opushomes

The evening of April 15, 2009, the journey ended

Perhaps a warning for U.S. passport holders

Apply early, expect long delays

Don't expect to be able to follow your application's status without help

This is not a trip report in any classic sense. Nor is it a report of any passport bearer’s death. No descriptions of trips, seats, food, lounges or other travel issues are included. Rather this is the saga of attempting to renew a passport while the U.S. passport system is in total disarray. Bet you did not know that.

It is important to note that the present economic crisis has severely impacted our family’s ability to travel frequently so pressure did not exist to get the passport renewed. In retrospect, I should have acted differently.

Time Line, all 2009

January 31 Return from Asia (award ticket booked in March, 2008) We have not traveled on a purchased ticket, except within Asia since June, 2008

February 17 6 months until passport expiration (time to send in for renewal)

Instead there was a period of procrastination. Other things also got in the way (income tax preparation and property tax appeal) so the renewal issue went on the back burner. After all, we are not traveling and can always go to Seattle to get it renewed.

March 1 Six PMUs (usable only on M, B and Y fares transpacific) posted to my account.

March 23 Northwest announces single/double/triple eqm offer. Since I am a frugal traveler who buys only inexpensive tickets, it appears that this offer has no value to me.

March 24 Playing around on www.nwa.com, yielded a $234 fare PDX
- JAX via JFK and DTW. Note this meant a backtrack to DTW, which
would yield a total 6435 eqm. Acceptable for a quick out-and-back to
Florida. So after conferring with Marsha, I booked one ticket in order to
start 2010 qualification. I can travel domestically using my Oregon DL until the passport is issued.

March 24 Pull out paper application and think about filling it out. Decide to see what is available on-line. Go on-line and discover that they have a .PDF form that I can fill out. After more than 20 minutes of dealing with a very slow and poorly designed interface, complete form. I could have typed it in 5.

March 26 double and triple check application after reading the many contradictory and confusing sets of instructions on the web-site. Letter is written requesting additional pages due to frequent travel. Check prepared with my name and date of birth entered on face per instructions. Two passport photos attached to application with 4 staples in location shown. A check was also prepared for Marsha’s application.
Everything including the old passport was packed into an addressed envelope which I took to the post office. At the post office placed envelope in priority mailing envelope addressed correctly to the Passport Office in Philadelphia and purchased a delivery receipt confirmation. (Traceable on-line). Paid and left the post office.

March 28 0551 application received in Philadelphia per the USPS tracking web-site. Saturday so they probably will not open it until Monday.

March 29 Read this post and started thinking about some possibilities.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milea...50-2200-a.html

Researched various permutations starting at PDX and routing via JAX, MIA, FLL and find a PDX-JAX routing that yields 7034 eqm for $247.59. I checked JAX to SIN finding an M fare (triple eqm, upgradeable with PMUs yielding 21072 eqm for $1903.26). Tripled, this is 63216 eqm. Total eqm for the three trips will be 76685 which would be enough to qualify for Platinum for 2010. All trips completed by April 30.

So what does one do? First a trip upstairs to confer with Marsha. Then after she considered the positive implications for her travel in 2010, she concurred that it made sense, perhaps not economically but certainly intellectually. After all, the economy will recover, “yeah, right!”

A telephone call to the Platinum elite line followed by a long, long conversation searching for the appropriate fares met my criteria. Some of the flights were upgraded, others waitlisted. Legitimate, who knows. Eventually the long leg DTW-NRT was also upgraded but the story will remain classified.

March 30 I had a couple of simple questions. “Should processing not be completed in time for an April 20 departure, can I get a passport in Seattle since the application is in Philadelphia?” Actually the passport is needed by April 16 since the 20th is Monday. “How do I pay for expediting the application and returning it by overnight mail?” I need a telephone number, preferably for the Seattle office.

Only a toll-free number is available.

http://travel.state.gov/passport/get...renew_833.html



http://travel.state.gov/passport/abo.../npic_898.html

Which yielded the toll-free number: Note: since I researched this, the page has been updated with the warning. Note: there is only one number for the entire nation.

Due to higher than expected call volume, we are experiencing longer than normal hold times. Please call back during the off-peak hours of 7:00pm to 10:00pm Eastern Time. You may also check the status of your passport application online.
1-877-4-USA-PPT (1-877-487-2778)
TDD/TTY: 1-888-874-7793
Passport Information is available 24 hours, 7 days a week.
Speak with a representative Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., EST, excluding federal holidays.

Checking on-line provides the following message

The Online Passport Application Status Check is temporarily unavailable due to routine maintenance.

I called the number and after navigating a confusing, redundant and vague automatic system was told that there would be a 25 minute or longer wait. After 25 minutes, I gave up hoping that calling later would be more productive. Later in the day, I called again only to get a message that they were too busy to answer and a hang up. Somewhere in the maze, was an announcement that trying late in the day around 10p.m. EDT might work. I tried that only to be disconnected after being told waiting times were too long for them to get to me.

March 31 I tried again early in the morning only to be automatically disconnected due to long waiting times.
So being a resourceful individual, I did a Google search for my Senator’s and Representative’s local numbers. Jeff Merkley is one of our Senators, a first time new guy who unfortunately defeated a perfectly fine (with the exception of his social agenda) incumbent. The call to his office yield the information that the staff member responsible for dealing with the Passport Office was out for the day and would return my call the next day. I am still awaiting that person’s call. The second call was to Congressman Earl Blumenauer’s where the staffer was on a conference call. Now, I have voted for Earl since he was Portland City Councilman. He is quirky with his bow ties, strange agendas revolving around bike transportation, but he has been around for quite awhile and his staff is knowledgeable and competent. I have testified before him and he is thoughtful and intelligent. He recently is best known for being directly behind Congressman DeFazio at gate D2 at PDX when DeFazio uttered the memorable words, “this is stupid!” concerning being pulled aside by the TSA for a thorough gate check of his carry-on and person. After her call concluded, the staffer called back. Listened to my story and informed me that she would check into the status. She seemed impressed that I knew the expiration date, passport number and the time it arrived in Philadelphia. Apparently, there is Congressional oversight because of the problems with the Agency.

April 1 No call received. Attempting to check status on-line and by phone is fruitless. I note that my wife’s check has been processed, but mine is missing.

April 2 Afternoon, I called Blumenauer’s office. The staffer was present and she told me that there was no record of my application but that was not unusual as they do not open mail in any particular order. It is opened by another processing unit and forwarded to processing where they may again ship it to another center for processing. She tells me to call back on Monday when it is sure to have been entered into the system although I will not be able to see it. (See above).

1630: I go to the mailbox. Amidst my mail is an envelope from National Passport Processing in Philadelphia. A quick squeeze confirms an item suspiciously similar to the shape of my passport. Upon reaching the house, I open the envelope which contains everything that I sent on March 26 slightly the worse for wear. Included is a letter that states, “No passport photos were submitted or the passport photos are not acceptable”. This is the best news conceivable. I now have everything in my hands where I have control.

1645: I call Blumenauer’s staffer to tell her that the passport is back. She tells me to get new photos and mail everything back. You got to be kidding me, I think. Since Monday, April 6 will be 14 days from departure, I state that I would like to have her schedule my appointment with the Seattle office. She tells me to call back Monday to request that. First I will try the automated telephone system and if not successful will ask her to schedule me.

As of today, the Passport's final journey saga continues.

Please excuse the changes in tenses.

24.05.2004

I like your unconventional TR and will follow the denouement of your passport situation. Good luck!

Only other comment to add is that it is ALWAYS better to personally go to the nearest passport agency for same-day renewals. Perhaps it is just my hectic schedule with a variety of strange visa requirements, but I just do not like to have my passport off in the hinterlands of the NPPO for (x) + (whoknowshowmany) days.

Having said that, I need to call and get an appointment as my current passport is about to croak!

wrxmom

Interesting, best of luck to you in getting that passport renewed quickly

SanDiego1K

Read the April 3 post and earlier on Ingy's blog on his misadventures simply trying to get extra pages added to his and his wife's passports. Be afraid, be very very afraid.

TrayflowInUK

Suggestion (for getting pages added, anyway): Mrs. TrayflowInUK and I have gotten pages added twice to our passports, once in Hamburg and once in London. We were resident in the respective countries at the time, but I believe you don't need to be. In both cases it took a few hours.

You want to go where?

Given the horror stories that I have heard about this agency, I would never relinquish my passport to the vagaries of mail-in service. The last two passports I have gotten have been one-day turn-arounds. I am not about to change that. Fortunately, I live in a city where I can do that.

opushomes

Thank you all for your comments. Please understand that this commentary is a warning to all who are naïve enough to think that the government is your friend or those who think that they clever enough to outwit said government’s employees and contractors.

The passport’s last reported progress in its journey was on April 2 and today is April 7, 2009.

April 2 since the reason for rejection was that the photographs were unacceptable; the intelligent thing to do was to get new photos.

April 3 with this decision made, it was off to the local AAA office for new photos. This set was, like the ones originally submitted, taken with my “photo-gray” glasses. Therefore they have a slight tint that prevents one from seeing the color of my eyes. Not really important since the Seattle Passport Office has a very prominently posted sign at its entrance that photos may be in color or black and white. When my wife saw the pictures, she told me that tinted glasses in the photos are unacceptable. Actually, I believe it says sunglasses, but I may be mistaken. Anyway, I returned again to AAA for a set without my glasses. The explanation given by the clerk who took the 2nd photo as to why they did not ask me to remove my glasses originally is that only sometimes do the minions of the Passport Office reject such photos. Now armed with glass-less photos, new glass-enhanced photos and the old rejected ones, I was prepared to have Congressman Blumenauer’s office make my appointment.

April 5: 1145 pm. Thinking that possibly it might be possible to make an automated appointment on a Sunday night about midnight and technically being within the 14 day window in all time zones except my own, I called the toll-free number.

After navigating the confusing automated system, I eventually found myself in an area that seemed to allow me to make an automated appointment. Indeed this was true, I got to the Seattle schedule, and found Tuesday April 7 had openings. The first was 8:00 a.m. Clever fellow that I am, I started searching for other times. 8:30 was next, then 9:00. 8 seemed like a good time if I went up the night before. There should be minimal lines, an entire day to process the new passport and I could spend the time rediscovering downtown Seattle. So 8 it was, but there is no way to back up to schedule. So, the entire process had to be repeated before I landed an 8 a.m. appointment for today Finally, I had my confirmation number. Now, where to stay and how to get there.

April 6: around midnight. www.expedia.com had a rate of $90 + tax (total $102) at a place called the Belltown Inn, eleven blocks from the Federal Building. A call to the hotel yielded a higher rate, so the Expedia rate was booked. Parking was quoted as $15 for 24 hours. Reviews of the hotel were mixed especially in respect to noise by the denizens of the neighborhood. Yes, this neighborhood is full of denizens.

Now, should I take the train, plane or drive? The train was about $58 but I would have to get to the station and back. My wife was quite busy so it would be public transportation to and from both the train and the hotel. The fixed schedule was also problematic. If there is a delay, I would have to rebook. Horizon Air was quite expensive, over $150 for a non-cancelable ticket. My 18 year old gas-guzzling SUV gets approximately 15mpg on the highway. It is 350 miles RT to Seattle. Between wear and tear and fuel cost it is often cheaper to rent a car rather than drive my own.

0025 The internet yielded a prepaid all-inclusive prepaid rate 2 day rate from Budget for a midsize of $62. It was seemingly booked for pickup at 3 p.m. on April 6 and return at the same time on April 8.

So an additional $162 plus fuel was committed. Whether an expedited passport fee was due would be determined in Seattle.

1415: Arrived at Budget, Beaverton (booked here because they do not have the usurious fees and taxes found in my home county. When I told the clerk that I had a reservation, he was unable to find one. Producing the confirmation did no good as it had no confirmation number. He had cars, saved me $1 a day as a walk-in and I was off in my “mid-size” Toyota Corolla.

1745: Arrived at Belltown Inn, checked in, parked car. Clerk charged me $10 for parking rather than the quoted $15. Room initially was on the street side which has been reported to be loud all night due to denizen activity. Room key rapidly swapped for one on the courtyard. Belltown Inn is basic, enough said: free internet, soap, shampoo, lots of towels, small room, queen bed, bath with door that hits toilet, required trip to front desk for hairdryer because guest steal them (ok to leave in room on check-out), four pillows (2 in closet) and iron. Why guests do not steal irons is beyond my comprehension.

1800 Went to an over-priced, service-non-existent, ok food Italian restaurant on 2nd Avenue. Had one Alaskan Amber after 40 minute wait and 2 pretty good cannelloni. Dinner cost $27 including tip.

1945 Return to hotel via grocery where one can of Diet Coke is purchased. Watch most of “Dancing with the Stars” before falling asleep.

April 7 0645 Arose

0715 Departed hotel for Passport Office. Think about walking, but decide that a free bus is a better idea. Take bus to within 4 blocks of Federal Building.

0735 Entered building for security screening. Metal implant set off metal detector. Patted down and asked for I.D. My license was in the tray with the other things that they x-rayed. Remembered Passport is in my shirt pocked and show it to guard inquiring if it is ok for ID. He thought so.

0745 After taking the wrong elevator arrive at 9th floor hallway with 4 people waiting patiently. Joined the line. Soon I was joined by a very talkative woman who was on her 4th trip from Bellingham for a friend whose picture was deemed not good enough. She is in possession now of a black and white photo of a non-smiling black woman. At some point in her saga they told her it was ok to smile for a passport photo. YMMV.

0800 Line moves to guard checking paperwork. He does not want the confirmation number-not his job.

0801 Told to join line 5, third in line. Guy in front of me has no confirmation number, called from a friend’s phone for appointment (they can track by phone number used to make appointment but not by name). He is sorted out because he recognizes the friend's number. Clerk looks at the three sets of photos. She rejects the originally supplied and the one with glasses. I ask for extra pages; she states that Seattle can issue 52 page books. She asks how I want to pay my fee and expedite fee. I had no luck with the argument that it shouldn’t apply because of on-time application. Pay the $135 and collect 135 Alaska Air miles. Quickly, I am issued a number and told to wait for it to be called.

0802 Window 2 calls me. Unfriendly male clerk wants to know if I have been at the office before because my application has a bar code. Finally he understands that the ripped paper in front of him has been to Philadelphia and back. When he is done, I inquire as to when I should return to pick the new Passport up. His response, it would be mailed to me and if I had any questions to just either call the toll-free number (see above) or use the internet (see above). He assured me that I would have it on April 15 at my address in Portland. He made a point of using his finger on the form to show me where it would be sent. So the Passports journey is stalled in Seattle awaiting processing and transmission to me via U.S. Postal Service.

0807 Exited Federal Building

0825 Entered Belltown Inn

0835 Exited parking lot and proceed around the corner to 2nd Avenue heading south

0848 Entered I-5 South

1111 Entered Oregon Total Washington State Patrol encountered in 168 miles (14-(7 motorcycle and 7 cars)) This is reportedly more than the entire road contingent available on the night shift withing the entire State of Oregon.

1230 Returned car after refueling and lunch. Fuel cost 9.867 gallons=$21.20
One day rental=$30.49, Lunch=$13

April 7 Now I wait for Bob, the postman.

Sometimes one cannot prevent the Agency from taking the Passport and insisting that it be mailed back to the holder. I believe that this is unconscionable exhibiting a total lack of understanding by a government entity tasked with assisting the public. Seattle's rule is that one may obtain a same-day turn-around if the application is within seven (7) days of travel. Between 7 and 14 days, they insist on sending it through the mail. This is not publicized. There seems to be no appeal.

My present Passport has two additional sets of pages. One was added in Kuala Lumpur and the other in Bangkok. My belief is also never to relinquish one's passport except in a secure office.

As I understand it, there has been a change in contractors from an efficient operation located in New Hampshire to the present problem-riddled operation in Philadelphia. Routine maintenance of a computer system does not take it down from the beginning of March to the present.

Seat 2A

I'm a bit leery of the mails as well, so I have always paid a personal visit to the Seattle office and have never had any problems. That said opus, I hope your unfortunate sitation comes to an expedient and satisfactory conclusion.

BTW, back in 2005 I needed extra pages for my passport. US based passport offices all said this would cost me $60.00 and take a few days. I waited until I was in Perth, Australia where the US Consulate provided the extra pages in about 20 minutes at no cost.

bitburgr

At this point my heart would have sank.

However (and not rub it in), the process can work. I helped a relative get their passport very recently. A walk across the street to the post office for a set of photos and then the application was off in the mail. I waited about three weeks and called the agency for a status. "No record of your application exists" or some such recording. Yikes!! So I called said relative who proclaims that they have had the new passport for a couple of days.

This application did go to the Philly office so I keep my fingers crossed for the OP. And look forward to the rest of the story.

opushomes

This is my 3rd renewal through the Seattle office. Also the first time that I was unable to get same day turn-around.

Always get pages added at an overseas embassy.

Anyone want to bet that I get a 26 page book?

And to rub salt in my wounds, I optimistically booked all my hotels prepaid with the exception of the Transit hotel in Singapore on the way to Thailand. Not to mention the, sort of, non-cancel provision on the tickets.

I guess, I can convince my next door neighbor to write a letter describing the severe case of dengue I magically contracted on the 18th of April to give to my travel insurance carrier.

opushomes

I erred and forgot making the statement that there would be no food or travel descriptions. Little did I know then what I know now.

Good News-Kind of.

April 8 Yesterday, I actually got through to a human on the toll free number after an approximately 6 minute wait once the correct automated number was pressed. On-line access is still down for maintenance.

After asking for everything but my mother's maiden name, but not the tracing number, the person on the telephone assured me that Seattle had my passport application. Big surprise!!!. "It should be to you in three weeks" was her canned response.

Apparently the Passport Agency is not run by Fedex or (shock) U.S. Postal Service where they track status by waypoint. The Passport tracking knows that it entered the system, then it becomes a mystery as to where it is in the system as described by bitburger

"They are working over the this weekend"

So she suggested that I call Monday to see what's up.

Stay tuned.

Princess1

Got a new passport due to name change. Started checking status online after they cashed my check (and my, how quickly they do that!). Status site said no record of my application right up until the day I got the new passport.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

opushomes

April 13: 1835 After a wait slightly exceeding 10 minutes, I reached an agent in Kentucky to check my status. After giving him my SSN, full name and date of birth he checked for me, mumbling that the computers were sure slow today.

The passport is complete according to his information and the US Postal Service has been notified for pickup.

In order to obtain a tracing number, I have to call back tomorrow.

ArizonaGuy

I didn't see this mentioned. Forgive me if this has been covered.

I too have noticed the annoying "down for maintenance" page is omnipresent on the travel.state.gov URL. But a google search brought me to the link below which allowed me to follow my renewal status through the Philadelphia hell. I was only adding extra pages (failed to do so on last trip in Istanbul, was too out of the way). Only took 12 days from registered mail to return to me.

https://passportstatus.state.gov/ops..._Status_ip.asp

opushomes

Thank you.

The message stated that I requested regular mail and it would be delivered to me on or about April 19. I leave at 0630 on Monday, April 20. It also talked about priority mail but Passport Office said that they send via Express Mail. I called the status number earlier today and they gave me what they called a control number for the envelope. Logging onto the USPS site tells me it is not trackable and apparently they actually sent it priority rather than express even though I paid the expedite fee.

Here is the actual message.

You requested delivery by regular mail. Passport Agencies use Priority Mail. This means you should receive your passport on or about 04/19/2009.

Your Priority Mail delivery confirmation number is xxxxxxxx. *** Please note that the delivery confirmation number is not a tracking number. It is a number that will provide information as to whether or not an envelope has been delivered. You can click on the delivery confirmation number to check delivery status or call USPS at 1-800-222-1811.

Can it take 6 days to travel 168 miles from Seattle to Portland?? So now, I wait in limbo.