Originally Posted by
j2simpso
Another option to consider is to drive down to the UPS Hub in Seattle and talk to someone at the Customer Center. I suspect you'll get a better response than calling the 1-800 number and talking to someone who is hundreds if not thousands of miles away from the facility. If you explain the importance of the package to the person, they may be able to do a quick check to find your package. The address of the hub is : 4455 7th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98108, USA and they open at 8:30 AM.
One thing to keep in mind: the moment you declare your passport as being lost/stolen it becomes invalid as a travel document. I'm unsure what other Visas you possess in your passport but different countries have different rules as to whether the Visa carnets in passports can be accepted for entry into the country if the passport it is in is no longer valid.
Regardless of which approach you take, you'll want to make some change to your flight. The only pertinent question is to do you sit and wait at home for it to recover or do you get moving towards your final destination. The argument for staying at home is you have everything you need at hand (i.e. additional identification, documentation, etc. that may be required by Visa/passport authorities).In addition, if UPS is able to find your passport today then it's just a matter of SDCing to the next day's flight. On the other hand, the argument for getting close to the final destination (i.e. flying into HKG) is that you won't lose the day or two travel required to get to the Asian city in question. I'm unsure how US passports work, but I suspect a lost passport combined with an urgent passport request may result in the US State department issuing you a limited passport (i.e. one that expires sooner than normal) requiring you to renew sooner and go through all that paperwork. This has been my observation in Canada although the States might do things differently.
Hope that provides some insight.
Safe Travels,
James
If you have proof of immediate travel (ticket and itinerary, preferably with hotel confirmation), usually defined to be within two weeks or a need to apply for visa(s), a USA passport office can issue/renew a passport on the same day and for their expedite fee you would get a regular ten year passport with no limitations. They say that an appointment is necessary but they seem to also take same day walk ins.
You should also be able to apply for a second passport and then still use the first one if it shows up if you travel extensively or tend to need visas.
I don't know how a lost passport would factor in, but once when I thought that mine was stolen and called, they discouraged me from officially calling it stolen immediately on grounds that it would be a major and unnecessary inconvenience if it were found as once reported as lost or stolen, this cannot be undone if the passports turns up: it has irrevocably been cancelled.