Hawaii COVID Testing

[Lilsia]

Yes, a little less than 12 hours. I was so relieved, especially given how unorganized I felt as if it was.

This entire process has been extremely frustrating and anxiety provoking. There have been a couple times that I've been moments from calling the trip. I've had to walk my 77 year old mother through this, and it's been horrible. I don't know how they expect people who aren't savvy with computers, etc. to do all this. From stupid things like filling out all the Hawaii forms on the website (laptop) and then having to switch to a iphone/ipad to sign the health form, to trying to teach her to download and save the PDFs on her computer so she could then upload them on the website. I snapped at her more than a few times, and I feel badly, but it was ridiculous.

We uploaded our PDFs to the Hawaii website and they all say "verification in process" so extra frustration. CityHealth provides two PDFs so I upload both for each of us, but the same thing happened. I went on the Hawaii FAQ and one of the PDFs I uploaded looks just like the one they have for CityHealth as an example so I have no idea what is going on. I give up. We have printed copies of everything, and we will just have to deal at the airport if it doesn't switch by time we land.

I plan on having my college aged daughter do ours this May. LOL

 

[DisWitt]

Just for those wanting another data point, we did Vault because they were one of the few options for those with kids under 13. I pre-ordered kits for us about 3-4 weeks out. Exactly 72h before our flight, we all logged onto their site on separate devices (laptops and iPads) to await the zoom call for observed testing. The waits all said 2 hours. But within 10 minutes, someone came on! Unfortunately, I had just eaten and our eldest was in the middle of class. So DW and DS11 did their spit-in-the tube. Easy. We hung up that call and one other and waited. And waited. At just about the 2 hour mark, another provider picked up and observed my test with DS13. Easy! Friends going with us also got the 2 hour wait and were done in about 30 min. I made it to our UPS Store with over 90-minutes to spare. One tip: TAKE PHOTOS of your shipping labels before you drop them. This was how I could see that our packages were ALL dropped at Vault at 10am ET the next morning. DW got a email that they received her package about noon. Nothing on the rest of them, but I rested easy having tracked ups. About 7pm PT, we got results for DW, and both DS! Friends reported they got W’s results at 3am PT. Ugh... me and K were waiting on pins and needles! But indeed, our results came at the same time, about 29h after delivery at Vault. Then we just had to finish our Hawaii profiles online, easy.

ANOTHER TIP: if you’re traveling with someone who is computer-challenged, do it for them! Use their email address (or get one for them that you control), then hold their password for both Vault and Hawaii and do all of their uploading and such. You can have vault ship to their address but then you can manage their results download and uploading to Hawaii and all that. They’d only need to do the zoom call... which, if they have zoom, you can call them and then take over their computer to get the call going. If I had go with my DM75, I’d have just white-glove-serviced her. Too many things to possibly go wrong.
Now we are off to Aulani!

 

[Almondmilktea]

Yes, a little less than 12 hours. I was so relieved, especially given how unorganized I felt as if it was.

This entire process has been extremely frustrating and anxiety provoking. There have been a couple times that I've been moments from calling the trip. I've had to walk my 77 year old mother through this, and it's been horrible. I don't know how they expect people who aren't savvy with computers, etc. to do all this. From stupid things like filling out all the Hawaii forms on the website (laptop) and then having to switch to a iphone/ipad to sign the health form, to trying to teach her to download and save the PDFs on her computer so she could then upload them on the website. I snapped at her more than a few times, and I feel badly, but it was ridiculous.

We uploaded our PDFs to the Hawaii website and they all say "verification in process" so extra frustration. CityHealth provides two PDFs so I upload both for each of us, but the same thing happened. I went on the Hawaii FAQ and one of the PDFs I uploaded looks just like the one they have for CityHealth as an example so I have no idea what is going on. I give up. We have printed copies of everything, and we will just have to deal at the airport if it doesn't switch by time we land.

Don‘t worry about the ‘verification in process’ status. My gf had the same issue and it was cleared at the airport once she showed them the pdf with the negative COVID result. So just make sure you have the test result saved on your phone. Apparently, the system is setup to auto-verify these results when the pdf is uploaded, but not all results do for whatever reason and require a manual approval. That’s what the airport employee will do when you land. Seems like the pdf from CVS is the one the system seems to auto-verify the most.

I hear you on the walking thru a parent on it tho, it is not easy to navigate

 

[reluctantredhead]

You can see my posting on the other thread for the revised rules. My daughter and I used Vault. Tested Wed am, tests delivered to vault at 10am on Thursday we both received confirmation emails that tests were received. My daughter's results posted at 7am california time on Friday. My results have still not shown up - we did not get on our flight this morning. We both marked our return packages as STAT Hawaii, and both were ordered through the partnership with Hawaiian airlines. I have been trying for 24 hours to reach Vault to get status updates (calls, voicemails, emails, web inquiries) - no response or pick up from a human.

My take away is that you need to do multiple tests to have a better shot at results and preferably one that is a rapid result (at the airport pre flight is even better).

My husband and son tested with vault yesterday for a Monday morning flight - too early to see how it goes with their tests but it will be interesting to see. I think they are overwhelmed and I am wondering if mine got lost or contaminated in lab?

Good luck - feeling very sad right now. Our friends who have been our COVID bubble for the past 8 months are already there (Maui).

I am so sorry to hear this...what a terrible end result this has had. This is exactly what I was afraid of. I am so sad for you that you had to miss your trip!

This leaves me very discouraged about ours. At this point, Vault and the Costco test are really our only options. We live in a very rural area...it's a 2.5 hour drive each way to the nearest Hawaii-approved rapid results location, and honestly that isn't really possible in the wintertime (we have an early January trip scheduled) where we live, without taking your life into your hands...the roads are just too dangerous.

I think our only hope at this point is that the Detroit airport will get rapid results testing before then. Because we live near a small regional airport (and again due to the danger of winter roads), we're flying to Detroit at night, then staying the night at the airport hotel and continuing out to Maui the following afternoon. Our Maui leg doesn't leave until 6 pm, so if we could get a 24 hour result test after we landed in Detroit, that would be our only chance I think, as all the trusted partners in our town are quoting 3-4 days for results right now. My husband thinks it's just too risky and we should probably cancel. Ugh.

Again...thank you so much for responding. (((HUGS))) to you...I hope you're able to reschedule another trip soon!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I plan on having my college aged daughter do ours this May. LOL

Excellent decision, LOL. It really is a PITA and one of those things that could be easily messed up.

Don‘t worry about the ‘verification in process’ status. My gf had the same issue and it was cleared at the airport once she showed them the pdf with the negative COVID result. So just make sure you have the test result saved on your phone. Apparently, the system is setup to auto-verify these results when the pdf is uploaded, but not all results do for whatever reason and require a manual approval. That’s what the airport employee will do when you land. Seems like the pdf from CVS is the one the system seems to auto-verify the most.

I hear you on the walking thru a parent on it tho, it is not easy to navigate

I printed off the flow chart on the Hawaii website of what you need to do to enter, and it pretty much sums up the issue--way too confusing. They call this the "quick" reference chart: https://hawaiicovid19.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Flying-Into-Hawaii_103020.pdf I wish they could have integrated everything better with the trusted partners and/or just asked people to show proof on landing without having to use the portal.

Thanks so much for the info and easing my worries about verification in process. So annoying, but glad that it can be easily over-ridden at the airport. Would be nice if they could get it together to automatically recognize the trusted partners. Our PDF is exactly what they have posted on the FAQs. Ugh. Anyway, thank you again!!

 

[nono]

Ran across this article, which may explain why folks are not getting results as consistently as before. Holiday surge along with COVID surge...

 

[_auroraborealis_]

We are considering the Vault option too, as we live in a rural area and don't have access to most of the trusted partners.

May I ask, were you flying on Hawaiian Airlines? We won't be (Delta instead), and I am wondering if the turnaround time will be this quick if we're not flying Hawaiian.

TIA!

I will warn that in MN some people in rural areas are having issues with receiving Vault tests because UPS chokes on rural route addresses.

 

[reluctantredhead]

I will warn that in MN some people in rural areas are having issues with receiving Vault tests because UPS chokes on rural route addresses.

Thank you for letting me know. We don't actually have a rural route address, but our town of 11,000 people is hours from a rapid testing location. I have a feeling that unless we suddenly get one here in our town, this trip will have to be cancelled. My husband and I just aren't comfortable with white knuckling it until the last second to know whether we can get on the plane or not. We aren't ready to cancel yet, but will probably wait until about 2 weeks after Thanksgiving and decide then (or have it decided for us if Hawaii closes to tourists again).

 

[neurosx1983]

Thank you for letting me know. We don't actually have a rural route address, but our town of 11,000 people is hours from a rapid testing location. I have a feeling that unless we suddenly get one here in our town, this trip will have to be cancelled. My husband and I just aren't comfortable with white knuckling it until the last second to know whether we can get on the plane or not. We aren't ready to cancel yet, but will probably wait until about 2 weeks after Thanksgiving and decide then (or have it decided for us if Hawaii closes to tourists again).

Feeling just like you guys do, only we don't live in a rural area. Might sound silly, but I'm worried about the swab with our 8yo DS, so unless we can find a place that does saliva test on site, we will be holding our breath with Vault like many others. You're right that the stress of vault tests not coming back in time (and thus missing the flight and also missing the cut off for getting a refund on hotels) can't be stressed enough.

 

[wdp]

Interesting development with our Walgreens rapid (POC/ID NOW) test. We took the test this morning and hadn't heard anything after 12 hours. We called the PWN Health service center and the agent said my results WERE ready and they didn't know why I hadn't received them. He sent me a link immediately with the negative results. If you had the rapid test at Walgreens and haven't heard anything after 12 hours you might want to call (315-401-7865).

 

[DRussell83]

Update time - so we know the vault tests were delivered but we have not received anything from vault on receipt (we leave tomorrow at 855 am pst) so my husband got his results from yesterday at the urgent care but they came from the urgent care office not west pac (the trusted partner) 3 hours later and several phone calls we got the official pdf from west pac - still nothing from vault but I think we are good here - I know it’s been said here already but I’m shocked at how downhill vault went when I ordered early November I thought for sure we would be good after all it’s partnered with Hawaiian it’s clear they couldn’t handle the surge in combination with the holiday - I’ll report when vault results are received - thank you to everyone who posted their experiences! I’m not much of a poster having worked for the company and my husband working there for 20 years (we met on the jungle cruise 17 years ago collective awe) but came on back in April after our first canceled Aulani trip. So appreciate everyone’s thoughts and can’t wait to FINALLY see our home resort - happy thanksgiving!

 

[hilarys]

Update time - so we know the vault tests were delivered but we have not received anything from vault on receipt (we leave tomorrow at 855 am pst) so my husband got his results from yesterday at the urgent care but they came from the urgent care office not west pac (the trusted partner) 3 hours later and several phone calls we got the official pdf from west pac - still nothing from vault but I think we are good here - I know it’s been said here already but I’m shocked at how downhill vault went when I ordered early November I thought for sure we would be good after all it’s partnered with Hawaiian it’s clear they couldn’t handle the surge in combination with the holiday - I’ll report when vault results are received - thank you to everyone who posted their experiences! I’m not much of a poster having worked for the company and my husband working there for 20 years (we met on the jungle cruise 17 years ago collective awe) but came on back in April after our first canceled Aulani trip. So appreciate everyone’s thoughts and can’t wait to FINALLY see our home resort - happy thanksgiving!

Have a great trip. I am so glad you were able to do a back up test. Aulani is awesome.

 

[LisaRN97]

Update time - so we know the vault tests were delivered but we have not received anything from vault on receipt (we leave tomorrow at 855 am pst) so my husband got his results from yesterday at the urgent care but they came from the urgent care office not west pac (the trusted partner) 3 hours later and several phone calls we got the official pdf from west pac - still nothing from vault but I think we are good here - I know it’s been said here already but I’m shocked at how downhill vault went when I ordered early November I thought for sure we would be good after all it’s partnered with Hawaiian it’s clear they couldn’t handle the surge in combination with the holiday - I’ll report when vault results are received - thank you to everyone who posted their experiences! I’m not much of a poster having worked for the company and my husband working there for 20 years (we met on the jungle cruise 17 years ago collective awe) but came on back in April after our first canceled Aulani trip. So appreciate everyone’s thoughts and can’t wait to FINALLY see our home resort - happy thanksgiving!

Thank you for the update - following closely as we leave on a Tuesday as well. You took your vault test Saturday and shipped, correct? And what time does the delivery show for Sunday?

 

[DRussell83]

Thank you for the update - following closely as we leave on a Tuesday as well. You took your vault test Saturday and shipped, correct? And what time does the delivery show for Sunday?

Just getting to the airport and nothing from vault yet - yes Saturday morning at exactly the 72 hour mark - there was no movement on Sunday because ups doesn’t fly on Sunday and now ups is saying one of them is in Illinois (?) so we really aren’t sure who to blame at this point - do you have an alternate testing plan?

 

[LisaRN97]

Just getting to the airport and nothing from vault yet - yes Saturday morning at exactly the 72 hour mark - there was no movement on Sunday because ups doesn’t fly on Sunday and now ups is saying one of them is in Illinois (?) so we really aren’t sure who to blame at this point - do you have an alternate testing plan?

We do have an alternate...3 to be exact! I have rapid tests booked at the airport on Monday (they are only open 10-5 and our flight is 9:50am) as a last resort. But we are hoping to get an appointment for the rapid Walgreens test on Saturday and there is also a few urgent cares with the rapid test that are approved, and they take walk-in on the weekends. Even with 3 options, I'm still losing sleep!

Have a great trip!

 

[neurosx1983]

Hopefully someone has some experiences with Costco to see if they're having the same turnaround issues as Vault.

I'm so utterly disappointed in Vault - just on Disboards we have a few people that have recently not gotten their results in time. This is unacceptable.


***Update - Costco online reviews are all terrible! This one sounds much worse than Vault. Nevermind!***

 

[braysmommy]

Hopefully someone has some experiences with Costco to see if they're having the same turnaround issues as Vault.

I'm so utterly disappointed in Vault - just on Disboards we have a few people that have recently not gotten their results in time. This is unacceptable.


***Update - Costco online reviews are all terrible! This one sounds much worse than Vault. Nevermind!***

I read the same about Costco and Vault can't keep up with demand right now it doesn't seem. I also wouldn't use them for early week flight since UPS doesn't move things on Sunday cutting into 72 hour window.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

We arrived safely in Maui yesterday at about noon. We were really worried about airport crowds given the evening news photos, but flying out of Oakland was great--the airport was empty except for the few flights by different airlines to Hawaii. We walked right up to check out bags and went through security with no one in front of us. Our particular gate was crowded, but we found an empty gate to sit at while we waited to board.

The worst part of the whole trip was after boarding. We were in first so we boarded first. That was a mistake. We should have gotten on last, but I was worried about bag space. There was no social distancing as people boarded and the aisle was packed. I ended up putting on my face shield while we waited in addition to my mask.

Mask compliance was fantastic on the flight. I was very impressed--people kept it no the entire time except for very brief periods of eating. There were four children in first and I was worried, but they were awesome with the masks. The only nose I saw the entire flight was the captain who couldn't seem to keep his on correctly every time he came out to use the bathroom! I asked, and there were about 100 people on the flight. Hawaiian airlines keeps the middle seat open so the plane was about 2/3 full.

On landing at OGG we were funneled into a very long line. There was a flight ahead of us that was probably half-way done. I was worried we'd be standing there forever, but it moved pretty quickly. I didn't look, but I suspect we were in line for about 20-25 minutes. The woman who processed our documents was incredibly efficient and had our "verification in process" for our negative tests cleared instantly. It only took a few extra minutes to process all four of us, and we were only way to baggage claim and to pick up the rental car. I'm emerald club, and I'd heard I had to check in first but that was wrong. Went straight to the aisle and picked a car. We were on the road within an hour of landing.

After the hassle and stress of getting all the ducks lined up to travel, it was such a relief to be in the clear and here. We are in Wailea (Grand Wailea area), and it doesn't feel very crowded. We walked right into a restaurant that usually has a long wait. I suspect Oahu is different and a lot more busy (that was what one of the hotel employees said).

 

[montreid]

Have a ressie for Dec 26-Jan2 for Aulani -- hopefully not too busy at the pools, but those videos on youtube look kind of scary -- may need to hang at the beach only instead.

 

[LisaRN97]

Have a ressie for Dec 26-Jan2 for Aulani -- hopefully not too busy at the pools, but those videos on youtube look kind of scary -- may need to hang at the beach only instead.

From what I've been reading, we should expect it to be busy as many locals have off for the holiday and they tend to spend it at Aulani (don't blame them one bit!).