MD11Fr8Dog

Last time I did this (to replace the passport that "mysteriously" disappeared when I was flying with B. "Capt Klepto" H.), I got a call from the Passport office at 7pm MT the day AFTER I FedExed my stuff in. The lady processing it had a question. It arrived at my house via FedEx the next day! 2 days from when I FedExed my stuff in. Its like $60 extra, make sure to include a pre-addressed return Fedex envelope with your account number on it!

Jetjok

Are you saying that because you flew into Israel and got the entry stamp in your passport, that when crew scheduling gave you a trip to an Arab country, that you declined, based on the Israeli stamp? Interesting.

Overnitefr8

I think the longer delays are for people getting a passport for the first time, not renewals.

MaydayMark

I suspect that with the new requirement to have a passport for travel to Canada, Mexico and the Carribean that it's taking longer these days. My local post office has families standing in line for passports for Spring Break. The passport agent at the post office is saying 3 weeks for a renewal to be returned.

Mark

Overnitefr8

Got mine today. Paid for two day shipping on both ends but they were sent over night each way. Whole process with expediting and FedEx each way took 9 days to renew.

Huck

Thanks. Gives me hope.

Huck

The process is complete - here is the breakdown:

1. "Expedited" passport renewal: 10 days from FDX Kinko's in Mobile, ending up at MD11 training office in MEM.

2. China and India visas: 15 days from/to MD11 training.


I am skipping France for now - I'll go to ATL next month.

I flew a few domestic flights while it was gone - you must contact the duty officer and he/she must write you a letter to carry waiving the passport requirement. Don't wait until the last minute to do this - they may be busy.

They've got some great people working passports/visas over there in the Taj Mahal. One of the few offices at FDX that doesn't leave their voicemail on all the time.....

FlybyKnite

The company website has some more specifics: https://pilot.fedex.com/training/int...assports.mcomp

Of course the return address would be mine not the company.
I talked with the passport lady once and she said Charleston has a quicker turnaround time. Her number is on the website, she might have some more insight. Don't forget the get the extra pages version.

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machz990

The care and feeding of our passports has become a part-time job. I recently sent mine in for additional pages after an immigration officer gave me a comment when passing through Amsterdam that he couldn't find a place to put a stamp.

We now have 3 required Visas. I dread when my passport becomes due again. For us a 10 year passport is only good for 8 years. It goes back in for India, China and French Visas.

Last time I needed a new China Visa there was just under 2 years left on my passport so I had to get a new passport and then the visa. I called over to the Gucci building and asked for the best way to do this. I was advised that there was no need to expedite because turn-around was quick. To make a long story short I ddidn't see my passport for almost 8 weeks and had to bid domestic for 3 months.

When the India visa debacle started I was called on a Thursday afternoon and asked to send my passport to Memphis ASAP. I was leaving in 7 days on a great DDH trip with a layover and D/H out of New Dehli. I mentioned that giving up my passport with a trip in a week was a little tight. She (SC) assured me that they were promised a 3 business day turnaround. I dropped everything I was doing on Thursday afternoon and went and got passport photos taken, downloaded and filled out the Indian Visa app. and then drove 20 minutes one way to FedEx and overnighted my packet to MEM. Short end to this story was no passport on the start date of the trip and I was removed from trip and put in SUB. Crew Scheds initially tried to drop the trip and put me in makeup!! Bonus for me on SUB......5 days of FLL right after Wilma went through (diverted to Daytona all but last day).

My recent turnaround for the French Visa wasn't so bad. I dropped off at the Gucci bldg. during training and had it back within 10 days.

Don't forget that when passport is gone for renewal, visas, extra pages, etc. you are no longer able to jumpseat on the CASS system. No passport = no CASS jumpseat so while you are bidding domestic you need to plan a way to work other than off-line JS.

StripAlert

A quick bit of info from my own recent passport mini-nightmare. I'll spare you all the details, but once I was finally able to get through to a human at the passport hotline (all told $100 in peak airtime overage charges listening to hold music) she informed me that anything arriving with the phrase "URGENT SUSPENSE" on the envelope would receive priority handling. Hopefully that will help someone else...