Most of this has been covered before and these aren't really "secrets" to the well-informed CRT membership but I wanted to put them all in one place. That will make them easier to find using the search function. These are from Forbes Traveler.com
1. Since most Americans plan summer vacations in the spring, that’s when the bulk of passport applications are made. Fall is the slowest season for passport service centers.
2. Check
www.travel.state.gov for passport requirements, updates on turnaround time and latest procedures, and to check the status of your application. When checking the status, if you get a “Not Found†response, use the e-mail link to request a status check. If you have not received your passport and are leaving in the next seven days, call the National Passport Information Center at (877) 487-2778.
3. If you have an expired passport that was issued within the past 15 years, you can mail it in with a renewal application. For expedited service (an additional $60), write “EXPEDITE†on the envelope; consider sending it by overnight delivery.
4. You must apply for a new passport in person. Review the documentation and photo requirements at
www.travel.state.gov and find a passport acceptance location by entering your zip code into the search page at
http://iafdb.travel.state.gov. For faster processing, fill out and print a passport application online at
www.travel.state.gov before visiting a passport acceptance location.
5. If you need a passport within two weeks, make an appointment at one of the 14 regional passport agencies. Their hours, addresses, phone numbers, and directions are listed on the Department of State’s Web site.
6. If you need a passport quickly, consider using a passport expediting company, which has the ability to get a 24-hour turnaround time. To locate such a service, visit
www.napvs.org, the Web site for the National Association of Passport and Visa Services.
7. If you have not received your passport in the time expected and cannot get the assistance you need from the U.S. passport service, call your congressional district office and ask for help.
Don't forget that if you're planning trips to Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, Dominican Republic or other countries where you didn't need a passport before you will need to carry it now TO GET BACK INTO THE USA!
Even if you aren't planning to visit Canada or Mexico but you will be somewhere close by you may as well take it with you "just in case".
But the story doesn’t end there. In fact, the plot thickens. The critical question is when land and sea requirements will take effect. Both houses of Congress have passed homeland security spending bills that call for implementation no sooner than June 2009. The Department of Homeland Security adamantly holds that it won’t wait that long.
Oral declarations of citizenship will no longer be accepted at border crossings as of Jan. 31, 2008, says Veronica Nur Valdes. According to the DHS spokesperson, travelers will need to present a government-issued I.D. (such as a driver’s license) and proof of citizenship (such as a certified birth certificate) or green card. “Sometime in the summer of 2008 is when we are going to begin full implementation,†she says, “You will need to present a WHTI document such as a passport.â€
http://www.forbestraveler.com/luxury/pa ... slide.html
Where does the money go???
In the mad rush, passport applicants may not only have been frustrated and confused, they may also have been overcharged: over the past year the government collected at least $111.4 million more in passport fees than its stated costs, congressional investigators say.
Both the State Dept. and U.S. Postal Service are implicated, and Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y have asked the Bush administration for an accounting of where exactly passport profits are going.
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