Update, 9/24: In preparation for the resumption of tourism to Hawaii, United announced that they will offer rapid COVID-19 tests at San Francisco International Airport for passengers with same day flights to Hawaii. Rapid test results will be available in just 15 minutes. United will also offer an overnight mail-in self testing option and will expand testing to other airports.
The rapid tests are not as accurate as PCR tests, but United says that they worked with the state of Hawaii and passengers who test negative on either test will be able to avoid quarantine. United will fly to all 4 major Hawaiian islands from San Francisco starting on 10/15.
Do you think more airlines will start offering COVID-19 tests for destinations that require them?
Update, 9/17: Hawaii will delay its reopening until at least October 15th. They say that they hope to stick to that date this time around, but it’s tough to make plans when reopening has been delayed several times already…
Update, 8/19: Hawaii will delay its reopening until at least October 1st.
Update, 7/13: Hawaii will delay its reopening until at least September 1st.
Originally posted on 6/24:
Hawaii has had a strict 14 day quarantine since March that has closed most of its resorts. That has devastated the state’s economy, but also kept Hawaii with the lowest total positive case percentage in the nation.
Effective 8/1, you’ll be able to avoid quarantine by testing negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours prior to arriving in Hawaii.
Hawaii hopes to thread the needle and restart their economy without getting slammed by the virus.
Will you travel to Hawaii now or will you be waiting longer to travel?
Disclaimer: The health of DansDeals readers is this website’s paramount concern. For your sake and the sake of those around you, consider staying at home while COVID-19 is still spreading or try booking for after you think COVID-19 will no longer be a threat. Remember to travel responsibly and take precautions as suggested by your local authorities to avoid spreading the virus.
Want to read more about Hawaii?
My love of Hawaii began 13 years ago when I posted and grabbed a deal paying just $87 for airfare and hotel. Since then I’ve been lucky enough to spend several months between the stunning islands, which each offer a unique and wonderful experience. You can’t go wrong with any of them, there are just 2 things is to be careful of.
1. Don’t get stuck in Honolulu. I’ve heard from too many people who spent an entire week and never left the city limits. That’s just a shame, they may as well have gone to Miami Beach. While I prefer The Big Island, Kauai, and Maui to Oahu, there is still plenty to see and experience on Oahu as long as you leave Honolulu behind.
2. Don’t try to “do” several islands in a week. If you just have 4-7 days of vacation then you should stick to one island. There will be plenty to do to keep you busy and it will allow for some time to relax. There’s no need to add the stress of interisland travel just for the sake of “doing” another island. With 9 days or more to play with, it does make sense to experience more than 1 island.
As for which island is best, read on and decide for yourself! If you ask 5 people you’ll probably get 6 different answers 😀
DansMeals: Hawaii For The Kosher Traveler:
- Part 1: General Info And The Island Of Oahu
- Part 2: The Big Island of Hawaii
- Part 3: Maui
- Part 4: Kauai
Trip reports and posts on Hawaii:
- Trip Notes: The Final United 747 Flight And 2 Days In Maui (2018)
- Trip Notes: Maui No Ka ‘Oi (2014)
- Trip Notes Kauai: Heaven On Earth (2014)
- The Hawaiian Islands. (2011)
- Traveling To Hawaii…With A 5 Month Old (2011)
- View From The Room (2011)
- Pearl Harbor…70 Years (2011)
- Shaloha! (2011)
- Hawaii Trip Notes: Kauai (2009)
- Hawaii Trip Notes: Oahu (2009)
DDF forum threads:
- Hawaii Master Thread: General Questions And Which Island To Visit?
- Big Island Of Hawaii Master Thread
- Kauai Master Thread
- Lanai, Molokai, and Niihau, Hawaii Master Thread
- Maui Master Thread
- Oahu Master Thread
- Links to trip reports from other DDF members.
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29 Comments On "[Update: United To Offer In-Airport And Mail-In Testing] Hawaii Will Lift Mandatory Quarantine Restrictions With A Negative COVID-19 Test On 10/15"
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We had bought tickets for $288 r/t from Philadelphia for mid August. Time to book hotels.
Where my HT lol
Have a trip in Aug super excited!
Found Hawaiian F for 40K still deciding if I should cancel the AA J I have booked for 30k.
Never flew Hawaiian bud id venture anything is better then AA
I literally JUST canceled my tix to HI on Southwest Airlines. Companion pass and all. Was the cheapest I ever dreamed of booking r/t tickets. Oh well RIP
You didn’t want to wait to cancel the day before?
Does that mean you need to take the test within 3 days or have results within 3 days? COVID-19 tests can take 2 or 3 days to get results. So does that mean you should go like 4 or 5 days before to get tested, or do you have to go 3 days before and hope that the results come before your plane leaves?
This is my big question. I can get tested within 72 hours but won’t necessarily get results before the flight.
I’m guessing you need the test to be taken within 72 hours, and if you don’t have results by the time you fly, you have to agree to quarantine until you have the negative test result.
I’m not sure I quite understand how they are going to enforce this. Before, it was pretty easy to spot non-locals and interrogate them as to whether they should be quarantining. Now it will be so busy with tourists it seems there won’t be a way to enforce a quarantine on people that didn’t meet the testing requirement.
This is the most logical approach instead of a blanket 14 day quarantine.
Any business points avail?
Dan,
Glad you posted
Been to Hawaii a lot
Was ready to go for a month or two of R and R
But then Chabad with daily Minyan and kosher Shabbos meals in a hotel basically closed shop in Oahu ……………crying
Too many inaccurate tests. If you are high risk, think twice.
Hawaii is having an increase in cases too
i would make plans since most point reservations are fully refundable even withIN the 72 hr window. This includes plane, hotel and car.
Only thing holding me back is that most if not all listings on airbnb/vrbo are only offering free cancellations if done within 2 weeks of arrival which is not reasonable given the circumstances.
Have trip planned in Feb let’s hope…
They should provide an Abbott 15 min test upon arrival instead of a negative covid test within 3 days. Sure it won’t be easy to have hundreds of passengers waiting for 15 min.
I’ve been tested and all I get is an email from the hospital saying I’m negative. There is no national database of any sort to prove you’re clean.
They’re not accurate enough.
They are accurate enough for Trump admin to use… just highlights the failure of this admin for not having a national standard on testing and collecting info
Alaska has it’s act together compared to HI – we returned yesterday after 6 days in AK – we missed most of the fires in OR – but returned to smoke, haze and unhealthy air. I digress.
AK COVID test requirement nasal swab (PRC), an board flight within 72 hours from departing airport (i.e. ex-PDX-SEA-ANC you test 9am Monday fly on ticket listing departure from PDX before 9am Thurs). They do allow you to provide test result at arrival at airport.
We tested at Kaiser (free for KP members) the after Labor day results were back in 12 hours.
We uploaded a screenshot of test results to AK Travel portal. Airport COVID processing was efficient and checked our IDs after checking we had uploaded COVID results. Took us less than a minute.
Had an amazing trip. Residence inn is about a minute walk to Lubavitch Jewish Center of Alaska. Think we might just plan another trip up this year in December instead of gambling on Hawaii.
I was expecting lots of businesses to be closed or out of business – but was pleasantly surprised – yet AK implemented 72 hour testing or 14 day quarantine, IIRC back in mid/late July.
DDF trip report please 🙂
you should mention that the tests will cost 250 each
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/united-airlines-covid-testing-program/
crazy, that there are no other options. Kaiser doesnt operate in my state i guess i wont be visiting HI anytime soon.
People have been saying, the rapid test accuracy for positive can be as low as 40%. Best results are non rapid, which can take up to 2 days to get results
Why hasn’t the federal government started doing this in every airport instead of dumb airline bailouts ???!! One word: Trump
if Biden was pre he would have just told everyone to just stay in their basement… “If I can do it, so can you”
They might have a rapid test machine, but there is a shortage of test kits.
Wish them well.
Once the new Abbott tests become more widely available this will really kick start travel (both domestic & international). It will take some governments time to realize a negative result mean there is no reason to quarantine anymore (Coumo and other power hungry government officials like him). Also the new Yale/NBA test will also help once it becomes widely available.
These will help with not just travel but a lot of day to day activities like school. Even other business can choose to do this.
I don’t think “mail-in” is the right term — maybe “FedEx Overnight-in” ?
They are opening *flights* but what about activities that have been closed like parks/hikes?