Hawaii COVID Testing Requirements
Pre-Travel Testing Program, with trusted partners, now in effect
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Published by: John C. Derrick
Founder of HawaiiGuide & certified travel expert with 20+ years of experience in Hawaii tourism.
Hawaii COVID-19 Test Requirements
Last Updated: March 26, 2022
'Safe Travels' has concluded as of March 26th for domestic U.S. travelers
According to Governor Ige, the state of Hawaii will drop the current 'Safe Travels' program for domestic U.S. travelers at midnight on March 25, 2022.
That now means as of March 26th, domestic travelers to Hawaii will no longer need to fill out online forms via Safe Travels, no longer have to worry about QR codes, no longer have to provide proof of vaccination, and ultimately, there won't be any additional requirements or restrictions to fly to Hawaii on a domestic flight.
More information, including all travel advisories, and the steps for international travels can be found on our Hawaii Travel Updates page.
All of the following information is now for historical purposes only!
Including Hawaii's Pre-Travel Test Procedures & Rules
Official Pre-Travel Testing Program now allows the bypass of quarantine
Last Updated: March 1, 2022, at 2:00 pm HST
Hawaii's pre-travel testing program has now effectively opened up the islands to visitors, as long as they bring along proof of a negative COVID-19 test from a state-approved trusted testing partner and complete a State Dept. of Agriculture paper form (which is distributed on all flights) prior to arrival within the state. There are also now vaccine exemptions available for those vaccinated within the U.S. (as of July 8, 2021), in addition to new International Traveler rules & requirements that went into effect on November 8, 2021; see below for additional details.
Trans-Pacific travelers who, upon entry into the state, provide written confirmation from a state-approved COVID-19 testing facility of a negative test result from a test administered to the traveler within 72 hours from the final leg of departure, will be able to bypass Hawaii’s mandatory quarantine order. Additionally, all travelers wishing to bypass the 5-day (number of required days changed on January 3, 2022) mandatory quarantine must have their negative COVID-19 test results - from a trusted testing partner - prior to departure for the State of Hawaii. See our Hawaii Testing Details section for more information.
As always, we also encourage all travelers to continue to check and monitor the official Hawaii state website for related COVID-19 and Hawaii travel information during the pandemic.
Travel update for all vaccinated International Travelers
As of December 6, 2021 - travelers vaccinated Internationally have new requirements
New rules and requirements went into place as of November 8, 2021 for International Travelers. Due to the Omicron variant, the travel rules were updated for December 6, 2021, for all International Travelers and for U.S. citizens flying from International Destinations.
Direct International Travel to Hawaii
All air passengers 2 years of age or older with a flight departing to the United States from a foreign country at or after 12:01am EST (5:01am GMT) on December 6, 2021, are required to show a negative COVID-19 viral test result taken no more than 1 day before travel, or documentation of having recovered from COVID-19 in the past 90 days, before they board their flight.
Air passengers will also be required to confirm in the form of an attestation that the information they present is true.
See our Travel Restrictions page and the section for International Travel for full details. For the full list of requirements and exemptions, please review the language in the Order.
Trans-pacific pre-arrival test details
Hawaii Testing Procedures, Rules, & Protocols until March 26, 2022
- A "state-approved COVID-19 test" means a test to determine the presence of active COVID-19 infection that has been approved for use under these rules by the Hawaii Department of Health (DOH).
- Currently approved is the processing by laboratories that are licensed or certified by Clinical Laboratories Improvement Amendments (CLIA) of specimens for nucleic acid amplification (NAAT) testing approved or authorized by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), pursuant to an Emergency Use Authorization or other authorization for COVID-19 testing. At this time, the state of Hawaii will ONLY accept tests from Trusted Testing & Travel Partners.
- To reiterate, this test result must be confirmed prior to arrival in Hawaii, and the visitor must present evidence of this test upon arrival.
- Travelers wishing to bypass the 5-day mandatory quarantine must have their negative COVID-19 test results, from a trusted testing partner, prior to departure for the state of Hawaii. If test results are not available before boarding the final leg of the trip, the traveler must quarantine for 5 days (number of required days changed on January 3, 2022) or the length of their stay, whichever is shorter.
- Travelers who cannot are unable to provide a negative test result certification, prior to departure, for each member of their party will be required to quarantine for 5-days. See our Hawaii Travel Restrictions articles for more information.
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Pre-Travel Test - What to do with your results...
- Once a traveler receives their negative pre-travel test result, from a trusted partner, they will need to upload the result to their Safe Travels Hawaii account at: travel.hawaii.gov. This step is crucial, as it will be the only means for airport officials to verify a traveler's Safe Travel Hawaii information upon their arrival in Hawaii.
- Upon completion of the Safe Travels form, a QR code will be emailed to the traveler for each leg of their trip.
- Upon deplaning in Hawaii, travelers will be asked to present their QR code to airport personnel either on paper or on their mobile phone, along with a legally valid photo ID.
- As noted above, travelers wishing to bypass the 5-day mandatory quarantine must have their negative COVID-19 test results, from a trusted testing partner, prior to departure for the state of Hawaii. If test results are not available before boarding the final leg of the trip, the traveler must quarantine for 5 days (number of required days changed on January 3, 2022) or the length of their stay, whichever is shorter.
State of Hawaii 'Safe Travels' - Mandatory for all Travelers
- Travelers will receive a notice 24-hours prior to their departure time to the Hawaiian Islands to complete the State of Hawaii Travel and Health Form (this specific requirement ends January 4, 2022) via their Safe Travels Hawaii account.
- The names of each child/children, under the age of 18, traveling with an adult registering will also need to be included in that adult's State of Hawaii Travel Form.
- Upon each traveler's completion of the State of Hawaii Travel Form, a QR code will be emailed to them. Airport personnel will need the QR code to locate and validate each traveler's Safe Travels Hawaii information upon their arrival in Hawaii.
Hawaii Airlines and Airport Rules & Protocols
While travelers are in-flight or deplaning, they must follow the guidance of their air carrier with regard to physical distancing, mask-wearing, and sanitation processes.
- Travelers are reminded to pack their masks and/or facial coverings in their carry-on luggage. All travelers are required to wear a mask at all Hawaii airports.
- If travelers are subject to Hawaii's 5-day mandatory self-quarantine, they must continue wearing a mask until in the room of their confirmed place of lodging. Removal of face masks is allowed for young children and individuals with health conditions preventing them from wearing one.
- All incoming trans-Pacific Hawaii travelers may receive temperature checks upon arrival. Temperature scans will be taken via thermal temperature screening.
- Photos will be temporarily retained only for persons with elevated temperatures of 100.4 degrees F and above for identification and additional assessments by airport representatives.
Testing Timeline Example
When Should You Take The Test?
Remember, you must take your pre-travel test 72 hours from the final leg/city of departure before arriving in Hawaii. You must then ensure you receive your negative result prior to departure for Hawaii. As an example, we've included a 72-hour timeline chart to help visualize this.
Typically, many flights to Hawaii will arrive in the evening hours, which means they will depart from the last major continental U.S. city ('final leg of departure') sometime between 3 pm and 7 pm PST. For example, a flight that departs from Oakland International Airport (OAK) at 4:30 pm PST on Monday, means you need to take the test anytime after 4:30 pm PST (7:30 pm EST) on Friday.
Don't worry about what time it is in Hawaii (HST) when getting the test, you simply need to take the test 72-hours before departing the final city to Hawaii (typically PST); so if anything - worry about the timezone of your final continental U.S. airport and/or the timezone of where you take the test.
Example Departure & Test Times
- Flight departs at 4:30 pm PST on Sunday - Take the COVID-19 pre-travel test anytime After 4:30 pm PST (7:30 pm EST) on Thursday
- Flight departs at 4:30 pm PST on Monday - Take the COVID-19 pre-travel test anytime After 4:30 pm PST (7:30 pm EST) on Friday
- Flight departs at 4:30 pm PST on Tuesday - Take the COVID-19 pre-travel test anytime After 4:30 pm PST (7:30 pm EST) on Saturday
- Flight departs at 4:30 pm PST on Wednesday - Take the COVID-19 pre-travel test anytime After 4:30 pm PST (7:30 pm EST) on Sunday
- Flight departs at 4:30 pm PST on Thursday - Take the COVID-19 pre-travel test anytime After 4:30 pm PST (7:30 pm EST) on Monday
- Flight departs at 4:30 pm PST on Friday - Take the COVID-19 pre-travel test anytime After 4:30 pm PST (7:30 pm EST) on Tuesday
- Flight departs at 4:30 pm PST on Saturday - Take the COVID-19 pre-travel test anytime After 4:30 pm PST (7:30 pm EST) on Wednesday
Testing Options
How to Get Tested near your Location
Testing Performed by the Airlines
- The state of Hawaii has partnered with several airlines/airports to provide pre-travel testing to Hawaii. The airlines themselves are not individually performing the tests but have instead partnered with local labs in their main West Coast hubs who offer flights directly to Hawaii. However, this option really only works well for travelers who can get tested before arriving at the respective airport, as anyone with a connecting flight would have to leave security (and possibly drive away from the airport) to get tested.
- Currently, the only in terminal option for testing is at San Francisco Airport (SFO) but you will likely pay a hefty amount for the convenience, about $250 per traveler. Additionally, Hawaiian Airlines has announced it is offering drive-thru testing to its passengers departing from San Francisco International Airport (SFO), but the test site is located 10 miles from the airport, so that option again will not work for travelers with connecting flights.
Drive-Up/Through Testing
- Drive-up testing offers convenience in that you can schedule ahead of time and subsequently have the test results in-hand within the hour.
- For any travelers who live in a major city, there are typically several options for taking the test. There are several trusted pharmacy partners who you can make appointments online to schedule a time to visit a partnering location - CVS, Walgreens, Bartell Drugs, or any other trusted lab partner who is certified to administer the Hawaii pre-travel test.
- Unfortunately, for those who live in rural areas away from an Interstate Highway, this option is not ideal and may require several hours of driving.
Supervised At-Home Testing Kits
- In our opinion, this method may offer the most convenience to travelers. After requesting and receiving the test from a participating trusted test provider, a trained medical professional will watch you, typically via a Zoom (or similar) call, take the testing sample to ensure you are performing the test correctly and that there is no subsequent tampering with the kit. After you perform the test, you'll seal it up, put it back into the envelope, and drop it in the mail (sometimes it has to be a UPS store; so be sure to carefully follow your testing provider's instructions) to be sent overnight to the testing lab. Within 2-3 days (48-72 hours) you will have your results digitally so that you can upload them to the Safe Travels application. Like many others, we are personally recommending Vault as the results are supervised, and mailing the results into the lab is simple. Additionally, you can order individual tests for each member of your travel party. Be sure to order your test from the site with plenty of time (a week is typically sufficient) before your flight departs.
- Please be aware that there are at-home testing kits that are not-supervised and they will not be accepted by the Hawaii Department of Health officials. Beware of at-home kits that require you to visit a specific location to perform the test.
Inter-island pre-travel test details
Inter-Island Travel Restrictions ended June 15th
Governor David Ige has announced that as of June 15, 2021, traveling inter-island within Hawaii no longer requires a pre-travel test, and there are no quarantine requirements for inter-island travel. There are currently no restrictions flying between islands within Hawaii.
Safe Travels Application
Required for all Travelers until March 26, 2022
- The new online Safe Travels application is now mandatory for all travelers. The application can be found by visiting travel.hawaii.gov
- This program, which collects the required health and travel information, is critical to protecting the health of residents and visitors alike.
For more information, see our updated section about the new Safe Travels program on our Hawaii Travel Restrictions page.
Hawaii Traveler Alert - Official Websites for Hawaii Safe Travels
According to the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau (HVCB), a number of travelers have reported using an unofficial Safe Travels website thinking that it was affiliated with the State of Hawaii's Safe Travels Program. All travelers should know that the State of Hawaii DOES NOT charge fees to apply for the Safe Travels program, to create a Safe Travels account, to access the Safe Travels application, or for Safe Travels information.
The OFFICIAL STATE OF HAWAII websites for the State of Hawaii's Safe Travels Program are as follows:
Please be advised, that the websites listed below are NOT affiliated with the State of Hawaii or the State of Hawaii Safe Travels Program:
- safetravels.com
- hawaiisafetravel.com
- safetravelshawaii.com
- safetravelhawaii.com
Information Disclaimer: Details and information on this page, including dates, may change on a day-by-day basis. While we will be making every effort to keep these pages relevant and up to date, the decision to travel is ultimately your own responsibility.
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