I am dying to get the new US passport. I drooled about it on my New Florence blog.
Of course, I had also heard about passport delay horror stories as in the USA Today article. But I am out of excuses - on my last few trips US and other immigration officers have started to give me hell. I have run out of pages for them to stamp my passport. While it's only 4 years old, the passport office tells me I qualify for a new one - the id page is a bit frayed so I can apply for a replacement passport. Then they tell me the likely turnaround time. Since my next international flight is within a month, I decide it is safer to just apply for new pages.
And I am told, even then I should use a courier service. Costs $ 75. And pay the State Department a $ 60 expedite fee. And of course, fedex both ways - $ 50.
$ 185 for what should be a free 24 page addition. And I am stuck with the frayed ID page, which I am sure I will get hell from airline and immigration employees for the next few years.
Now that the State Department and the courier lobby has tasted these "expedite" revenues, what are the chances of some serious process angioplasty to the application process?
