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Coping With the Passport Crisis

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Coping With the Passport Crisis

Despite the government's plans at press time to relax passport requirements for air travel to and from Canada and Mexico, Americans traveling to Europe, Asia and other continents may still be caught in the current application crunch. (Check washingtonpost.com and the Travel section blog at http://blog.washingtonpost.com/travellog for updates.)

Anxious travelers worried that they'll have to cancel an overseas trip for lack of a passport were jamming phone lines and crowding into passport facilities across the country last week. Outside the regional passport agency in Washington -- one of 14 nationwide that provide emergency service -- CoGo found families who had driven as long as 10 hours in hopes of getting urgently needed passports they'd been awaiting for 10 weeks or more.

The State Department has beefed up staffing and has people working nights and weekends, but it has been unable to keep up with the demand that exploded when new rules began requiring passports for all flights outside the United States. Demand is up 33 percent over last year, officials say.

Here's CoGo's advice on how to cope during the crisis:

· If you need a passport by Labor Day , apply immediately. The wait time for regular processing is currently about 12 weeks. For $60 extra, you can get expedited service, which cuts waiting time to two to three weeks.

· If your trip will take place within 14 days and your passport still hasn't arrived: Call the National Passport Information Center at 877-487-2778. The catch: It's nearly impossible to get through. Officials say your chances are best from 6 to 8 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. to midnight. You can also get emergency service in person at one of the regional passport offices, listed at http://www.travel.state.gov/. Appointments are required.

· If your trip will take place in more than 14 days : Don't call the Passport Information Center. It is prioritizing requests and won't offer special help if your trip isn't imminent. Instead, go to the Web site above to track your passport. Chill if it says it is being processed. If your application was lost, the tracking system says "no record found." The time to panic and seek help: 14 days before your trip.

Two more tips for applicants: Follow directions. About 13 percent of passport applicants face extra delays because of simple mistakes, such as forgetting to include a check or not signing the application.

MILE HOUNDS

Expiration Anxiety

American Airlines has a new deadline for frequent fliers: As of Dec. 15, if your account has had no activity for 18 months, your miles will expire. Formerly, you had two years to either redeem or earn miles.

You can verify your last activity on any frequent-flier account by visiting the airline's site and logging on with your frequent-flier number.

Be aware of the nuances. Bob Cavaluchi of Silver Spring, for example, knew that his US Airways account was about to expire. As the deadline neared, he bought tickets for a flight several months out, figuring that would protect his 70,163 miles. Only when he saw his account statement, with zero miles, did he learn that activity doesn't count until the miles are deposited, and miles are deposited when a flight is completed, not when a ticket is bought.

CoGo intervened, and US Airways agreed to bend the rules and credit the miles. But beware: Such indulgences are rare.

Other ways to keep your account fresh: Use miles to buy something at your airline's online mall; get an airline-affiliated credit card and charge something; donate miles to an approved charity.

BARGAIN OF THE WEEK

Celebrate the Fourth of July by spending $20 a night on an easyCruiseTwo trip in Europe. The per-person double rate applies to a standard cabin on the four- or seven-night cruise, which departs from Brussels July 2 and stops in Amsterdam, Antwerp and Rotterdam. Four pals can share a quad for $40 per cabin. Taxes included. Book by June 30. Typically, a two-person cabin costs $40 each. Info: 011-30-211-211-6211, www.easycruise.com; use promotional code 4july4 for the shorter cruise and 4julyweek for the longer trip.

Reporting: Cindy Loose

Help feed CoGo. Send travel news to cogo@washpost.com.

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