US Passport review: Delay of US passport 190

I'm in the same board. I have tried many times 1877 phone and talk to representative. Those representatives always told me to wait the next couple days. Right now, it's still no any results. Maybe I have to change my traveling schedule.

I am having the same problem and am extremely frustrated. I applied for mine and my sons passport on March third. I am scheduled to leave for the airport on Thursday. Today is Sunday and we still dont have it. I have called every day and keep being told they are working on it and it is not being held up for anything, it is just processing. The info on the web site and the recordings state you should receive your passport in 10 weeks. It has been longer than 10 weeks for us. It was very difficult to even book this trip since I am a single parent and do not have $$ to throw away. I have never been able to take my son on a vacation when he was young so I tried really hard to take him before he turns 18 (he is 15). It infuriates me that I will be out all that money for something that is not my fault. I also would like to take legal action if possible so if anyone knows how I go about it please let me know. Good luck to everyone still caught up in this ridiculous red tape.

I just went through the emergency passport process in Houston and it is pandemonium. There are hardly any instructions given to anyone and the security is too busy answering questions that they give their patterned answers to (i don't know), so they aren't watching who is cutting in line which causes the most amount of chaos.

So the emergency passports can have a turn around of 24 hours or so, but the regularly applied for passports are taking 12+ weeks? H-I-R-E P-E-O-P-L-E!

The regional offices wouldn't be inundated with hundreds of people if the national offices would just do their jobs and/or hire some more people to do the work.

We applied March 07, 2007 for passport renewals. Our plane departs in 12 hours, and still no passport. Frustrating does not even begin to describe the situation and this agency.

I have made eight calls over the last two-weeks, and several unanswered emails. At first, passport agency employees assured that our passports would arrive before our departure. Today, 12 hours before our flight, employees are saying that we will have to reschedule costly international flights and domestic flights within Peru. Actually, they say very little and accountable for nothing. I also inquired about a compensation policy to reimburse for additional charges that would incur. Of course, there is no recourse.

Many people online have suggested emailing their congressional representative. No reply as of yet from my congressman. I find it hard to believe that a passport renewal can take so long. I have traveled internationally-extensively-since 1987. There should be little question of who I am.

I have been checking the Internet for other travelers who are in the same situation. I am not the only one. Good luck to people who need their passports soon.

I am beyond livid! My boyfriend applied, payed the extra money and was told two weeks, we are now in week FIVE and still no passport. We finally got a hold of our congressman's office and now we can pick is up in Houston-- a mere THREE HOUR DRIVE or wait until Thursday - which is two days after we were supposed to leave. Now I not only get the privilege of making a 6 hour round trip drive, I can now pay an extra grand to start my vacation a day late. On unrelated note-- never-- ever use travelocity. I've been trying to make this change for a three hours, I am sure that it would go faster, but I don't speak Hindu.

I am all for forming a class action lawsuit. Check out my complaint and we can both do this. I figure that if we can get at least 10,000 people, the us passport office will have to do something.

I'm so LIVID right now! I mailed out all my information in PLENTY of time. So now here I am in the final hour, I leave tomorrow STILL no passport. I did the whole call 14 days in advance, I sat on hold everyday for 14 days from anywhere between 45 minutes to 90 minutes. Every time I talked to someone they would say "Oh they're doing it today, it will be at your house in 2 days" Well that was two weeks ago. I had to take 3 days off of work to drive into Boston to sit in line and hear the same thing over and over again. The best part is every single one of them LIED to me. They all said, once it's done we will Fed Ex it OVERNIGHT to you. I heard that from at least 6 people! So last night I finally called and they said it shipped, REGULAR MAIL! So I'm completely screwed. I'm supposed to leave tomorrow morning (5/25). So today I need to try and figure out what I'm going to do now, but I will say - The Government should be held responsible for the money thats going to be lost here! I can't get refunded, it's minimum of $200pp to change the ticket never mind what I'll loose in hotel costs! I am just beside myself I can't even think straight.

My advice to any of you that still have time is go to the nearest passport office and get there early. I leave for the Bahamas today and made the 14 hour round trip drive to New Orleans yesterday to get my kids' passports. The applications were put in 12 weeks ago and I've been told everyday for the past two weeks they would be here in time and they would be FedExed - yes, after holding for 60-90 minutes each time and getting cut off several times.

I live in Houston, but have heard that the office is much more congested and I was less likely to get it done same day. I was in the New Orleans office by 6 a.m. (I was 4th in line) and by 8 a.m. - when they opened - there were already well over 100 people in line. I brought additional copies of EVERYTHING I needed - birth certificates, pictures, applications. I had my children's passports by 12 noon that day. They say you need an appointment, but it only gives you a minimum advantage over those that just show up.

My girlfriend is in the same boat that many of you have been. I will spare the details, as they are similar to many of the posts here, needless to say she needs to get her passport ASAP in order to get a visa, which is another lengthy process. In the event she doesn't get her passport, she will owe her university $6,000 as well as have her diploma revoked.

The most frustrating thing about this situation is that there's no way at present that anyone in the entire passport bureaucracy can be held accountable for their inaction and deceit - this is what they hide behind and this is why nobody in the system really cares.

A class action lawsuit is in order. Nothing will change otherwise. The congresspeople don't really seem to care much about the situation - not enough to push for change. I'm interested in organizing the law suit in question or being a part of it. Please contact me with the pertinent details.

I am very uneasy right now with the same situation. We have sent applications for our passports (3 first time and one for renovation) back in march 7th or so. Still no passports! We are supposed to leave on June 4th to the Dominican Republic. I live in Utah, and I haven't seen my family in 8 years, we are taking our children so my father and the family can get to know then for the first time. There is so much involved in this trip, beyond pleasure, it is a sentimental trip. Our tickets are not refundable,and so much will be lost, THOUSANDS of dollars! imagine the cost of a trip like that for a family of 4! (including the passports prices themselves. )

I get up at 5 in the morning so I can get a chance to get through the busy phone lines there, and I feel as if they are hiding something. I feel there's something they don't say. I've been told by them that they are expediting our passports and doing everything possible, but I still feel they are not saying ALL they know. They keep asking me to call back in a few days to "Check" again. If they mess up our trip, there will be war ,because we'll move heaven and earth until they refund every penny! the damages will be emotional as well as financial. So many years waiting for this opportunity, dreaming for the day we could afford such a vacation...now everything paid for CASH means we'll lose all our savings and all our hopes!

I put my expedited application in on April 23 and was assured I would see the passport within two weeks, or four weeks at the very most. I am one of five Americans who were accepted to an astrophysics graduate student summer school in Portugal. My flight was supposed to leave today, but after spending a whole week on the phone with the passport agency and being assured it was being actively worked on and would arrive before my departure, it still has not arrived. In addition, the passport customer service representatives have not been recording our conversations, and now the passport is being mailed to the wrong address. Now, my flights have had to be put on hold, and all of the fees (as well as the expedited passport service!) are draining my pocketbook. Because of the passport agency, I will not be able to attend the summer school, and my reserved spot is going to waste. I can not even express my disgust.

OMG! I was so furious with the passport agency... Its like dealing with the DMV, however I'm starting to like the DMV more.

We did ours in Feb 2007 which gave them plenty of time to process it.So I waited a week to call since I knew they were swamped.I kept on checking the status online and it finally said that it was being shipped Priority Mail 2-3 days.

So no worries, after the 3 days I'm getting kind of nervous and starting to panic. Several phone calls to passport agency ,Don't worry its already shipped. there claiming USPS has it, I called USPS they have no idea where the passport is.So called Passport agency again there claiming that they gave it to USPS, Usps is claiming they were electronically notified, but doesn't mean they have it in their hands yet... The Passport agency told us they were going to overnight it after screaming and crying over the phone.

Now our flight was scheduled May 11th. It Never FREAKIN came. Called the congressman, they had someone in his office that dealt with passport issues. Said he can try to get me an emergency appointment in Los Angeles if needed. Hello, I'm calling you so I don't have to drive down there. Remember ur suppose to help me. He's definitely not getting my vote..

Needless to say I had to spend extra money to drive down from Vegas to LA to get my son's passport, and trust me driving with an 18 month old is not fun.(cost too much for last minute airline tickets)plus I had to get a hotel, gas, food. Oh and let me tell you, we got there at 7am and there must have been 150 people there already with the same issues. My son got his passport that day around 3pm.We didn't have to pay for it since they lost it, and being that we drove from Vegas the agent made an exception and said we didn't have to pick it up the next day... BULL HONKY I would have raised hell if she told me to pick it up tomorrow. Its not my fault that I did follow the guidelines and they didn't.The lines were horrible it was hot and I feel like all I've been doing is WAITING. WAITING IN LINE, WAITING ON THE PHONE!IT TAKES HOURS JUST TO GET THROUGH TO THE PASSPORT AGENCY..AND WHEN I DID GET THRU I FELT LIKE I WAS TALKING TO AN 18 YR OLD..PROBABLY WAS!HE FELT NO REMORSE, NO APOLOGIES ALL HE COULD SAY WAS ITS NOT A GUARANTEE, OH AND HE WAS THE SENIOR CUST AGENT SINCE THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANY SUPERVISORS TO SPEAK TOO... IDIOT, ONE DAY YOU WILL KNOW WHAT ALL OF US HAD TO GO THRU... HELP GUYS, WHAT CAN I DO TO GET REIMBURSED.After we got back from our trip on May 18th there was a doortag on our door from FEDEX with the date 5-15-07. Ridiculous I'm telling you, if I didn't follow my husbands instincts and just drive to LA we would of missed our trip.They need to get there S*** together.P.s. everyone that we knew that filled out their passport applications after us, got theirs overnighted, one phone call, no problems for them. and we were the most persistent ones.We always called and followed up.BULL is all I can say... MAD MOTHER...

Folks,

The US Passport web site has wrong information!

http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/processing/processing_1740.html

The link, above, states that routine service takes 10-12 weeks to obtain your US Passport. We submitted our documents, through a post office, and have not received our passports in over 14 weeks.

If you call, you will not be serviced unless your travel date is within two weeks. If you call their [protected] number, the best you can is to talk to a person who states they will have your passport expedited. Guess what, two weeks is not enough time.

The agency is so back-logged that they can not keep up with their mandatory 2 week prior to travel request.

I know we have been told that it would take a while to get your passport. I accepted this fact however, they need to change their time because people may assume it is only 12 weeks, which it is NOT.

My son is supposed to leave for Greece tomorrow morning at 10:10 am. We still don't have his passport even though we applied in early March. It's the same story as above. I've talked to the passport agency as well as my congress representative numerous times and we still don't have confirmation that the passport will go out overnight. He worked a long time at minimum wage to earn the money for this high school trip and it makes me sick to think red tape will make it all go to waste. How hard is it to make a passport for a 16 year old citizen? I am definitely interested in any class action suit that happens.

We submitted the application for my kids passport on feb 14th. They are supposed to travel in 2 days, and we are still waiting! If we don't get them on time we will have to pay around 400.00 to the airlines for a different flight. It was expensive enough for the ticket's and we really can't afford the extra fees.

My mom applied for a passport about 2 weeks ago, but about a week ago we found out that my grandfather in Colombia is suffering from Leukemea and now his condition is just getting worse and worse. My mom is desperate and cannot wait 10 -12 weeks to receive her passport. The problem is that my mom just became a citizen and had to send her naturalization certificate in order to get a passport, now they tell us that without it she cannot get an emergency passport, and ordering a new certificate will take just as long as waiting for the passport.

We keep trying to get in touch with a representative so we can ask what we can do in this situation but all they say is that they are too busy to take our call. My mom is desperate and we have no clue on what to do.

If any of you have any type of information on what actions we can take, or any alternatives please, please let us know.

I am so freaked out, I am supposed to be leaving for England on June 4th, I have an appointment on June 1st at the Houston office. Does anyone know if I will get my passport that day? My other passport was stolen from a Federal park 2 weeks ago in San Francisco! I am so nervous. Does anyone know if I will get my passport at the appointment? I can not get through to any representative, and I tried to call the Houston office but there is no luck of an answer! I am a nervous wreck! Can anyone help me?

Does anyone know anything about this? About class actions in general? How does a class action go about being filed? How do we join or what would the costs be to start our own?

I was searching for the address to complain about the passport office when i found this site. I have just had to cancel my 2 week trip to Europe because i did not receive my passport. Its been 4 months. i was told NOT to expedite, that i had plenty of time. 4 months later, no passport. there are no words to describe the lack of logic and competency that i have experienced while talking (or not talking) to the passport information office in the past 3 weeks. I was told it was in the mail 2 weeks ago, then in the mail, then in the mail, then it was being overnighted, i was even given the name of the carrier that would bring it, then yesterday 2 days before i hop on a plane, oopsy! Its not even done being made yet. WOW. I was given 2 options, wait and see if it randomly shows up hours before i am supposed to leave and risk losing 30k (cost of trip if i don't cancel and use insurance to reschedule), OR collect all passport materials (which would take a day probably, which makes it impossible right there) and drive 6 hours to houston (texas is a big state people) while calling the automated line to see if by chance someone cancels their appointment so i can try to get one made in person. There were no appointments, but hey, maybe someone will cancel on my way down there. Oh and they have no record of ever talking to me to tell me it was in the mail or that i even ever called at all. Or that i sat on hold for an hour and a half listening to one classical piece over and and over and then some service rep HANGS UP ON ME because butter fingers apparently cant answer a phone. So deep deep deeep breaths. I will be contacting everyone i can think of to complain. Why bother? Because if no one complains how can it ever be fixed?

Sent passport in March 3rd so that I would have it by June 6, the day I leave the country. Today is the 1st of June, still no passport and am fairly certain this condition will remain the same. Clearly, the passport agency knows they have a problem and it is such a problem that the best solution is to ignore it on all levels rather than admitting to an infuriated populous that the lack of competency and use of logic used in determining passport law and time tables is the reason they are losing the money invested in their trips-money that the government claims they have no responsibility to recompense to any and all for their travel woes.

Damn this country!

I cannot believe they wanted me to drive 14 hrs to new orleans.. That is where my passport is in new orleans.. They tell me if i drive down there by tomorrow morning can get it same day.. But since it is too late to drive it would cost me a whopping 800.00 just to fly down there and back to be at work the next day. More less they are saying who cares if you sent in in way advance at the time you applied. You need to go 3 days and just hope you get it after you fork out more money in gas to get down there. I'm completely devastated since i have never traveled in my life i was taking my neice for a grad gift. I sent mine out beginning of march and leaving on the 6th of june as well. I will be at total loss of my trip money since they have tole me the insurance doesn't cover my problem and more less i would be paying more money out for cancelling my trip .. That i would be better off driving to new orleans or well the other day was chicago.. I was willing to do tht since i live 10 hrs from chicago.. But that isn't even in the option since they aren't taking emergency issues.. Well yeah its emergency when its my well earned money.. I think lets sue but if you think bout it we are more less payin ourselves back from taxes we are going to have to pay.. But im still considering.. You would think the gov't would make a temp. Change right now to let back in with our birth certificates and id's while they know there is such a problem with the passport issues.. But wait they don't have that problem and why should they care the snap their fingers and they get it no problem.. And the damn passport agency as our birth certificates.. Just a damn mess .. Complete mess. And i am still tryin to figure if im goin to confirm my flight or cancel it all together since supposedly i have a slight chance of getting it on tuesday.. My behind..

Well i will keep good thoughts for those still waiting with me..

Ashley

WOW. Me and my husband are really not alone. The entire situation is baffling. We are scheduled to leave for Jamaica 6-5 and we sit here on Sat 6-2 with no passports. We are celebrating our 10th year anniversary and attending a dear friends wedding. We have spent over $4000.00 for this trip and nobody in our government remotely cares. Our passports have been in New Orleans for weeks and we continue to get the run around. Can someone please tell me how I can join the class action suit please?

I'm interested in participating in a class action lawsuit. My story is no different than those mentioned previously. Submitted my kids applications within plenty of time according to their then published timeframes. Have spent at least an hour on the phone every day for the last week requesting an "urgent email" - like that did any good. I can't believe that their workaround is to have thousands of travelers visit the regional agencies! How inefficient! The US Department of State should be held accountable for not providing the service that we the taxpayers pay for!

I also applied for a passport on March 7th and still do not have my passport. You cannot get thru on the passport phone line-they just hang up on you (they also will not answer a email) I am upset that they are still claiming it only takes 10 - 12 weeks and they are working overtime so no one misses there trip. I love that are government IMPOSES the passport rule and are unable to process passports in a reasonable amount of time. Maybe I will call my congressman!

Good luck calling your congressman there is only soo much they can do... All they can do is send out an urgent email as well.. We are supposed to call tomorrow .. 2 days before we leave... All i know is they better get on the role.. Seriously if they know they are that behind they should start like 24 hr processing different shifts whoever is ahead of the agency should pay for this!i read up and noticed that new orleans processes more then 10 states passport applications.. While colorado only does for their area only.. You think some of the states that only process their area would take in some of the work load off new orleans. This is just a complete, i mean complete disaster... Everyone needs to keep every damn receipt that you have after the loss .. Because there is goin to be one of the biggest class action suit the gov't has ever endured that is for sure. I have been so stressed i got sick the whole night since i now found out i would be payin out lots and lots of money for canceling this trip that i already forked out enough.. My neice is soo upset she graduated high school and this was a gift for her that she might not even get... And the sad thing is for those who have relatives who are having weddings, honeymoons, illness, or even loss of a member of their family are missing out on these very important issues.. We as americans should not have to go through this .. To get back in our own country to even enjoy ourselves.. It's like we are being held hostage in our own country and lost our rights to live freely.. i feel like i have shackles on my ankles... We so need to get this class action suit on the way.. Everyone agree say i!

Ashley

I think our Congresspeople are aware there is a problem but does the President? Not that he cares, but maybe he would care when he gets millions of emails a day.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

Don't you wish we could all say to the Govt, "MAYBE we will pay our taxes and maybe we won't... and if we do decide... MAYBE we'll let you know..."

12 weeks and counting.

What really... irks me... is that people who are JUST now applying are getting their's faster than those who followed the policy.

I have called my Congressman, the post office and have called the National Passport Center... evidently my passport is complete and is just "waiting to be mailed". It's sitting in New Orleans.

My daughter received her's a month ago.

I am sooo furious right now! NO passport and we are to leave this Wednesday (June 6th) for a trip to Germany for my grandmother's 100th, YES 100TH!, birthday. My dad, stepmom, aunt, uncle & cousins are all going to be there. I cannot describe how upset I am... myself, my husband and kids, 11 & 2, applied at our post office with every single piece of paperwork and pics, all filled out to the letter on February 23rd. I have my local congressman's office working on it and so far only by that have somehow gotten to my 2 year old & I passports supposedly overnighted to us by tomorrow - but who knows? My 11 year is the one who really would love this trip and I will never see my grandmother again as we can't do this type of trip ever again due to $$. It will cost another $1000 to change any plane tickets now and that is not possible for us. I want to cry and scream at the government but what good would that do at this moment?! I won't be able to leave and now it looks like all of this rushing... getting new clothes, toiletries, making sure all is A+ for the stupid new airline rules is for naught! Uggghhh - I WONDER IF THE GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO REFUND MY $500 FOR PASSPORTS, PICTURES AND TIME LOST FROM WORK? LOL RIGHT - GOOOD ONE! THE GOVERNMENT LOVES TO PUT ALL OF THESE NEW RULES & REGS INTO PLACE BUT NEGLECTS TO ADD THE TONS OF NEW STAFF THEY *KNOW* ARE GOING TO BE NEEDED TO COPE WITH THE MASS OF PASSPORTS DUE TO THEIR "REQUIREMENTS". It's very sad they don't care what type of stress and grief they are causing all of us... IGNORANT is all I can say at this point. ***sigh**** As p_ssed as I am - I'd be happy to join in a class action suit - R I D I C U L O U S!

I won't go into detail but i am having all the same problems. Though it seems that we are unable to put pressure on elected officials (not enough people) perhaps there is some amount of economic pressure we can put on someone. Maybe a surrogate, such as the US airline industry. Write the presidents of the major airlines and tell them that you refuse to fly on any US carrier until they pressure the government to intact changes. We don't have a lobby; but the airline industry does. Don't fly American carriers to any destination overseas. There are plenty of good foreign carriers, actually most of them are better and offer more services for the same price. I never fly the big four US carriers and refuse to flat out. However, I think most Americans feel more comfortable using them. Get your self a ticket on a foreign carrier and then tell the US company presidents that your refusal to fly is based on an economic boycott because of the passport issue. Maybe it will work but its probably more effective then a class action suit.

I'm in the same boat as everyone else in here and I feel the same pain and frustrations that everyone else has endured due to this stinking process! Count me in for any class action law suit or anything that will make the U.S. Department of State or whoever is responsible to be held liable for their gross negligence in handling the US passport processing fiasco!

You would think we live in a high tech society were a simple database processing would not be so complicated, right? So can anybody out there explain why a simple database entry would take 12 weeks or more to process?
Any takers from the US Passport Office and attempt to answer my question? Just give us, honest and hard working tax payers, some kind of justification why we have to endure such high stress and big financial losses as well as precious time lost?

I believe we have somebody sitting in the office who has no handle of things here and do not know how to set priorities. So why do we have to suffer for this individual's mistake?

Our flight leaves 16 hours from now, as I'm writing this email, and I still don't have two of my children's passports. I guess I have no choice but to eat up the cost of the penalties that will be incurred to cancel our current travel schedule as well as rebooking our flights - if in case those passports makes it through!

Sent mine in for a family of 5 on 3/14/07, I leave tomorrow (or not) and still do not have any of mine. I agree, the only way is to get in touch with you senator. Mine (Saxby Chambliss) has staff working these passport issues (although, their "special numbers" are not getting timely responses). Maybe this will tie up so much of the senator's office time it will get noticed! Call them NOW!

My daughter applied for her passport on Mar. 14. She was told that it would be 10 weeks at the very maximum. She asked again to confirm and was told she was fine. There was no need to expedite it, which we could have gladly done had it been indicated. We are supposed to leave the day after tomorrow, the 7th (or not, as someone said). We have done the same as everyone else, spent time calling the passport center--What a joke! The most recent call said it was shut down. We called our state rep. They've tried to call but the only response was that "they're working on it". We stand to lose close to $4,000 for the trip. It's very small comfort to know we're not the only ones in this situation. What a nightmare! That's the government for you.

I am going to miss my honeymoon because of this, not to mention the money. I started calling everyday two weeks ago, as well as calling my two National Senators and even Govs. Only one Senator's office is working on it for me, actually, they call me twice a day to update me on the situation... BOB CORKER... just to get his name out there; but it still has not done any good yet. Oh yeah, I applied 15 Mar 2007... told it would be back NLT 14May2007... they lied.

I am very interested in a class action lawsuit, lets do it.

Respectfully,

Nathan Murphy
TN

Our tax dollars at work again! Our beloved Department of State is understaffed and underfunded. Maybe we can hire all those illegal immigrants for passport processing. Of course, we couldn't use them for customer service, because none of them would be able to communicate with concerned consumers. On the other hand, you can't get a hold of anyone in customer service anyways. If you do, it sounds like to your speaking to Bill Clinton when he was on the stand in the Lewinsky trial. I am sorry sir/mam, I can not confirm or deny where your passport is is."

It could be possible that if we hire several trained monkeys that passports could be expedited to consumers who so dearly need to travel outside the country. At this point, I would be willing to except any suggestions to speed up this process. But of course, the most obvious solution is the billions of dollars that we are wasting in Iraq.

My complaints are the same as everyone else. Terrible customer service, inefficiency, and an utter disregard for the well being of customers. Its been 12 weeks and I am still waiting. Although, they were conveniently able to cash my check 6 weeks ago.

Applied March 14, for passport for myself & husband. Told 10-12 weeks processing time.

Called May 21, told not processed would be expedited and received for June 1 travel date--never received. Travel rescheduled.

Called June 5, nothing more done, not processed, but would be send fedex by June 12 to have for June 14 travel date.

I'm still waiting June 6.

Called June 5 to congressman, Congressional expedite takes 48 hours for process to begin and received a confirmation e-mail from Congressman's office that request has been made. She suggested should plan to go to the regional office, repay the fee (with no refund of my original paid feed!) to get passport--but it can only be done within 48 hours of confirmed travel date. Appointment necessary. Just to make sure we have it...but she thinks with the congressional expedite, it will arrive by mail before that 48 hour window of our departure.

Congressman's office said they receive many daily requests for congressional expedites daily--they have staffers who do just that and they know it is a big problem. But they told me they'd keep in touch so I will know if it will arrive in time or if I need to go to Chicago.

Aside from all the frustration & time---I can't believe how many problem I've had reaching the passport office... the complaints I've read don't mention that... I've called over 300 times to reach them twice! It takes 44 seconds to get the message that says, "Due to extreme call volume your call cannot be answered at this time. Please call back later" then the line goes dead. I've tried all hours of the day and days of the week/weekend. If they would just answer the phone, be truthful about what can/can't be done so people could plan, it would be one thing. At the very least, the office should change the passport time frame to what it really is...whatever it is--for those new people applying! So less people would be in this situation and the office would be less overwhelmed and make promises that it can't keep.

It can only become worse as the timeframe nears for the new regulations to become effective January 2008:

* Beginning January 23, 2007, ALL persons, including U.S. citizens, traveling by air between the United States and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda will be required to present a valid passport.

* As early as January 1, 2008, ALL persons, including U.S. citizens, traveling between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda by land or sea (including ferries), may be required to present a valid passport.

If you still need a passport, apply early and ... call your congressional office... after a while, with the overwhelming call volume, they will get the picture and do something!

Applied 0n 3/1 and got the passport on 6/6 which is two days prior my international trip. It took 14 weeks to process.

I got through all the troubles you had and even run to the Boston Passport Agency on 6/1. They asked me kept waiting until one day before my trip. One good thing I learned was the passport agency could get the passport done in hours.

So, good luck to you.

The US Government is broken. They cant be held accountable so they dont care. I think anyone who has incurred a loss due to their incompetence regarding this issue should be given a tax credit in the amount of the loss. Give it to yourself.. send a letter in with your taxes next year along with a copy of the receipts for the travel changes due to the delayed passports. Deduct the amount from your taxes.

Im half considering moving to another country and renouncing citizenship so I dont have to pay this idiotic government anymore of my money. What are they doing for me? Spending billions of dollars to invade a country on false pretenses, while at the same time alienating the rest of the world and their own citizens? Great job there. Oh and dont even get started on healthcare, legal costs, and corruption.

On another note, I bet if you privatize the creation of passports at $67 a pop and 25,000,000 customers per year and growing, that $H@% would get done in 48 hours or less.

My wife and I applied for passports in March of 07. Like everyone else we have made several phone calls to the wonderful people at the passport center. We have also contacted our local Senator's office. Today is Wednesday and our flight leaves this coming Sunday morning. I called today and our passports are ready. They gave me a tracking # for my wife's passport but mine didn't have one yet. I was told hers was going out regular mail and will be here in 3-5 days... maybe. I was told that they requested several times to have our passports overnighted, but it appears that didn't happen. I'm not sure why the idiots rushed to have our passports done, only to send them regular mail when it's obvious that they will never make it to us in time. Almost everyone I spoke to could give a rats "you know what" and I was told I am basically SOL. I live in Missouri and they just had a story on our local news about a high school student and an advisor from Jefferson City, MO who applied for their passports back in March. They were planning to travel to Italy and had spent $3,500 per person on their trip. Their plane left this past Monday and they are still here. Our wonderful government at "work". If the situation were reversed and the government needed documents from us and we didn't get those documents to them on time (i.e., taxes) we would be assessed all kinds of penalties and fines. However, in the case of people not getting their passports and losing thousands of dollars in travel expenses... we barely get an apology. It's more like, "Oh well. Not our problem." The statement they posted on their website that says, "our goal is to make sure no one misses their trip" is a load of crap.

We have been waiting for our passports too. We leave for Greece in 2 weeks and we are getting nervous after reading these posts. We applied 12 weeks ago. I am writing off any additional expenses I incur above the usual passport fees i.e, missed flights, etc. from my taxes. Forget about waiting for a class action suit. The tax write off is within my power. Oh, and I used as alias in case any IRS people are reading.

Same for me. I've waited 13.5 weeks now and no passport and no way to talk to anyone. In fact you get hung up on. When I do leave I may never come back. And this is what we pay taxes for!