Another wild tale from those who discovered firsthand what happens for not following Hawaii COVID protocols.
95 thoughts on “Still Not Following Hawaii COVID Rules: What Just Happened To These Visitors”
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My take on this… is yet another mainlander that didn’t do the proper reading or legwork for their trip. So many actually GET IT RIGHT…. This is just a case of an uninformed traveler blaming their -for lack of a better term- ignorance, on the state. I have no real pitty for her. What I will say… is that the state of Hawaii’s Safe Traveler app really is NOT user friendly for the generic public.
My daughter and her friend thought that a Covid test 6 hours before the three day threshold was good enough, and they were flying from LA to London! Sensibility and a bit of “Are you crazy?” prevailed and they went and got retested the next morning. Can you imagine if they were turned away and had to fly back from Heathrow to Los Angeles? What’s with all of this fuzzy logic?
Thank you for the reporting you do, I have been watching closely since Covid hit and I do agree it feels like Hawaii and some of the islands are making up rules on the fly. I love visiting Hawaii. But honestly this is why I will not be going there for a while yet. You can do everything you are supposed to but a test result comes back late and mandatory 10 day quarantine.
Regarding travel to Hawaii. Please get the correct test and follow all safe travels guidelines.
Otherwise, don’t hate on Hawaii. It’s getting old, complaining about the islands. We are trying to remain open and still have some measure of safety for everyone. We have tons of visitors every day, and they have figured it out. Travel in a pandemic is tricky and protocols have to be followed. Everyone has a vacation from hell story from a trip in their life. Part of it is how you plan and how you perceive life. Hopefully Latonia’s friends/clients will consider the source and make their own informed decisions.
Tourists are not contributing to your pandemic. Your local residents are doing 98% of the damage. You need to reign them in and stop blaming “mainlanders”.
If you want a great vacation, come to the Central Coast of California. Great restaurants, wineries, and 80-degree beach weather. We use common sense in dealing with Covid.
Thanks but it’s the locals who go to Vegas and bring covid back!
Please stay home. This is not vacationland, it is a state of emergency.
Thank you.
Went to Hawaii in June and earlier this month (Aug). Did not have any problems entering both times as the instructions are pretty clear on the Hawaii Safe Travels website. It is the traveler’s responsibility to be informed of the requirements. I flew 2 different airlines and each one reminded me of the requirements and provided the website. So the travelers who have issues cannot blame the state of HI
It’s really not that difficult.
Follow the rules exactly as stated on the Hawaii COVID website. Don’t ask advice of random sites or service providers. Get the correct, approved test, and yes it costs to do so. Upload all required info to Safe Travels 24 hours in advance. Make NO assumption that any variation to the rules or thinking the the right test from the wrong vendor will exempt you from quarantine.
Better yet, take a staycation at home and come to HI when the pandemic subsides.
Yeah, sure, caveat emptor and all that stuff. But the reality is the the testing requirements and rules are generally stupid and inflexible–and not the kind of thing that generates on-going good will and a positive brand experience for Hawaii. I haven’t been back to my house on Hawaii since September because of the ever changes and continuously stupid rules for inbound travelers. My nephew visited me in the mainland in April and literally could not find one single acceptable place to get tested in the Salt Lake City area that could guarantee his results would be back in the narrow window allotted by the state of Hawaii… so he just flew back without a test and had to quarantine at his home when he arrived.
The real question here is: Why, after having 18+ months to plan and execute a better system–is Hawaii still doing it the hard way? For example, if your test results–from an acceptable test through an acceptable partner–don’t arrive before your flight leaves–but become available while you are en route–or shortly after you arrive–why would that not be acceptable to the state? You clearly tested negative–and jumped through all the hoops… why be pedantic and make those folks quarantine or return home? Or why not set up testing facilities in the airports? For the folks that didn’t quite get it right–but at least made the effort and made honest mistakes or got bad information from somewhere? How hard would that be? And even if the state PAID for those tests–wouldn’t that be more than made up for in hotel taxes, sales tax at every bar and restaurant those travelers visited–the 50%+ tax on rental cars, etc, etc, etc?
If the point is TRULY public health and public safety, why not make that the ACTUAL focus of the safe travels program… instead of making it into some kind of gauntlet / IQ test that travelers have to make it through for the priviledge of spending their money in our state?
I can see your point, but 10’s of thousands, maybe 100’s of thousands of people have figured it out and traveled here without incident. Even some from SLC, I’d bet. Every system can be improved, but allowing for flexibility is just going to introduce uncertainty and inconsistency. How flexible? and who decides? and what kind of mood are they in the day they are being asked to be flexible? It is the inflexibility that makes it possible for people to rely on the rules. If they know exactly what will be required then they can rely on being able to bypass quarantine if they have what is specified.
I used safe travels and had ZERO problems. I called the airlines and they directed me to a testing site at the airport. Easy in and out had our test results in less than 8 hours. Quit whining and do what you need to do to get there if indeed you actually do want to go. This non stop whining about how HARD Hawaii is making things is out of control
We recently returned from 4 weeks on Maui. Minded all the rules and had zero issues. (Except for Maui airport’s ridiculously long TSA lines. Can’t they do an upgrade somehow?) An easy fix to solve this test result problem is for Hawaii to require visitors to be vaccinated. Show your card, buy your ticket, keep your mask on indoors. Hope you stay well, we are very sad to hear of the recent Covid surge.
Good morning, Unfortunately, we did not have a Covid test through a trusted partner, and although it was a negative PCR test at a hospital and we are both vaccinated, we had to go through a 10 day quarantine. Our last day of quarantine (safe travels app) is the 11th. Can we fly back to the mainland on that day? If we have a connecting flight with a Maui layover, do we need a Covid test?