OK, how long has it taken you and yours to get your passports using expedited service?
On Wed it will be six weeks for my friend...does that sound normal (even for now?). Our trip is Sept. 14....that is still about 7 weeks away...am I panicking too soon? I am thinking if we don't know anything more (info. still not in system) in 2 weeks to contact Congressmen then....what do you think?
Thanks,
Shadow

More info...US Passport....she lives in California...they signed for it June 20.

Thanks again,
Shadow

I also live in CA and put in an expedited request in May (along with a self-addressed, postage-paid Priority Mail envelope)... got it back in 10 days.

Has your friend checked the status of her passport online? Mine mistakenly listed "Routine" rather than "Expedited", so I emailed them and they corrected the mistake. She can also email for an ETA, though I'm not entirely sure they'll get back to her.

Don't panic yet - if your friend hits 2 weeks until travel time, a lot of options become available to her (congressman, in-person application, additional phone help).

And when your friend gets the passport send her here.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_3259.html

This is how you get a REFUND on the expedite fees. The webstie says two weeks. They failed, I would ask for my money back!

slangevar and CarolA...she is a bit nervous but I told her to wait until the 2nd week of Aug. and if she does not have it by then we'll take action!
She is checking everyday.
Thanks for the info.
Shadow

3 weeks and I expediated. I sent it in an envelope marked expediated and no return envelope. I marked my trip as January 08.
Hopefully she will get it soon!! good luck.

I've heard stories of over 14 weeks. I would get prepped with the phone number to my senator waiting for August. They are so backed up right now that expedited are waiting 10 weeks, and that only comes through if someone pokes them repeatedly. Good luck, but do NOT wait until the last minute - I've seen stories where people couldn't take their vacation because they waited too long to poke them.

I applied for mine at the beginning of July and received it in about 15 days. Which was close enough to the promised "two weeks" for me.

About a week before I got it, I received a mailer telling me to log on to travel.state.gov to check the status.

I think 10 weeks for *expedited* would not be the norm. You should definitely investigate.

I actually got the mailer AFTER I'd already received my passport. That was a hilarious letter to open!

Again, thanks everyone....all your experiences are helping!!

I found out today that she is in the system...she called (and got a real person!)..then she found out they had her ss number wrong!!
We are hopeful now that she is at least "in the system"....
Shadow

My husband submitted his paperwork at the post office on 7/7 and we got it in the mail last Thursday 7/26...so, not even 3 weeks! And we also got the letter saying that his passport was being processed AFTER we received the actual passport!

I sent my husband's passport in with a trip date of late October. We got it back 10 days. I didn't include a Fed Ex return envelope.

We didn't expedite and got our passports back in 5 weeks. I sent our apps in Feb 8 2007 and we got them March 16 2007. I listed our travel date as Sept 3 2007

We sent DH's renewal application in on March 10 for a June 16 trip. In May we found out his name and birthdate were wrong in the system which they "fixed". Several more calls, and the passport arrived June 11 with his name still spelled wrong. It was a very minor misspelling (one missing of a double letter) but I wasn't willing to rely on the understanding of two sets of Immigration agents. Luckily we live in a city with a Passport office and after two trips downtown, he had the corrected passport in hand exactly 48 hours before our trip.

So I would check again, and regularly, that things are happening as you expect.

YEAH!! My friend got her passport today!! It was 6 weeks and 1 day with expedited service. She is so relieved!! Thanks for all the replies which helped to know what other folks' experiences were!!
Shadow

I hae renewed 2 passports expedited--1 in March and 1 in late June. It took about a week in march and about the same in June. You *HAVE* to enclose a prepaid Fedex envelope for mailing back to you with your passport request in order for them to properly fill your request.

It is in the instructions on the US site under the expedited renewals section--albeit is is not easily marked.

Ok I have a situation where my mother is traveling with me. She went down to the Post office to revew her passport this past friday and did not use expedited service. Of course we are not hearing horror stories of passports taking up to 4 months and our trip is in 3 1/2 months. Does anyone know if we can switch to Expedited from regular now that the application for renewal has already been sent off?

thanks,
David