I stood in line at the Post Office to reserve a meeting with a passport official on Saturday, April 18 to renew my little sister's passport. We paid the extra fee to expedite it because we have a trip coming up. The passport was ready & sent out on Friday, April 24, a turnaround of 5 business days! I just got it in the mail yesterday, Tuesday, April 29.

So just for anyone who wanted to know how long it takes to get an expedited passport, looks like it's pretty darn quick! When I got a non-expedited passport renewal in February 2014, it took me 28 days. So hopefully the rapidity is good news for someone.

You could gain a day or two, if you pay extra for expedited return shipping (FEDEX). But 5 days is fast.

I had a similar experience in late January. My dog chewed up my passport the day after I had made our vacation arrangements for travel about 8 weeks out.

Hedging my bets, I paid for expedited processing but did not pay for expedited return shipping.

I processed my request at my local post office on a Saturday and received my new passport in the mail the following Thursday. I was stunned and relieved.

I just used CIBT Travel to expedite my passport in 5 days in early April 2015. Price was worth every penny of the $450 inclusive ed to do so.

Tips

1) Make sure you mark the form to allow the passport courier to pickup the passport. You;d think the form would have this marked by default, it does not!

2) Take advantage of time zone differences -- using LAX office allowed me to get paperwork done at USPS, overnight, and then call CBIT to alert them what was sending.

3) Complain to the State Department that they will not accept E-signed and Ecrypted PDF. Guess our current Administrationhas yet another area where its folks disobey law. Paperwork reduction Act 1971 requires it implementation!

Sully

How much did it cost?

What did the expediter do for his fee you couldn't Or didn't want to do?

I'm wondering the same thing ...

$164 at the San Antonio Post Office, including the Post Office fee.

That seems like a pretty good deal. I need to renew at the end of the year, and will probably take this route ..maybe the expedited return shipping as well. I'm in Chicago so it's pretty easy to get to a location to drop off.

In cities with a State Dept. passport office you should be able to obtain a new/replacement passport in less than 24 hours if you can document your travel needs.

Lost passport, emergency trip for someone without a passport and so on. You show up as they open and by the early afternoon, you've got your document. Expedited fees + whatever it costs to get yourself to the passport office and hang out are all variables.

have a refundable ticket for same day as when you go to office (you dont need appointment)

ahhhh to say this post beyond stressed me out is the biggest understatement ever!!! I applied for my passport April 17th and payed to expedite it. My trip is on May 22nd and 2 weeks later I have heard absolutely nothing back! There was nothing showing up when I went to check my application status (though is says it's been having technical difficulties for the past 2 weeks) and yesterday decided to call them. They told me that there was nothing on me in their system! To make matters worse my check has yet clear as well!! They told me that if there is no change by Tuesday I am going to have to reapply! Obviously no time for that so feeling really helpless and stressed :/ Any tips, experiences, anything (or words of encouragement to calm me down :P ) would be greatly appreciated!

Did you send the documents with a return receipt? Where were they dropped off or mai l ed from?

I'm not sure..? I went and did it at my local county clerks office. After we did the application and all that he took it over from there and said he would get it all sent off later that afternoon. It was a Friday so I don't know if it could have been slightly delayed from it being the weekend? Either way if I don't hear anything by Monday afternoon will be giving them a call and see if there is a way it can be tracked! I have everything crossed it will be here Monday though!!!! I know I still have a week left of the 3 weeks said on their site, but seeing that everyone always gets theirs earlier has the anxiety through the roof!

It might be a good idea to contact the clerks office and find out what they did and timing. Where was the package sent and how? are they sure expedited service was requested? I'm really surprised that did not provide a receipt for you and if there is no status at the passport office, I'd start at the clerks office. The passport office can not track what t hey don't have. You said your check had not cleared so that's more evidence something is amiss before the passport office.

I live in ATL and was able to drop mine off at 10a on a Monday and pick it up the next day at 2p. Absolutely painless. Think it was $200 - $140 renewal fee and $60 expedite.

Some, like ATL, do require an appointment. First thing they do before letting you in the queue is ask to see your printed out appointment confirmation.