How to Fill Out the Akamai Arrival Form: Hawaii Agricultural Declaration

Every passenger flying into Hawaii from the U.S. mainland or an international destination must complete the Hawaii agricultural declaration form, officially the Plants and Animals Declaration, before clearing the airport. You can now fill it out online through the Akamai Arrival portal at akamaiarrival.hawaii.gov before your flight lands.¹ It takes a few minutes. Skipping it or lying on it can cost up to $10,000.

Who Has to Fill It Out

Hawaii law requires every arriving passenger, flight officer, and crew member to complete the declaration, whether or not they are carrying anything agricultural.² Residents, tourists, and business travelers are all covered. One adult can submit a single form for the whole family, including children.³

If you are arriving from another country, this state form is separate from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection declaration. State inspectors sit in the baggage claim area and are not the same officers who handle federal customs.⁴

Flying between the Hawaiian islands does not trigger the requirement. The declaration applies only to arrivals from outside the state.

What You Are Declaring

Under HRS § 150A-5, you must report any plants, seeds, cuttings, fruits, vegetables, grains, soil, microorganisms, and live animals, including insects, reptiles, and birds at any life stage.² The containers and packing materials used to transport those items are covered too.

In practice the form asks whether you are bringing:

Live animals of any kind, including pets, birds, reptiles, insects, and snails
Plants and plant products such as nursery stock, flowers, cuttings, seeds, fruits, vegetables, herbs, foliage, roots, or bulbs
Soil or microorganisms, including potting soil, compost, or biological cultures

If you are carrying none of these, you still fill out the form and answer no. The purpose is a record for every arriving passenger, so inspectors can concentrate on the travelers who actually have something to examine.

Filling Out the Akamai Arrival Form Online

Akamai Arrival launched in March 2025 as the digital replacement for the paper declaration. In its initial phase it covers select domestic flights, with expansion planned.¹ The portal lives at akamaiarrival.hawaii.gov.⁵

The form walks you through nine steps:⁶

Select your preferred language.
Enter your date of arrival.
Declare any live animals you are transporting.
Declare any plants, seeds, or other organisms.
Enter your traveler information, including name and contact details.
Enter your airline and flight number.
Enter your destination address in Hawaii, such as a hotel name.
Complete the attestation confirming your answers are accurate.
Submit the form and save the confirmation.

Have your flight number and where you are staying ready before you start. Once you submit, you get a confirmation screen and an email. Save it to your phone or take a screenshot so you can show an inspector when you land.

If Your Flight Doesn’t Have the Digital Form Yet

Airlines still hand out paper declaration forms in the cabin before landing.⁷ The paper version collects the same information: your name, flight number, seat number, number of bags, and whether you have any plants, animals, seeds, or other agricultural items. You hand it to a plant quarantine inspector at baggage claim after you land. If you already submitted the Akamai Arrival form online, you do not need to fill out the paper one too.

What Happens When You Land

Plant quarantine inspectors are stationed in the baggage claim area at Hawaii’s airports.⁴ After you pick up your bags, you show the inspector your digital confirmation or your paper form.

If you declared nothing agricultural, the review is quick and the inspector waves you through. If you declared plants, produce, or animals, the inspector examines those items and your luggage. Anything that passes is released. Anything prohibited or infested is confiscated and destroyed on the spot, which is how travelers lose the mango they packed from home or the succulent tucked into a suitcase pocket.

The department keeps arrival data so it can trace pest outbreaks back to specific flights, which is why the form asks for your flight number and destination address even when you are carrying nothing.

What You Cannot Bring In

Declaring an item honestly does not make it legal. Hawaii’s isolation makes it especially vulnerable to invasive species, and many items that are unremarkable on the mainland are banned entirely:

Most fresh fruits and vegetables from the mainland, including citrus, berries, stone fruits, and most tropical fruits
Plants with soil attached, because the soil itself can carry pests, fungi, and microorganisms
Coffee plants and fresh coffee berries, restricted to protect Hawaii’s coffee industry from the coffee berry borer beetle
All live snakes, which are prohibited without exception

The prohibited animal list is broader than snakes. Private individuals cannot bring or possess ferrets, gerbils, hamsters, alligators, piranhas, hermit crabs, geckos, toucans, bearded dragon lizards, or monk parakeets, among others.⁸ Non-domestic dogs and cats, including wolf hybrids, dingos, Bengals, and Savannahs, are also prohibited.⁹

Penalties for Skipping the Form or Lying on It

Failing to complete the declaration, or providing false information, violates HRS § 150A-5 and carries a fine of $100 to $10,000 for a first offense. A second violation within five years raises the range to $500 to $25,000.² Each day of violation counts as a separate offense.

Knowingly importing a prohibited animal is a misdemeanor carrying fines of $5,000 to $20,000. For most travelers the realistic risk is not a criminal charge but losing items at the checkpoint. Inspectors confiscate and destroy anything they identify as a threat, and there is no process to get it back. Travelers who declare honestly and carry nothing prohibited clear the checkpoint in under a minute.

Bringing a Pet Is a Separate Process

Filling out the declaration form does not qualify a dog or cat to enter Hawaii. Because the state is rabies-free, pets need two rabies vaccinations, a passing FAVN rabies antibody blood test, and a minimum 30-day wait after both the most recent vaccination and a successful test result before arrival.⁹ Pets that fully qualify in advance can use Direct Airport Release for $185 at Honolulu or $165 at Kona, Kauai, or Maui. If paperwork reaches the Animal Quarantine Station fewer than 10 days before the flight, the fee rises to $244. Pets that do not meet every requirement enter through the 5-Day-or-Less quarantine program at $244. Start this months before your trip; a dog that arrives without paperwork goes into quarantine, and the daily fees add up quickly.

Leaving Hawaii Is a Different Inspection

On the way out, agricultural inspections are federal, not state. The U.S. Department of Agriculture inspects all checked and carry-on baggage on flights from Hawaii to the continental United States, Alaska, or Guam.⁴ This happens before you check your bags at the airline counter, so allow an extra 15 to 20 minutes at the airport. Items that can leave after passing USDA inspection include fresh pineapple, roasted or green coffee beans, coconuts, treated papayas and other fruits packed in USDA-stamped sealed boxes, fresh flower leis except jade vine and Mauna Loa, dried seeds, seashells, and wood roses. Most fresh fruits and vegetables, berries of any kind, plants in soil, sugarcane, live insects and snails, and fresh seed pods cannot leave.¹⁰

1
Office of the Governor. Akamai Arrival: Modernizing Hawaiʻi’s Agriculture Declaration Form
2
Justia. Hawaii Code 150A-5 – Conditions of Importation
3
Hawai’i Tourism Authority. State of Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture Plants and Animals Declaration Form
4
Hawaii Department of Transportation. Agriculture Inspection
5
Department of Agriculture & Biosecurity. Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity
6
Office of the Governor. New Electronic Plants and Animals Declaration Form
7
Go Hawaii. Before You Travel to Hawaii
8
Department of Agriculture & Biosecurity. Animal Guidelines
9
Department of Agriculture & Biosecurity. Animal Quarantine Information Page
10
APHIS. Information for Travelers From Hawaii to the U.S. Mainland, Alaska, or Guam