How to avoid the 10-day quarantine when flying to Oahu Hawaii during the coronavirus

Follow these steps to exempt yourself from the 10-day quarantine when traveling to Oahu and Ko Olina, Hawaii

Step 1: Do Now - Setup An Online Account

Register with the Hawaii Department of Health on Safe Travels Hawai'i a minimum of 3 days prior to your arrival on Oahu.

Next, Click the Trips button and enter your trip information including name and address, airline, flight #, etc.

Step 2: Have you been fully vaccinated?

If traveling on or after July 8th, the governor has announced that mainland visitors who have been fully vaccinated will not need to get tested for COVID. You will need to bring your vaccination card and upload it to the safe travels website as well.

If you are not fully vaccinated or you are but it's prior to July 8th, go to Step 3 below.

Step 3: 144-hours prior - Make a COVID Test Appointment

Make an appointment to get tested for COVID at one of the State of Hawaii's authorized domestic testing sites.

The 144-hours prior to flight time pertains to Walgreens as you may make an appointment 3-days in advance of your test date, which would be 6-days in advance of your flight date. Other testing vendors may have different appointment requirements.

Not an endorsement, but we personally use Walgreens and their Rapid ID Now test as we find it to be convenient and fast.

Here is an example of registering for the test on the Walgreens website for Bellevue, WA. Check the Rapid Diagnostic Test (ID NOW), the Red dot, then choose a location that offers the ID NOW test.

Next pick a date and time and schedule your test. You will receive an email confirmation, once your date and time have been accepted.

Schedule your test date and time at about t-68 to 71 hours prior to the departure time of your last flight leg to Honolulu. With Walgreens, we haven't had issues with misinterpreted time zones as they use UTC time. Some testing centers may print a time using a different time zone from the one you're in, which could place you at say 73 hours prior to flight time, which would make the result ineligible. Please do your research!

Step 4: 72-hours prior - Get Tested for COVID

At 72-hours prior or less to the departure time of your last flight leg to Hawaii, get tested for COVID at one of the State of Hawaii's authorized domestic testing sites.

If using Walgreens, drive up to the pharmacy pick-up window at around 10-minutes prior to your appointment time. (There will probably be a line.) Use the lane that is closest to the building if there are multiple lines. At the window, you will do a nasal swab test in view of the Walgreens employee.

We typically have results back via email within two hours of being tested, which eliminates the stress associated with, will I receive my results back in time?

Step 5: Upload your COVID test results

Prior to flight time, upload your negative test result to the safe travels website.

As soon as you receive the negative test result, upload it to the Safe Travels Hawai'i website.

Note that Walgreens sends two result pdf files. Upload the result that has your testing date and time printed on the form.

Click the COVID PCR Test Exception button as shown above. In the near future, you will be able to use the COVID Vaccene Exception button if you have been fully vaccinated. This option is not yet available yet for mainland residents, unless you were vaccinated in Hawai'i, as the state is able to verify the vaccination.

Press the Blue Upload File and upload your Negative test result file. Once uploaded, press the Home tab and then the Documents button to verify that the results have been accepted. Status should = COVID NEGATIVE.

Step 6: 24-hours prior - fill out COVID questionnaire

24-hours prior to your flight time, fill out the online questionnaire. All passengers traveling to Hawaii must complete the required Hawaii Safe Travels health questionnaire, within 24 hours of departure.

Step 7: Arrival

Use the following flow chart to guide you through the arrival process to Oahu. Note that travelers on Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Japan Airlines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines are able to pre-screen prior to boarding, rather than upon arrival in Honolulu. Travelers on other airlines such as American will be screened upon arrival, follow the signs to the screening area.

Alternative Method for CommonPass Flights

Follow this alternative method for Flights on Hawaiian Airlines between Phoenix and Honolulu or on United Airlines between Denver and Honolulu, via CommonPass which is currently having a pilot rollout.

Once verified, add exemptions for other travel members or Submit.

Quarantine

Trans-Pacific travelers (anyone outside of the Hawaiian Islands), who are unable to present a negative test result upon arrival or the CommonPass Exemption, will not be able to bypass the 10-day quarantine (previously 14-day), even if they provide a negative test result after arrival.

Note that if you were vaccinated in Hawaii, that you can also bypass the quarantine by uploading your vaccination card to the safe travels website, when traveling from the mainland to Oahu.

The test result you will be providing upon arrival at the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport aka: the Honolulu International Airport will look similar to this:

The state of Hawai‘i will ONLY accept a Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAAT/PCR) from a certified Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment (CLIA) lab test results from a TRUSTED TESTING AND TRAVEL PARTNER.

A negative result from the wrong type of test or from a lab that is not a trusted testing and travel partner, or not within 72-hours of your last flight leg departure time to HNL (Honolulu Internation Airport), will not be accepted and you will still be required to quarantine for 10-days.

Step 8: Upload QR code to Beach Villas at Ko Olina

To assist with an effortless arrival process at the Beach Villas at Ko Olina, once you have gone through airport arrival screening, please take a screen shot of your QR code with the two green checkmarks, and email it to frontdesk@beachvillasaoao.com prior to check-in.

You will be able to generate the code on the Hawaii Safe Travels site, once you have 1) Uploaded your negative test result, 2) Filled out the online questionnaire, 24-hour prior to flight time and 3) Gone through screening at your departure gate or upon landing, if your airline doesn't pre-clear at the departure gate.

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