With the plethora of concerns and ruined Hawaii vacations you’ve been telling us about in hundreds of comments, here’s a bit of good news for Thanksgiving week. This morning Hawaiian Airlines announced the expansion of their COVID pre-travel testing program that guarantees results within 36 hours. Also, this bellwether of all airlines that serve Hawaii has spoken out about their suggestions for clearing up the testing mess. As you know, tomorrow (November 24) the Hawaii quarantine rules change significantly.
Big problems with timely test results.
As a result of increased COVID cases on the US mainland, we are hearing many reports that some of the current Hawaii testing partners are unable to provide results within 72 hours of the transpacific flight. That will leave visitors unsure if they are arriving at a Hawaii vacation or a long-term jail (14-day quarantine) sentence.
Hawaiian Airlines, with the most at stake, is moving quickly.
The airline is not happy with the changes that eliminate the temporary quarantine of those who tested properly but arrive still awaiting results. They said, “We continue to believe there should be consideration shown for those travelers who do the right thing and — by no fault of their own — do not receive their test results in time.”
Taking the bull by the horns, Hawaiian just announced Hawaii pre-travel tests for “its guests” at Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Portland, and Seattle.
Los Angeles is the newest location which opens today in Culver City, near LAX. That is in addition to the already open San Francisco location. These are in conjunction with their partner Worksite Labs. Tomorrow their third location will open in Las Vegas, which is in partnership with University Medical Center.
And lastly, Hawaiian has partnered with US BioTek for tests at one location in Portland and three in the Seattle area.
“We know how important it is for our guests to have convenient, reliable access to pre-travel tests and we are pleased to bring them more options in key gateway cities. Our dedicated testing locations guarantee guests will receive results within 36 hours of being tested, so they can meet the state’s requirements and focus on enjoying safe travel.” — Avi Mannis, Sr. VP.
The airline is also partnered with Vault Health for mail-in tests nationwide. Most of you have reported excellent results with Vault, and the major concerns (according to your comments) were about tests delayed in the shipping process.
For the Hawaiian Air options, see hawaiianairlines.com/covidtesting.
More reasonable costs ahead.
The current range of tests being offered in partnership with Hawaiian are priced from $90 to $105 per person.
Why hasn’t temporary quarantine for those awaiting results worked?
The state has been unable to manage the 6-7% of arrivals who are in that group who are awaiting results. The new Hawaii Tourism CEO said, “This has been brought about by the number of people who have arrived with no test uploaded, test results pending. That segment of traveler has caused a tremendous amount of workload and a bottleneck in the system.”
What about other airlines?
You can accurately say that as Hawaiian Airlines goes, so goes the state. So if this proceeds well as planned, and we certainly hope that is the case, you will see it expand to the other airlines. They all have so much at stake.
Will this travel update make you more inclined to visit Hawaii? Please share your comments.
Beat of Hawaii photo taken at Mahaulepu Beach on Kauai.
Tourism is the main staple for the state of Hawaii. If they can spend a few dollars to test the travelers with pending results, the return would be incredible, millions.. instead of being quarantined waiting for their results from mainland, tourist can be out and about contributing to Hawaii’s economy. Nothing comes free.. 🌴🤙🏽
Bravo! Well said! Extremely intelligent! WOuldn’t it be great if that was reality!
Hello,
We are currently quarantining on the big island as our test results (negative for all) were not received prior to flight departure on Nov 24, first day of the new rules. We used “Let’s check checked program” as recommended by American Airlines and followed all instructions, including waiting 3 hours for a virtual appt.
We were unable to rent a car. Now we will have one day after the 14 day quarantine ends to see the island, but we are trying to just be happy to be here.
We had planned to travel to Kauai on Dec 8 And will need to test to avoid quarantine there – any recommendations of what company to use for Interisland travel ?
I would just like to address the “excellent results with Vault” statement. Our family of six was supposed to fly to Kauai yesterday. Very few of Hawaii’s trusted partners are options for us in CO. We chose Vault b/c of articles like yours as well as the chart on Vault’s website that outlined which day to test based on what day you were flying to Hawaii and needed results. It all seemed very seamless and organized. We tested on the day we were supposed to, wrote “Hawaii Stat” on all of our mailers (as recommended), UPS delivered our tests on the day they were supposed to, but Vault failed on their own schedule. None of our results arrived on the day the chart promised. Worse, Vault only had one of our results available before out flight departed (without us- obviously). The rest of our family’s results trickled in throughout the day– useless. Vault’s results were fast compared to other labs, but unacceptable compared to their own schedule and what we needed to meet Hawaii’s requirements. We lost a vacation for a family of six b/c Vault misrepresented their capabilities. Interestingly enough, Vault changed their little Hawaiian testing chart yesterday (I have screenshots of their old chart versus the new chart). Now Vault says if you are flying on a Tues or Wed you should not use them. That information would have been helpful a week ago. Bottom line — please stop recommending Vault. Their lab is overwhelmed and they are not regulating capacity. They are not meeting their commitments to travelers. Do not choose Vault!
DANYEL J…
Just curious – were any of your travellers on Medicare because it appears we can’t even use Vault because we are Medicare covered. I keep wondering if it is only our state.
Hi Barbara,
No, none of us are on Medicare. I’m actually not familiar at all with Medicare. We just paid $900 (out of pocket) for late test results that lost us our vacation. Very frustrating.
Please let me know if there will
be a rapid response Covid test near Sacramento. We’e over 90 miles from SFO. We have Hawaiian Airline reservations to Kauai on January 10, 2021.
I took a test at Kaiser Roseville and after I took it, they said 3-5 days. I originally called and they said 1-3. I was down to my last resort and emailed City Health Urgent Care (Oakland airport) and they were able to see me today for 3 people at 1030 this morning. Paid $120 for expedited results and I got my test results back at 715 this evening. There isn’t a phone number, but they have been amazing at responding back via email and even Facebook messenger. Took me 4 hours total of driving and taking the test. I would have hands down took that route as Sacramento doesn’t have any rapid tests available. $120 was cheapest that I’ve found as well. We leave on Thanksgiving and I can finally feel relieved. Stress at it’s finest! Good luck and hope this helps!!!!
Hi Carolyn.
Congratulation on getting through all that and letting us know. Have a great trip.
Aloha.
Hi Carolyn,
I also have a test scheduled at Kaiser but in South Sac. How long did it take to get your Kaiser results? I was also considering driving to Bay Area to Hawaiians partner Worksite labs is SF. Thanks for sharing your experience with CHUC in Oakland. I may book there instead. Did you pay online at the time of booking or when you arrived to take the test?
Thank you for all you do. It’s sites like this that will save the day in the end! Best of luck to us all and happy Thanksgiving 😊
Hi Dianne.
Thanks. We appreciate your nice words. Happy Thanksgiving.
Aloha.
I am go to be visiting family in January. I will be flying from Indiana to Arizona then on to Hawaii. I am concerned my test done before leaving won’t be honored. Anything you can tell me would be helpful. Thank you.
Hi Carol.
You didn’t say if you were connecting or stopping over. In any event, the test must be within 72 hours of the scheduled departure of the flight from Arizona. Hopefully, there will be more options between now and January.
Aloha.
Thx-
Too bad Hawaiian Air Does Care about PHX passengers. We fly them all the time to Honolulu, and the haven’t proved themselves the most customer friendly air carrier. Must have miss placed the Ahola Spirit, glad they have found some.
Same here, have had an HI vacation planned since last year, I live in a rural town that does not have any “approved” testing facilities. I would have to drive 4.5 hours round trip to get a test then drive 2 hours to Albuquerque to take off to lax at 6am then HI. How in the world do they think anyone in us who does not live in a big city, can pull this off??? I’m about to give up, call American and spend my hard earned money and vacation in a place where they want me. I know you are just the messenger but you did ask us to share our frustration. Thank you
Hi Dianne.
Thank you for sharing your experience and frustration. You’re right – that’s what we asked for.
Aloha.
Mahalo
Aloha. I sent a note to Governor Ige and some others and happy to share it with you but it is a word doc. The gist of it is this. From the East Coast or the Midwest it is almost impossible to accomplish getting to HI with anything but an 108 hour grace period before boarding the plane to HI. The only way around it is what this article talks about. Here is how it would have to work. You fly to the “designated city” you spend 2-3 nights there. Day 1 early flight to desig city on West Coast, take test. Clock begins after gets to lab. Day 2 test processes. Day 2 night results in or in AM of Day 3 and you enter them in system. Day 3 you wait for system to say good to go. Day 4- board plane. Unrelated but my question is what if you island hop? We are trying to come home to visit mom in Hilo, dad on Oahu and then chill on Maui. Mahalo
Hi Randy.
You will need to test before mainland departure, then test on Oahu before Maui. No test needed before travel to Oahu.
Aloha.
Randy,
You describe exactly what we did in early November. Traveled first from Wyoming to San Jose California on Friday Oct 30th. Took Vault tests Monday 10:30 am Nov 2nd, and dropped off at UPS store by noon. Got results late Tuesday Nov 3 (election day!); uploaded results and filled out Health Questionnaire morning of Wednesday 4th; results were immediately accepted, and we received the QR codes from the questionnaires being completed; Got on plane for your 9 am flight Thursday 5th.
The extra travel/expense involved is not insubstantial. Was not a problem for us, because we are able to combine with visiting many friends and family we have in SV area, but that is a deal breaker for anyone having only one week total available, since most all of it would be on west coast instead of on Hawaii.
As long as you have UPS store in reasonable distance, you should not have to do this just to make the three days, but you then have to trust Vault. For reasons expressed in these comments, that is gambling a bit.
Aloha David. The solution I ran through is the only one we could see happening but 3 nights in San Fran or LA or Vegas is not what we are trying to do so there is that. As a general comment for broader readers, there are many points of failure and that is the problem. From East Coast, many airlines have stopped non stop from airports to West Coast- that adds time. From what I have seen on the back end, there is no assurance of timeline once you put your negative result into the SafeTravels app, so website suggests 24 hours- that adds time. The squeeze is simply too much when squeezed from both sides of the trip. Many many issues and it is not just about the new mandate of having a test before you take off- that actually makes a lot of sense to us, but the 72 hour has to be extended. We calculated 108 hours which was Day 1 Test- Days 2,3,4 test process. Day 5 Put into SafeTravel App and fly to West Coast hoping app is updated when you land. Day 6 fly to Hawaii. (This is normal for East Coast 2 days to fly to HI). So HI either extends hours or East Coast is shut out of Hawaii- unless you plan 3 days on West Coast before HI.
Are they going to get more travel partners not located on the west coast? We are on a direct flight from Chicago and there is nothing other than CVS and Walgreens, which often take longer than 72 hours, to accommodate people not on the West coast.
Aloha Stephanie
We live in AZ (from IL) and got our rapid test at Walgreen’s. We had results in less than an hour. A quick search of participating stores shows several in the greater Chicago area. Just be sure to choose rapid test locations. You can easily back time the 72 hours with a direct flight. Pomaika’i
I could say so much but here is my advice after the experience my family had after reading every forum, being from Seattle and being uber prepared.
1) Use Carbon Health if testing in Seattle/Flying out with Alaska. They get you results under 24 hours. I got mine in 12. Lots of appointments daily and last minute as of the 22nd of November. Clearly Alaska wants travelers and doesn’t want testing to stop that.
2) Be careful with Vault! We ordered 4 tests and sent them back 80 hours before we flew (yes, not 72 hours because Vault has an exception to the time stamp so you can test Thursday morning even if you are flying out Sunday evening- that part had me worried that our tests would be rejected, but I was assured they would not)
*WRITE “STAT HAWAII” on the inside box not just on the shipping bag (we were told it didn’t matter.. BUT, 3 of my family wrote it on the inside and outside and got their results in less then 24 hours) My results they couldn’t find a result and assured me they be there Saturday night. They did not come. When Sunday morning came we had to rush to find a testing site (Carbon Health!!) for my test which wouldn’t come till the next day.
3) If one in your party has a delayed test do not travel with them! You will all be subjected to quarantine! Better option is to ask the airline to change your ticket and travel when your result comes. That is what we did and they helped us for free since we had done everything right and the testing company messed up. THANK YOU ALASKA AIRLINES!!!!
4) Argue for your money back for missing tests. Vault was at least apologetic and paid for all 4 of our tests since it caused such a hassle.
I thought I’d posted this already so apologies if this is a duplicate…
IF you are traveling over Christmas or New Years… Be very diligent in your homework regarding testing as even the 24/7 shop at Vault is not working full days and UPS’s shipping schedule is limited. (Vault’s website has infinite detail on monitored calls, lab hours and even UPS shipping.) (Azova doesn’t work on Saturday and Sunday anyway and Christmas and New Years are on Fridays.)
We’ve actually moved our trip out two weeks because we couldn’t see how we could get tested on time for a 12/27 departure. (We have no access to Rapid Results testing.)
I tried to schedule testing in Las Vegas for our return Hawaiian Airlines flight back home to Hawaii in 3/9, and received message that no appointments available. (At airport). Now what?
If you truly mean your travel is March 9, I doubt very much any appointments would be available yet. If I misread your comment and you can provide accurate date, I’ll be happy to give suggestions.
It’s not mentioned that the test in Culver City is $90 per person. But with that said, the security of knowing that it will be done on time and accepted when I arrive in HI is worth it.
Hi Carole,
It’s pricey to travel during a pandemic both for your heath and the health of those around you, not to mention your wallet.
Please help us keep the islands safe by quarantining in LA as well in before your flight and wearing a mask and distancing form others as much as possible in flight. Also, when in the islands please take a post travel test to continue to ensure the safety of the islands along with wearing our masks and following state & county guidelines.
Thank you for your diligent work in keeping us updated!
Hi Diane.
Thanks for saying that.
Aloha.
I commend Hawaiian Air and others who may be proactive in trying to save their businesses. But it doesn’t make much difference because the HI government is still unpredictable and inconsistent in their actions. As long as the target keeps moving, visitors can’t effectively plan a vacation to HI.
It is a start. Does not answer problem of people who do not live in the four areas served. It means a 2 day lay over. Because of this, I have cancelled my 2 months on the islands. Maybe see you next year!