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.