Kagehitokiri

some dont have appointment, even though you are supposedly required to have one.

IIRC when i got appointment, it was 9 days out, when travel required within 14 days.

but yes, it is same day. i experienced that first hand.

jcwoman

Right. I do occasional international travel, so I do keep an eye on my passport dates. Hubby... only leaves the country on the occasional Caribbean vacation, so he let it slide. He's mad at himself and I'm sure thought I would be furious. I wasn't, because I knew the situation was fixable (the benefits of being a Flyertalker!). I did tell him that the $500 fee was a stupidity tax, though. LOL! (He agreed.)

After he initially made an appt with the D.C. passport office, he later cancelled it and went with one of the 24-hour emergency passport by mail options. I hope that's not a scam, they promised he will recieve his new passport by Fedex tomorrow. His reasoning for doing that is that he couldn't take the whole day off work to run into D.C. (This after working 16 hour days for two weeks without overtime pay. I told him his work owed him one, but he didn't listen. )

MADPhil

I used an expeditor for a first passport a few years back and the way it worked was:
I processed all the paperwork at a post office and put it in an envelope sealed by the postal employee;
I sent the envelope by Fedex overnight early delivery to the expeditor;
the expeditor processed a same day passport (they have special access);
the expeditor returned the passport by Fedex overnight;
I received the passport the next day.

This saves you a trip to the passport office and any problems getting an appointment as long as you have three days to do it. I think you don't need to involve the post office for a renewal. It is certainly a good way to do it if you don't live close to a passport office.

Often1

A non-issue in DC with its Passport Office. Just double-check all your paperwork so that you aren't missing anything.

MADPhil

However jcwoman's hubby does seem to be using an expeditor and some assurance that it is probably not a scam seemed useful!

IADBallistic

Probably too late to help in this case, but helpful for future reference:

The office of your particular Congressman or Senator(s) have staffers that will help you with last-minute passport emergencies. There is an office in DC called the Special Issuance Office that requires a signed letter from a member of Congress, but they can turn a passport in about 3 hours for a normal renewal.

This is very helpful if you live in or near DC, but even if you do not, you can make this happen by overnighting your expired passport and paperwork, and the Member's staff will hand-courier them to the office off of 19th Street, and overnight your new passport back to you. You will only incur the cost of overnight shipping rather than whatever commercial expediters charge.

Back in the day...my duties included this sort of thing from time to time. I once even had to get a new passport, race out to IAD, convince a ticket agent that I wasn't a crazy person and that I needed a gate pass, run to the gate, convince the GA that I wasn't a crazy person and that my constituent was racing to make this connection (While on the phone with said constituent insisting that he run at full speed), and hand off his new passport like a quarterback giving his halfback the ball as the GA was closing the airplane door for his int'l connection.

lol. If anyone has any questions about this particular process, I'm happy to answer PMs or this thread!

You want to go where?

However, I have very current information which tells us in this case it is not necessary. I am not sure why the OP's spouse cancelled the appointment downtown, but there would have been no problem had he kept it. A relative of a friend was due to fly out of IAD today and couldn't find her passport. She went to the passport office in Washington today, got herself a passport and made her flight out this evening. No congressional intervention needed.

jcwoman

He cancelled the appointment because he didn't want to either hang around DC for half a day, or come back a few hours after his appt to pick up the passport. Between me and you all, I think his priorities are a bit whacked.

However, about an hour ago he texted me a picture of his shiny new passport, so we're all good. I told him "congrats! You're no longer a loser!" (Yeah, it's fun being married to me - LOL!)

Thanks everyone for the advice and support. It was very helpful, and even the bits that I didn't use this time are I'm sure useful for next time (there better not be a next time for him!) or for others reading this thread. @:-)