviid19.com, the official site:
A 14-day mandatory quarantine will be required for trans-Pacific travelers arriving WITHOUT a confirmed negative COVID-19 test taken within the 72 hours before departure of the final leg of their trip to Hawai‘i. Travelers will not be able to obtain a Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT) upon arrival at any Hawaiʻi airport.
That appears to be incorrect…With the Pre-Travel Testing Program, as it is officially called, in effect, out-of-state travelers arriving in Hawaii will need to furnish evidence of a negative FDA-approved nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT), performed using a nasal swab by a CLIA-certified laboratory, that was taken within 72 hours before arrival on the islands—in order to bypass the quarantine. NOTE: It says “on the islands” NOT at your final destination.
You can get it done Wednesday because that should be within the 72 hour mark of your departure for Maui. As long as it is you most definitely should be good. Just make sure it’s enough time to get the results back. I flew in to Honolulu on the Friday the 16th and had taken my test that wednesday morning, and had no problem getting my results back in a timely manner and being on my way.
I arrived Thursday SFO/HNL. Even though I uploaded the negative covid test result, the officer asked for a printed hard copy. Bring one with you! With all documents in hand and the QR code available for them to scan, it only took 10 minutes total including waiting in line and processing, before I was walking to baggage claim free from quarantine. There were 12 processing stations for my line of pre-testers with negative results in hand. Don’t know how long the lines were for the non-testers and testers without results- aka quarantiners.
Am OK with all of it EXCEPT having to have a printed copy!!! We have to leave our home (eg, our printer) 24 hours before our flight which gives our results only 48 hours to arrive. Yes, our hotel does have print capability for us but what if they didn’t or what if our results arrived in the middle of the night when we have to take the airport shuttle at 6:00am!>!>!>!
thanks for the info. Our friends traveled 2 days ago and it was a nightmare. Long lines, airport is all closed down, paperwork gets messed up, no one answers the phone …..they came home today….luckily American only charged $30 to change flight. Hawaii right now is not worth the hassle.