Surely travelers who plan on flying out of the country this year and need a new or renewed passport have heard: It's taking forever. Or is it? We have reason to believe the situation is improving. The State Department and everyone else in the travel business has been warning that it can take up to 10 weeks to renew by mail. Here's the surprise: We received a new passport in less than four weeks from the time it was mailed (first class). Perhaps it helped that it was mailed to a P.O. box in Philadephia. So let's hope the passport folks are clearing the backlog, which was caused primarily by new rules, requiring all travelers entering the country by air to have a passport.
Here's another surprise: New passports are beautifully illustrated with American icons and landscapes. A line from the Declaration of Independence, the preamble to the Constitution, an eagle, Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, mountains, farmers, herds of longhorn cattle and a Native American totem pole, it's all there and more. Just looking at it the first time is fun.
If you live in or near Philadephia or a few other large cities, you can go to a passport service center for same-day service. The Philadelphia center is in the U.S. Customs House, 200 Chestnut St. in Center City, but you need to make an appointment Here's a link to the State Department passport home page And please tell us what your experience with getting a passport has been.
Comments (1)
Three weeks before our international trip, my husband and I found out that if your passport is expiring within 6 months, you cannot fly out of the country (or, at least, many airlines would not permit it). Do you think our travel agent mentioned that? No. When we asked him, he had never heard of this issue.
On a Monday, 18 days before departure, my husband sent in his passport for renewal, asking that it be expedited. The "helpful" post office employees did not tell him to overnight the package, so it did not even arrive at the passport office until the end of the week. He kept on checking the website for status, but it did not have one. When the status was finally updated, the request did not indicate that it was supposed to be expedited.
So, he started calling their customer service line. Repeatedly. Several times a day. Most of the time, a recording came on saying that all agents were busy, and to TRY AGAIN LATER. They don't even let you wait on hold. He also emailed them, but got back a form letter that made no attempt at actually answering his question.
He finally started calling at 6:00 AM in the morning and after 11:00 PM. It took several phone calls (where he actually got in contact with a live person), to get the status changed to expedited, and to request overnight delivery. On these early and late hour calls, I think he was actually allowed to wait on hold, and the record for the hold time was about 45 minutes.
On the Friday before the Wednesday evening flight, they told him to call on SUNDAY to check the status. Yes, Sunday. They're open on Sunday.. That fact is NOT on their website. But, on Saturday night he checked the website and saw that the passport had been shipped! He received it Monday morning.
I did not trust the system, plus I was ill the Monday that he sent in his passport, and I was leaving Wednesday morning, not afternoon, which left me with two less days of processing time. I didn't want to take a chance. I couldn't take any days off from work due to the long trip, so I paid an expediter about $100 to go down to the NYC office to renew my passport. Their service was not the best (lack of communication and miscommunication), but I got my passport before my husband got his. And a cool passport folder ;).
And, yes, my passport is absolutely gorgeous. It's a lot of fun to look at. My sister, who received her passport in May, has a plain passport is is quite jealous ;).
Our experience was grueling, but it worked.
BTW, we don't live in PA, but thought our experience would be useful to others.
Posted by PinkDevora | August 1, 2007 11:52 AM
Posted on August 1, 2007 11:52