passatdoc
Well-known member
My present passport expires 4 May 2014. I completed the renewal form online, printed/signed it, took photos along with my neighbor (his expires in June), uploaded and then downloaded/printed high res photos at 123passportphotos.com*, and mailed it in with my $110 renewal fee.
1. Does anyone know the typical wait at this time of year? Must be close to peak demand with people planning summer travel.
2. I'm not planning a trip any time soon, but suppose I saw an ad for discounted fall travel before I receive the new passport. Many airlines now require passport info at the time of booking. I have a scanned image of my current passport, but if I tried to book in say May, I would be attempting to use a passport that is expired---and with a passport number about to change. Does anyone know how the airlines handle this? I am more or less placing myself in a "purchase blackout" until the new passport arrives?
*this website lets you upload high res photos, position/crop them to meet US regulations, then you download a high-res finished product, which when printed as a 4" x 6" photo (using photographic paper of course) yields six 2"x2" photos (you only need to submit one photo). In the old days, the photo was laminated into the passport, so there were these arcane rules on the type of photo paper used, it had to be heat resistant etc. Now it appears that the photos are scanned into the final passport, so while they require resolution to be high res (no pixelation), the image can be printed on a home printer using glossy or matte photo paper. The website charges $1.50 to do one photograph or $3.50 for "family use"---I chose the latter so I could process photos of my neighbor as well as myself. The Dept of State has a free cropping tool, but does not reduce the image to 2"x2" printing size---you have to do that yourself using photo editing software. 123passportphoto.com gives you a block of six photos (each with varying contrast so you can choose which one you like best) in a 4 x 6 inch array, so if you print it as a 4x6 photo, the images come out 2x2 (three across, two down) without any additional editing. My old HP printer had "passport size" as an option, but my current one does not.
1. Does anyone know the typical wait at this time of year? Must be close to peak demand with people planning summer travel.
2. I'm not planning a trip any time soon, but suppose I saw an ad for discounted fall travel before I receive the new passport. Many airlines now require passport info at the time of booking. I have a scanned image of my current passport, but if I tried to book in say May, I would be attempting to use a passport that is expired---and with a passport number about to change. Does anyone know how the airlines handle this? I am more or less placing myself in a "purchase blackout" until the new passport arrives?
*this website lets you upload high res photos, position/crop them to meet US regulations, then you download a high-res finished product, which when printed as a 4" x 6" photo (using photographic paper of course) yields six 2"x2" photos (you only need to submit one photo). In the old days, the photo was laminated into the passport, so there were these arcane rules on the type of photo paper used, it had to be heat resistant etc. Now it appears that the photos are scanned into the final passport, so while they require resolution to be high res (no pixelation), the image can be printed on a home printer using glossy or matte photo paper. The website charges $1.50 to do one photograph or $3.50 for "family use"---I chose the latter so I could process photos of my neighbor as well as myself. The Dept of State has a free cropping tool, but does not reduce the image to 2"x2" printing size---you have to do that yourself using photo editing software. 123passportphoto.com gives you a block of six photos (each with varying contrast so you can choose which one you like best) in a 4 x 6 inch array, so if you print it as a 4x6 photo, the images come out 2x2 (three across, two down) without any additional editing. My old HP printer had "passport size" as an option, but my current one does not.
