My daughter, who lives in Honolulu, just 'discovered' that her passport is a year out of date. She is leaving for Australia (well was) in five weeks. Has anyone used one of the Passport services advertised on the internet for quick service. She also has to get her Australian visa, so needs a quick turn around.

I think the words would be "good luck". She might call her representative and ask for advice about expediting PLUS hiring the expediter.

I have personally used this service (local to me) and they are experts with passports and visas. www.visalady.com

Passport expediters must be licensed by the Federal Government, but make sure you are using a reputable agency. We recently did an article on expediting options. Here's a link:
http://www.fodors.com/wire/archives/002600.cfm

I don't know anything about passport expediters, but following is some info from Andrea Sachs, a member of the staff of the Washington Post Travel Section. Also, if your daughter is traveling as a tourist to Australia, what she needs is an Australian ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) which she can obtain online in a matter of minutes. The official Australian website for this is: www.eta.immi.gov.au and it costs AUD 20.00.
Crystal City, VA: My passport expires in Sept, and because of travel plans I can't submit it for renewal unitl August. My job "may" require that I travel overseas on short notice. Because the travel is a "maybe" my boss does not want to pay for an expediting service; I don't want to miss out on any good trip opportunities, and could maybe justify paying the charges myself - how much do these companies charge that can get your passport processed in a week or two? Can you suggest ones that have a good reputation?

Andrea Sachs: Since some countries require a passport to be valid for six months beyond your trip's scheduled return, you probably should not leave your renewal to the last minute (maybe that will soften your boss's position). Using a private company can be more expensive than the State Department's expedited service, yet they guarantee delivery (whereas as the State Department is a bit iffier these days, due to the backlog). Prices vary depending on speed of delivery and the company. American Passport Express, for example, charges $139 plus government fees for two- to four-day service, and $79 (plus fees) for seven to 12 days. Other companies are within those price ranges.

I have not used any of these services, so I can't offer any recommendations. But if this helps your decision, a friend said he received his renewal in 10 days, without expedited service.

I needed a Brazilian visa a week before traveling. The visa expediting service (recommended by travel agent, don't know the name) saved my bacon and got me the visa in 5 days -- the price was about double that of non-expediting.

You are basically paying someone to sit in the consulate office on your behalf for the walk-in service. Plus the overnight mail. Assuming the passport office can come through for you, 5 weeks should be plenty of time.

There's another thread here on which people say three weeks is the time-frame nowadays for expedited passports via a passport office. We dropped off a renewal yesterday, which we didn't expedite, and they said expect 12 week turn-around. Good luck.
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You are hiring a proxy. You FedEx the stuff to them, they take the paperwork and walk it through the channels. They do this every day of the week. It is their business.

YEARS ago, before all the recent chaos, it was well worth the $$$ to me NOT to stress and to know the passport would be back in time. I can't stand reading the stress in some of the posts on this board. You are spending thousands of $$$ on a vacation you may not be able to take because of a couple hundred dollars? Someone likes stress a whole lot more than me