FURIOUS at Passport Canada This Morning!

[RoyalCanadian]

My niece is flying from Calgary to MCO in March to meet us. She mailed her passport stuff into Passport Canada the 1st of December and still has not received it. Not quite in panic mode yet but she has a backup plan if she doesn't receive it on time. Drive to Montana, get a bus to Denver and catch her connecting flight there. I'm really hoping it doesn't come to that though.

Just a thought...could you have a backup plan?

Your niece's "backup plan" could very well backfire on her. There is a possibility that she may not be allowed to board the connecting flight in Denver if she did not board her flight @ YYC.

Airlines have very complex fare structures. It is not uncommon that the airfare to a destination is more expensive from airports closer to that destination than it is from more distant airports. Our airfare on Air Tran from Buffalo to Tampa in January was less than the airfare from Atlanta to Tampa, and our flight connected in Atlanta.

Many travellers, having figured this out, would buy tickets from a cheaper originating point through a connecting hub to their destination. They would board the flight at the connecting hub, having disposed of the ticket from the cheaper originating airport. They saved money.

Airlines caught on. They began to refuse boarding to passengers who tried this "Hail Mary" pass.

This could be a problem if your niece's connecting flight is on the same airline as her originating flight from YYC. It won't be a problem if it's a completely different airline. Your niece will want to call the airline and check to see if she will be able to board the connecting flight in Denver if she has not boarded the original flight in YYC.

 

[nosnobunny2006]

My niece is flying from Calgary to MCO in March to meet us. She mailed her passport stuff into Passport Canada the 1st of December and still has not received it. Not quite in panic mode yet but she has a backup plan if she doesn't receive it on time. Drive to Montana, get a bus to Denver and catch her connecting flight there. I'm really hoping it doesn't come to that though.

Just a thought...could you have a backup plan?

I would have a Plan C planned. Your niece should check with either her TA or the airline she booked her flight on. When my DH and I were about to leave on vacation last April, we had a family emergency that required him to fly out west in a hurry. We thought he could catch a flight out there, I would take our previously booked flight as planned and we would meet up in Florida. Lucky for me I decided to check with the original airline only to discover that if all the booked parties did not show up at the gate or take the original flight as booked, the entire ticket would have been cancelled and no one would be able to board the plane. We re-worked our tickets at a huge additional charge but I learned a lesson about airlines that day.

The short version of my story is if your niece doesn't board the plane as booked in Calgary, they may not let her catch the connecting flight in the US.

Beth

 

[disneyfan2]

I do not agree with anyone putting the blame on us, as others have posted, yes i agree we could have gotten them earlier "just in case" But when you find out ahead of time and check the website, and they recommend going to a service agent and say this route will be done in 20 days. Then, for them to turn around and issue a 20 day furthter delay after people should have received it, is ridiculous. I understand that delays happen, but is should not apply to those who applied way befroe the delays. If they issue a 20 day delay today on their website, then it should apply to anyone who applied today. They can use our tax dollars to pay overtime to us who legitimately applied before any delays are issued.

 

[maddiel]

Can you imagine the backlog if everyone who has no intention of travelling decides to get one right now "just in case"?

M.

 

[almacdonald]

True, but would you buy trip insurance if you weren't going on one?

Would you buy car insurance if you weren't going to get in any accidents? Nuff said.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

To the OP, I hear your frustration.

Canadians were forced to react to the US decision to better control their border - fair enough. The reality is that the Canadian government and Passport Canada knows the number of Canadians that travel to the US on an annual basis, and could reasonably have foreseen the deluge of applicants they are now receiving.

To respond by telling people now applying that they are the ones unprepared and should have applied earlier is a bit unfair - where did Passport Canada say during the lead up that it would be reasonable to expect delays over their current processing time of an extra month to month and a half?

The OP has very valid concerns and was right in trying to relay those at Passport Canada.

While Passport Canada may have some idea of how many people travel to and from the United States, they might not be able to reasonably guess how many of those travellers already have passports in hand.

I can not agree with the OPs logic saying just because there wasn't a warning on the Passport Canada website about longer than anticipated wait times when she applied that her passport application should be magically pulled from the deluge and processed immediately.

 

[jeffd101]

Would you buy car insurance if you weren't going to get in any accidents? Nuff said.

I guess you would pay for permanent trip insurance under that logic? Most people only buy insurance for trip cancellation if they are going on a trip.

You can't buy car insurance only for the days you are going to drive can you?

Two very different things.

 

[LdnCpl]

I asked if they are opening them and checking the expected dates of travel on the applications when they are first received by mail and she said "no". They are only opening them in the sequence in which they are being received and when someone has time to process them.
Liz

I find this part a little hard to believe although I believe that's what she told you. I only say this because it seems to me that a majority of the people that applied from Dec 1st till present seem to be getting their passport just before they are ready to leave. I don't think they want to tell the public that cause then you'll get the "but I was ahead of him" backlash even though they don't really need it. I too am a little annoyed with the I told you so's because not everyone can plan a vacation months and months ahead of time. Some have to do it when they see a window of opportunity at work that would allow them the time off and jump on it. We weren't able to firm up plans till December 5th and passport said... well hey I should be able to get mine in plenty of time if I'm leaving in March. If someone promises me they'll have it on such and such a date they better have it by that date. Passport Canada has no one to blame but themselves, they knew it was coming and they knew it was gonna be crazy but they chose to take a reactive stance as opposed to a proactive stance and have the extra staff in place by November at the latest. Sorry, I do go on

 

[drag n' fly]

I find this part a little hard to believe although I believe that's what she told you. I only say this because it seems to me that a majority of the people that applied from Dec 1st till present seem to be getting their passport just before they are ready to leave. I don't think they want to tell the public that cause then you'll get the "but I was ahead of him" backlash even though they don't really need it. I too am a little annoyed with the I told you so's because not everyone can plan a vacation months and months ahead of time. Some have to do it when they see a window of opportunity at work that would allow them the time off and jump on it. We weren't able to firm up plans till December 5th and passport said... well hey I should be able to get mine in plenty of time if I'm leaving in March. If someone promises me they'll have it on such and such a date they better have it by that date. Passport Canada has no one to blame but themselves, they knew it was coming and they knew it was gonna be crazy but they chose to take a reactive stance as opposed to a proactive stance and have the extra staff in place by November at the latest. Sorry, I do go on

Unfortunately some people applying for passports have also taken the reactive not proactive stance...hence the backlog. Hope those all waiting get theirs on time!

 

[Lizzzys]

First I'd like to thank everyone for the ideas and well wishes.... it really helps when wanting to tear your hair out!!

This is what's happened since this afternoon:

No luck whatsoever with the tracking number on my passport package. It may not have helped in the end anyway. When I called Passport Canada back this afternoon they said that even if they were able to pull my applications out of sequence with the tracking # (which they said would take between 8 - 10 business days), all they would do is mail them back to me and direct me to my nearest Passport office locally for faster processing. (??) She recommended that I start from scratch and order new birth certificates for my kids, and begin the process all over again and submit the new applications locally. She said to let them know when I get there that there that we have already sent some in and they would put a note on my account so that they don't process the original ones.

I got to thinking though.... what about the poster who said that CAA told them "if you haven't already applied for passports and are planning to go away during the march break... don't bother, you won't be getting them back in time". So even if I presented applications at my local office tomorrow, chances are slim that I'd get them back in time as there is barely even 20 business days left before I leave.

I thought about it all some more and then came to the conclusion that I won't be the only one in this predicament. I'm sure there are many out there that are just patiently waiting for their passports to be returned before their travel date and aren't the least bit worried because they don't have the benefit of reading all of this stuff on here! And it is very unlikely that the powers that be are not going to do something with all the angry masses, right?

So I called Air Canada to see what they've been told. The rep said that they have been told not to deny boarding to anybody without a passport just yet. They are doing a "phasing in period". She said that they have not been given any information at all about how long this phasing in will last, but that basically it is a grace period for the time being. Cool. She even ventured a hope (not a guess!) that perhaps the phasing in period would coincide with Passport Canada's backlog and remain in effect until things are caught up. They do not have any information about what the airline's policy will be regarding missed travel due to denied boarding in the future.

That's a bit of a relief for me. I have a slim hope that our passports will arrive before March 7th, (I think it's possible, and hope the OP is right about her theory of them being put in priority sequence and arriving just in time in most cases)

In the mean time I plan to order new birth certificates for my children just in case I need some ID for them if the passports don't arrive in time and we are still allowed to board the plane.

Plan C for me will be to get flights out of Great Falls Montana and drive down across the boarder to catch the flight there and put it on the almightly VISA card. There is NO WAY i'm going to miss this trip with my kids. I've saved for 2years to go with them. A dream that I didn't think would be possible when I started going through divorce 2 years ago. My youngest DD (7) has never been to see the mouse and I've always promised her we would go. There has been nothing more precious than watching her read Fodor's "DL & SoCal with Kids" each night before bed!!

So thank you again everyone for your support and I'll keep you posted (if there's anything to post!)

Liz

 

[F4disneyfan]

Well I hate to say it but this is one reason people should take the onus on themselves and be prepared it was announced quite a long time ago about this and upcoming travel dates or not if you even had an incling you may want to head away on holidays you should get a passport. Not to sound rude but some well planed advanced planning goes a long way and we should all be prepared for a large influx of people wanting passports so many people sit back and figure oh it should be lots of time and now many people are left in a lurch for lack of foresight and planning no one to blame but yourselves honestly that is why we got ours last year as we knew it would get to be like this with all the people rushing to get one and the backlog would be huge.

 

[F4disneyfan]

I guess you would pay for permanent trip insurance under that logic? Most people only buy insurance for trip cancellation if they are going on a trip.

You can't buy car insurance only for the days you are going to drive can you?

Two very different things.

We buy trip insurance that covers us all year it is very inexpensive piece of mind if we happen to be in Sarnia at the inlaws placew and decide to hop over to Port Huron and something happens we know we are covered. So yes we do buy trip insurance yearly even if we don't have a long holiday planned. Our insurance isn't just medical coverage it also covers cancellations etc.

 

[Scratch42]

Well I hate to say it but this is one reason people should take the onus on themselves and be prepared it was announced quite a long time ago about this and upcoming travel dates or not if you even had an incling you may want to head away on holidays you should get a passport. Not to sound rude but some well planed advanced planning goes a long way and we should all be prepared for a large influx of people wanting passports so many people sit back and figure oh it should be lots of time and now many people are left in a lurch for lack of foresight and planning no one to blame but yourselves honestly that is why we got ours last year as we knew it would get to be like this with all the people rushing to get one and the backlog would be huge.

ITA!

We have all known about this for how long? We knew it wasn't going away.

I'm sorry you are going thru this but you're dealing with the government, They don't Care!

j

 

[tone.def]

I guess you would pay for permanent trip insurance under that logic? Most people only buy insurance for trip cancellation if they are going on a trip.

I buy annual travel insurance through my credit card, about $30 more expensive than single trip - for the unexpected.

 

[disneyfan2]

First I'd like to thank everyone for the ideas and well wishes.... it really helps when wanting to tear your hair out!!

This is what's happened since this afternoon:

No luck whatsoever with the tracking number on my passport package. It may not have helped in the end anyway. When I called Passport Canada back this afternoon they said that even if they were able to pull my applications out of sequence with the tracking # (which they said would take between 8 - 10 business days), all they would do is mail them back to me and direct me to my nearest Passport office locally for faster processing. (??) She recommended that I start from scratch and order new birth certificates for my kids, and begin the process all over again and submit the new applications locally. She said to let them know when I get there that there that we have already sent some in and they would put a note on my account so that they don't process the original ones.

I got to thinking though.... what about the poster who said that CAA told them "if you haven't already applied for passports and are planning to go away during the march break... don't bother, you won't be getting them back in time". So even if I presented applications at my local office tomorrow, chances are slim that I'd get them back in time as there is barely even 20 business days left before I leave.

I thought about it all some more and then came to the conclusion that I won't be the only one in this predicament. I'm sure there are many out there that are just patiently waiting for their passports to be returned before their travel date and aren't the least bit worried because they don't have the benefit of reading all of this stuff on here! And it is very unlikely that the powers that be are not going to do something with all the angry masses, right?

So I called Air Canada to see what they've been told. The rep said that they have been told not to deny boarding to anybody without a passport just yet. They are doing a "phasing in period". She said that they have not been given any information at all about how long this phasing in will last, but that basically it is a grace period for the time being. Cool. She even ventured a hope (not a guess!) that perhaps the phasing in period would coincide with Passport Canada's backlog and remain in effect until things are caught up. They do not have any information about what the airline's policy will be regarding missed travel due to denied boarding in the future.

That's a bit of a relief for me. I have a slim hope that our passports will arrive before March 7th, (I think it's possible, and hope the OP is right about her theory of them being put in priority sequence and arriving just in time in most cases)

In the mean time I plan to order new birth certificates for my children just in case I need some ID for them if the passports don't arrive in time and we are still allowed to board the plane.

Plan C for me will be to get flights out of Great Falls Montana and drive down across the boarder to catch the flight there and put it on the almightly VISA card. There is NO WAY i'm going to miss this trip with my kids. I've saved for 2years to go with them. A dream that I didn't think would be possible when I started going through divorce 2 years ago. My youngest DD (7) has never been to see the mouse and I've always promised her we would go. There has been nothing more precious than watching her read Fodor's "DL & SoCal with Kids" each night before bed!!

So thank you again everyone for your support and I'll keep you posted (if there's anything to post!)

Liz

Lizzy, sorry to hear this, one thing i would recommend, is go to your local MP office first, call or go down with what you have and be persistent. They have contacts that can get answers for you. I was also told by Passport canada to apply for new birth certificates, however the added expense and stuff was not right. However here in Ontario they guarantee Birth Certif in 15 days(told ususally faster) But they will cancel the original ones!! So the old ones would be invalid. I decided to apply for a replacement (long form birth certificate) as you can have 1 short and 1 long form. So, i leave next week and hope to have something before i go. Another option is call Fedex and set up a free account, if you keep calling Passport Canada or your MP as soon as the file is located, as them to send it to your FED Ex accoutn. This is what passport Canada told me to do. So i did then spent another day on the phone to get through. What they did not tell me was that it would take 10days to get it!!!! From there end, because they would need to locate it. If you had mailed it beginning of January, it may enter the system shortly. BUT definetly call your MP office first, they should be able to help you or give you some better advice. My MP is working on locating mine, and was told she got it to the printing phase but we are still waiting for it to be mailed. I need mine in 7 working days, so she is trying to speed it up. I will keep you posted, but call the MP if you haven't already. Good Luck,
The problem with taking a chance and going with id, Yes, you should be able to board her in Canada but some have posted that they had troubles leaving Orlando coming back to Canada.

 

[Step]

I do not agree with the comments that appear to be of the "I told you so" variety.

Did we know it was coming? Yes.

Did Passport Canada say that they were expecting abnormal amounts of applications and that they would immediately increase their expected turnaround time or increase resources to deal with the backlog anticipated? No.

I don't feel this is accurate. We don't know if they prepared for the extra backlog or not. We can't claim that they didn't. It isn't as though they share hiring decisions with eth general public.

Plus we can't expect that they could see into the future and tell how much of a backlog there would be. Granted it's typical for people to wait until the last minute. We just expect the system to work normally. Some of us prepare in advance when we see it coming, most don't.

What is is. With proper preparation trips can be rescheduled as well.

Plus it sounds like the OP has her ducks in order and she's gonna go no matter what.

Good luck with your trip.