Covid 19 test for Hawaii travel.

DrTravel

Active member
Anyone have any first hand experience with getting a COVID-19 test for Hawaiian travel? I see an approved listing on a few sites that list some testing places I never heard of and were slightly different from each other. Flying on American Airlines.

Any input appreciated
 
Walgreens is free and has a PCR test.
use the PCR test as it is the accepted one.
Rapid test not so much.
 
zubs said:
Walgreens is free and has a PCR test.
use the PCR test as it is the accepted one.
Rapid test not so much.

Have you actually gotten a test at Walgreens for Hawaii Travel? According to their website they can not guarantee a quick turnaround. Would hate to go there within 72 hours of my flight and then not get the results in time and be stuck for a 10 day quarantine upon arrival. Almost all the test sites Hawaii shows as approved have a warning that the results might not be available in time. American Airlines has a UPS delivery test kit but again I'm leary of the timing.
 
Do 3 free tests.
CVS
WALGREENS
And the Delivery test one as well.

cover ur bases.  They are all free i think.

 
zubs said:
You can just get a 2nd test at walgreens...LOL
Do one for each day.

I would rather not take the precious appointment slots for repeat tests from others who also need the test.  I don't mind paying $ for a rapid test if I really need to.
 
No one is testing anymore, so all that government money for testing is going to waste?
do it 10 times so walgreens can get that federal money.


Covid testing is not precious now.
Vaccines still are, but will become like this too....I mean trillions of FED money into this program....we gonna be swimming in covid vaccines by Summer.
 
woodburyowner said:
zubs said:
You can just get a 2nd test at walgreens...LOL
Do one for each day.

I would rather not take the precious appointment slots for repeat tests from others who also need the test.  I don't mind paying $ for a rapid test if I really need to.

PM'd you
 
I did.  In our case we had to go to the "airline partner testing service", which means we had to pay $90 per person.  It's a huge scam.  I'm sure the airline is getting a cut on every test.  Only with the hardcopy results in hand at the gate would it mean anything.  Anything else would not exclude us from the 14 day quarantine on arrival.  Couldn't do electronic submittal, and no results sent from the test service to the airline.  Had to be within 3 days of travel.  Results guaranteed within 36 hours so not a lot of margin there.  In the end, we did not get our results in time and cancelled our trip.  It was pretty silly.  We got our money back on the tests, and can re-book our flights for free, but what a PIA.

All that said, the state has its head rammed pretty far up its arse on all things COVID.  I have traveled there a couple times during the pandemic, and policies were changing seemingly every week, so my experience from a few months ago probably means dick to anyone traveling now, other than I'm sure it's still a major clusterfvck.  The other times we flew, I just quarantined, since I was just visiting family.
 
We pay $90 for rapid covid tests locally for employee testing, so I wouldn't call that fee a scam just based on the amount.

Yes, we could send people to the free county programs, but speed is our concern. It is a business decision to have results reliably.
 
Walgreens came through for me.  Basically 6-8 hours after test was received by the test lab.  Make sure you get tested before 2:30PM since the courier does the daily pick-up at 3PM.
 
HMart said:
We pay $90 for rapid covid tests locally for employee testing, so I wouldn't call that fee a scam just based on the amount.

Yes, we could send people to the free county programs, but speed is our concern. It is a business decision to have results reliably.

Imagine if you paid $90 a head and had to change your plans and lose money every time you didn't get the results in a timely fashion?  And what if the results were late often, and you could get better service for 90% less but state law mandated you stick with your provider?

I take back what I said about it being the airline that made the requirement.  They're just a reluctant participant in the overall system.  It's actually the state, which is probably worse.  My wife took care of the research and booking, and at the time there were very few providers available anywhere near us.  Walgreens would have been welcome; there's 1 even closer now than where we went.  Like I said, things were changing weekly and the state really dropped the ball on the whole pandemic, but that's a rant for another thread.  We had to drive 2 towns over to some fly by night operation working out of a 40 foot shipping container parked in an abandoned strip mall.  It seemed the workers were all minimum wage lackeys with maybe 1 RN on site.  They couldn't find our paperwork and were rude the entire time.  It was a scam because for $90/head I expect something above a dollar store cashier attitude, plus some level of competency, and also because the state was acting as the gatekeeper for what even then was a pretty ubiquitous test.  How the fvck in this day and age does anyone take the time and money to implement a draconian system that includes qualifying "COVID testing partners", where the only acceptable test result is from a hardcopy test report?  JFC!  Technology much?
 
I don't mind that Hawaii requires a specific type of Covid-19 test - I'm a big fan of having everyone on my plane be tested, but to restrict who can provide the test is too much. The City of Irvine has a free one day turnaround test that is NAAT compliant but because they chose not to apply to Hawaii, they are not on the approved list, so I can't use them. The test is good but not the site. Really?? I wonder what kind of kickback is going on with these approved sites which of course can charge a higher premium.

Another big problem I have with them is the 72 hour rule instead of a 3 day rule. My flight leaves at 6 PM on Friday which means I can get tested no earlier than 6 PM on Tuesday, but test sites and/or overnight deliveries are not available after 5 PM so essentially I have to wait until first thing Wednesday morning which just took 16 hours off my time table. A 3 day window would have allowed testing all day on Tuesday.

Walgreens is on the approved list and the process for their PCR test would be as follows: I would have to schedule a drive-thru test Wednesday morning, the courier would pick up the test in the afternoon and it would be delivered the next day to their laboratory partners. If it goes to Aegis Science they generally process the test the same day so I would have the results late Thursday, but no guarantee. If it goes to LabCore their processing time is listed 1-2 day after receipt. (edit: I believe LabCore labs are local so the swab would get delivered that night). Really tight and no guarantees - I would be at the airport praying my results arrive in time. The local Walgreens tells me the lab partner varies between each Walgreens so you need to check but that sometimes shipments get delayed. So it's possible that Walgreens would work but it's a risk. Funny Walgreens offers a Rapid Diagnostic test (ID NOW) with results in less than a day but not in California?! I can get this in Las Vegas. That would be perfect.

American Airlines (my flight) uses "Let's Get Checked" for $119 as a "service" to their customers. They mail you an at-home self-testing kit so you get on Zoom and they make sure you do the test correctly at a set time and that you are actually you! Unfortunately you must return the test to them via UPS which has the latest drop off around 5 PM. So I could take the test Tuesday night, have UPS get it on Wednesday, delivered to the lab on Thursday and then they process it 1-3 days. That's too risky so not an option. Good to see that American is on top of things! Hawaiian Airlines has a better at the airport solution, but it is restricted to their customers only leaving from that airport.

So I'm stuck using a Rapid Diagnostic testing site on Hawaii's approved list. There are two of those locally - one is AFC Urgent care in Lake Forest - they do the test in a few hours and charge $250 per person with no insurance options. The City of Irvine free test is the same BUT they are not on that damn approved list! The other choice is Clarity Lab at LAX - they give results in 3-5 hours and charge $125 with no insurance options. The Hoag testing site at OC Airport is not an approved test nor site.

So back to my gripe - there are only two Rapid Diagnostic testing options in SoCal on Hawaii's approved list. All the other options that require more than a day have timing issues - you may get your result in time, you may not. The Hawaii list of approved sites even warn passengers about timing concerns, so why are they even approved? Without your results, you ain't getting on the plane. I like the idea of testing but Hawaii is hell bent on making it as stressful as possible. Only two Rapid Test sites in all of SoCal!!

Looks like I'm getting tested at LAX...
 
DrTravel said:
I'm a big fan of having everyone on my plane be tested
Not necessarily the case.  I know I wasn't tested the couple times I went during COVID.  There are people who don't plan to go anywhere, and then there are people who don't give a F about the mandatory self quarantine.
 
Everyone I know went to Hawaii these past few months.

As of July 5, no testing required if you have proof of vaccination but with the spike in Delta variant that may change.

Anyone else go to the islands for a vacay?
 
irvinehomeowner said:
Everyone I know went to Hawaii these past few months.

As of July 5, no testing required if you have proof of vaccination but with the spike in Delta variant that may change.

Anyone else go to the islands for a vacay?

We went this summer and it was packed over there. Restaurant waits for dinner we?re way too long.
 
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