When I last visited a passport agency most of the people there were saying they were there because they were going in person after waiting about 11-12 weeks for normal delivery and the passports weren't ready and the trip was coming up soon. The stories I read about the toll-free # are so true for me, the only way I got through to make an appointment was calling very early in the morning and trying again..and again..and again, after 3 days of trying at random times. Also, going a little early for your appointment will reduce the amount of time you will wait to get a number and the further wait to produce your application to the window.

Reindeerflame, I'm a little confused by your post, as you mentioned in another thread that you were in the process of getting your passport on April 26th and hoped to have it before a June 16th trip. Yet you're now talking in this thread about how you won't expedite when you renew? Didn't you just apply for a passport or renewal as you mentioned in the thread below? Now you're already planning ahead for 10 years from now and how you'll handle it then? If so, I agree--I would think you won't have to expedite in 10 years. My apologies if I'm not understanding you but it appears from the other thread that you are in the same boat as the rest of us??

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...=653982&page=9

OK, to clarify: I sent my passport in this time just to have extra pages added. However, it will expire in April 2008, so I will need to go through all this again. (I probably could have taken a chance on not adding the pages, but wanted the flexibility of having room in case I need a Tanzanian Visa later this year, which needs a whole blank page).

Ok, that makes more sense...but, I hate to break it to you...you are in the same boat. It's no longer a quick process to get new passport pages added if you sent it in through regular channels. It's still taking 11-12 or more weeks. The passport agency says they are treating all passport applications the same--new, renewal, extra pages. That's all I sent mine in for and the waiting has caused quite a bit of anxiety.

I applied for additional pages on 4/5/07. The following message similar to what other have reported in this forum appeared approximately two weeks later:

I checked online this morning and the following additional information has been added:

Hopefully what this means is that my application is really being processesed now.

Going to Bermuda this summer with family - we have an infant daughter with no passport.

So we went to the post office 2 weeks ago today. With this thread fresh in my mind, I decided to expedite. It was 11 weeks prior to our trip, and I didn't want to be that guy who decided to risk it and then had to start making phone calls two weeks before the trip. So I ponied up the extra $60. Didn't pay for overnight shipping or anything...figured regular certified mail with the expedite fee would be good enough.

Lo and behold, the passport showed up this week. 12 days from handing over the application to receiving the passport at home.

Now, this morning, I find out that passports are not required for Bermuda.

I don't consider the whole passport a waste - we'll be taking other trips within six months to places that do require passports. But expediting it was a complete waste... Oh well, consider this another data point: if you expedite, you should actually get it within two weeks. Especially now that the urgency for North American / Caribbean travel has been removed.

Not sure if this news has been posted yet in this thread, but there might be some relief in sight !

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/06/....ap/index.html

From what I'm reading, that additional information started showing up for everybody yesterday (including me). It must have been a change in the way the system shows online.

The thrust of my message was that in the future I am not going to be paying any expedite or Fed Ex fees to the State Dept. I am going to be paying the minimum fees, AND then I will simply call my Congressman (or Senator) to get my passport expedited for free within 2 weeks of travel if the passport is not returned. I will not be calling any 800 number that doesn't work. I will be calling the 7-digit number of my Congressman's office that is promptly answered.

Despite all the criticism of politicians, I think we have identified an area where politicians work very well...assistance with government agencies. Excellent service and responsiveness. Forget about writing Congressmen about the war, social security, or immigration. Use them for something where they can make a real difference in your life....like getting your passport.

It's official now - U.S. border passport rules suspended.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070608/...e/us_passports

Contrary to popular opinion, the suspension of the border passport rule does not ameliorate the passport application backlog one whiff because people will still need to turn in their applications. The rule suspension merely accepts the proof as a substitute for the actual passport. If anything, this news will generate more publicity about this debacle and have the unintended consequence of impelling more people to apply for passports now rather than later thus exacerbating the mess. The Federal government should have just restored the passsport rule as it operated last year and do away with this proof of application.

I sent in my application for additional pages on 3/30. For some reason the electronic system says it can't find my application. I'm not fearing that the application is lost. Anybody else have this problem???

I called up my congressman and they said there are 5 people in the office dedicated to doing nothing but resolving passport issues.

I'm not sure why it is so hard to add a few pages to a passport. Take out a few staples, add a few pages, re-staple. Couldn't be more than a minutes. Much less using an automated system.

The suspension of rules will benefit only those people waiting for a passport for travel by air to Mexico or Canada. It doesn't help those who are traveling anywhere else whose passports are being delayed because of the processing issues. Passport Services will continue to be overwhelmed and travelers will continue to have their travel plans put in jeopardy or disrupted due to the excessive processing time.

You are right in one sense, but not in another. What that means is that people like me who were getting nervous about not receiving passports for summer vacations in Canada/Mexico/Caribbean will now *NOT* be jamming the tollfree number, their congressmen, or lining up infront of the Passport office trying to get their passports. So it frees up some bandwidth for other people going to countries who require passports. A small consolation, but hopefully that will be a big number of people gone since presumably these people are the ones causing the glut of applications above normal.

I am *SO* happy they did this, I'm just wondering why they didn't do it sooner. What doesn't help processing speed for those who need passports still is that the passport agency doesn't know where people want to travel, just their travel date. If they knew where people wanted to travel, they could focus on those not in the Caribbean/Canada/Mexico first. if I can travel to my destination w/o a passport, I don't mind if my passport comes late another month or two to help people who need passports to travel soon.

The destination countries and dates of travel *are* listed on the application form. However, there is no indication that the State Department uses that information at all.

I suppose...it makes it easier to escalate issues when they arise. But it doesn't reduce the application volume (it may actually increase it now that the story is getting big time publicity). Since Passport Services doesn't have an efficient workflow system to process applications in a priority of order received/time of travel, it still means that it is likely that many travelers will need to push and push to get their passports.

There were a couple of stories on NPR tonight:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=10876269
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=6952536

NPR re-played a quotation from spokesperson for State back last year who said that processing times wouldn't increase at all because they were extremely prepared, etc., etc.

It really seems as though it would have been possible to look at figures for the number of US citizens entering via airports without passports and get a pretty good estimate as to the number of passport applications that might be expected. That doesn't seem to have happened.