Check Your Passport !

[Redwine56]

On 6/30/2021 at 5:26 PM, Islesguy said:

I applied for my passport renewal last month on an expedited basis last month so it should be in by the end of July. Plenty of time.

I heard on the news last night that even expedited passport apps are taking months to process due to their tremendous backlog.  Stay on top of it especially if you have travel plans.

[RadioRob]

In my email tonight…

Application Status: Approved

The U.S. Department of State approved your application for your passport book. We're now printing your passport book and preparing to give it to you.

You requested expedited service when you applied, which we are currently processing within 6 weeks. You should receive your passport book on or around 07/30/2021.

Your application locator number is XXXXXXXXX.

Also… if anyone has an American Express Platinum card, it now will pay for your CLEAR membership. If you don’t have an Amex Platinum card, if you signup for a free Delta Skymiles account you can save $10 per year. 

[Islesguy]

On 7/24/2021 at 8:33 AM, Redwine56 said:

I heard on the news last night that even expedited passport apps are taking months to process due to their tremendous backlog.  Stay on top of it especially if you have travel plans.

I think posted somewhere my passport arrived early this month

[Islesguy]

On 7/28/2021 at 12:00 AM, RadioRob said:

In my email tonight…

Application Status: Approved

The U.S. Department of State approved your application for your passport book. We're now printing your passport book and preparing to give it to you.

You requested expedited service when you applied, which we are currently processing within 6 weeks. You should receive your passport book on or around 07/30/2021.

Your application locator number is XXXXXXXXX.

Also… if anyone has an American Express Platinum card, it now will pay for your CLEAR membership. If you don’t have an Amex Platinum card, if you signup for a free Delta Skymiles account you can save $10 per year. 

How much is the CLEAR membership? I really want the platinum Amex but the $700 annual fee is high.

[RadioRob]

8 minutes ago, Islesguy said:

How much is the CLEAR membership? I really want the platinum Amex but the $700 annual fee is high.

CLEAR membership is normally $179 per year.  If you have a Delta SkyMiles number, you can get it for $129.  (It used to be $99 but had gone up a year or so back.)

$700 is absolutely high, however:

• $179 CLEAR
• $200 airline fee credit (can be used for checked bags, in-flight food, airline lounge day pass or drinks, etc)
• $200 hotel credit (when booked through Amex travel)
• $240 digital entertainment credit ($20 per month for services like Peacock, Audible, SiriusXM, NY Times, etc)
• $200 Uber credit ($15 per month with an extra $20 in Dec.  Can be used for ride share OR UberEats)
• Access to Amex airport lounges (only useful if you fly into destinations where a lounge is located)
• Priority Pass Select (gets you into other airport lounges for locations without a Centurion Lounge)
• $100 Saks 5th Ave credit ($50 credit every 6 months)
• Automatic Gold hotel status with both Hilton and Marriott.
• Automatic Rental Car status with major providers (Avis, Herts, National)
• TSA PreCheck reimbursement ($100 every 5 years)

It's a card you definitely need to evaluate if you can use enough of the benefits to determine if it's worth having.  However I personally breakeven on CLEAR, Uber, and the airline credit as long as I visit a lounge at least one a year.  (Most lounge day passes are around $50.)  That does not include the extra points that can be gotten or the potential sign up bonuses.  

 

[Islesguy]

3 minutes ago, RadioRob said:

CLEAR membership is normally $179 per year.  If you have a Delta SkyMiles number, you can get it for $129.  (It used to be $99 but had gone up a year or so back.)

$700 is absolutely high, however:

• $179 CLEAR
• $200 airline fee credit (can be used for checked bags, in-flight food, airline lounge day pass or drinks, etc)
• $200 hotel credit (when booked through Amex travel)
• $240 digital entertainment credit ($20 per month for services like Peacock, Audible, SiriusXM, NY Times, etc)
• $200 Uber credit ($15 per month with an extra $20 in Dec.  Can be used for ride share OR UberEats)
• Access to Amex airport lounges (only useful if you fly into destinations where a lounge is located)
• Priority Pass Select (gets you into other airport lounges for locations without a Centurion Lounge)
• $100 Saks 5th Ave credit ($50 credit every 6 months)
• Automatic Gold hotel status with both Hilton and Marriott.
• Automatic Rental Car status with major providers (Avis, Herts, National)
• TSA PreCheck reimbursement ($100 every 5 years)

It's a card you definitely need to evaluate if you can use enough of the benefits to determine if it's worth having.  However I personally breakeven on CLEAR, Uber, and the airline credit as long as I visit a lounge at least one a year.  (Most lounge day passes are around $50.)  That does not include the extra points that can be gotten or the potential sign up bonuses.  

 

Thanks for the info.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

3 hours ago, RadioRob said:

CLEAR membership is normally $179 per year.  If you have a Delta SkyMiles number, you can get it for $129.  (It used to be $99 but had gone up a year or so back.)

$700 is absolutely high, however:

• $179 CLEAR
• $200 airline fee credit (can be used for checked bags, in-flight food, airline lounge day pass or drinks, etc)
• $200 hotel credit (when booked through Amex travel)
• $240 digital entertainment credit ($20 per month for services like Peacock, Audible, SiriusXM, NY Times, etc)
• $200 Uber credit ($15 per month with an extra $20 in Dec.  Can be used for ride share OR UberEats)
• Access to Amex airport lounges (only useful if you fly into destinations where a lounge is located)
• Priority Pass Select (gets you into other airport lounges for locations without a Centurion Lounge)
• $100 Saks 5th Ave credit ($50 credit every 6 months)
• Automatic Gold hotel status with both Hilton and Marriott.
• Automatic Rental Car status with major providers (Avis, Herts, National)
• TSA PreCheck reimbursement ($100 every 5 years)

It's a card you definitely need to evaluate if you can use enough of the benefits to determine if it's worth having.  However I personally breakeven on CLEAR, Uber, and the airline credit as long as I visit a lounge at least one a year.  (Most lounge day passes are around $50.)  That does not include the extra points that can be gotten or the potential sign up bonuses.  

 

As Rob makes clear, if you travel and use the products as intended, the Amex Plat is worth the yearly fee and more. 

What Amex needs to desperately do is stop inviting the churner business and get back to making the card more exclusive. 

 

 

[+ nycman]

1 hour ago, Benjamin_Nicholas said:

What Amex needs to desperately do is stop inviting the churner business and get back to making the card more exclusive. 

 

No shit. Have you actually visited one of the "exclusive" Centurion lounges?

The ones I’ve been to are always packed and feel more like an overrun daycare center.
I actually prefer to be out in the seats in the concourse, and I hate the seats in the concourse.
I think they should ditch the lounges. They’re worthless to me. 

Nonetheless, if you travel frequently, the AMEX platinum card rocks and is well worth it. 

[rvwnsd]

On 6/30/2021 at 2:54 PM, tassojunior said:

That's an age-specific tactic. It would have reverse effect for many of us. 

On the other hand, you could walk in wearing the thong and tell them you won't cover up unless they hurry up and process the application.

[+ tassojunior]

On 7/28/2021 at 12:00 AM, RadioRob said:

In my email tonight…

Application Status: Approved

The U.S. Department of State approved your application for your passport book. We're now printing your passport book and preparing to give it to you.

You requested expedited service when you applied, which we are currently processing within 6 weeks. You should receive your passport book on or around 07/30/2021.

Your application locator number is XXXXXXXXX.

Also… if anyone has an American Express Platinum card, it now will pay for your CLEAR membership. If you don’t have an Amex Platinum card, if you signup for a free Delta Skymiles account you can save $10 per year. 

Congrats !!

Haven't been out of US for over a year but i found the (then) free Mobile Passport the gov't has worked very well. Faster than Global Entry or Clear. Domestically Clear is certainly faster. 

For premium cards i stick with the Ritz Carlton. 450 fee offset by immediate 300 airline credit which Southwest and American giftcards work on (have to say they were baggage fees). Plus Priority Pass for up to 3 and primary car insurance, plus Global Entry credit. Not open to new apps but most Marriott cards can be product changed to it by phone after a few months and the new Bonvoy card is giving 3 50K nights free SUB.

if you look the part (many of us do) asking for a wheelchair gets you through immigration and customs almost immediately no matter how long a line. and i don't know how anyone over 30 makes that long long hike then endless line at terminal 4 JFK. i always ask for a wheelchair there- because i have to- and am through in 2 minutes. one privilege of age.  

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

13 hours ago, nycman said:

No shit. Have you actually visited one of the "exclusive" Centurion lounges?

The ones I’ve been to are always packed and feel more like an overrun daycare center.
I actually prefer to be out in the seats in the concourse, and I hate the seats in the concourse.
I think they should ditch the lounges. They’re worthless to me. 

Nonetheless, if you travel frequently, the AMEX platinum card rocks and is well worth it. 

Agree.  Their lounges are fucking zoos.  Literally.

The real problem is that they attract the leisure, not the business traveler.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

10 hours ago, tassojunior said:

Haven't been out of US for over a year but i found the (then) free Mobile Passport the gov't has worked very well. Faster than Global Entry or Clear. Domestically Clear is certainly faster. 

Sorry to nitpick here, but CLEAR has nothing to do with Mobile Passport or GE.  It works in conjunction with PreCheck, getting you through initial TSA lines faster and in a more efficient manner.

As to GE, the advantage it has over Mobile Passport is that you're already fully vetted.  You've had the background check and interview.  You ALWAYS sail through (unless it's something flagrant). 

I've seen tons of people still get secondaries on Mobile Passport.  

[+ tassojunior]

1 hour ago, Benjamin_Nicholas said:

Sorry to nitpick here, but CLEAR has nothing to do with Mobile Passport or GE.  It works in conjunction with PreCheck, getting you through initial TSA lines faster and in a more efficient manner.

As to GE, the advantage it has over Mobile Passport is that you're already fully vetted.  You've had the background check and interview.  You ALWAYS sail through (unless it's something flagrant). 

I've seen tons of people still get secondaries on Mobile Passport.  

i have noticed that the domestic lines for Clear were always non-existent even when the PreCheck lines sometimes aren't much better than the regular line. i always thought it was a matter of  less popularity for both Clear and Mobile Passport (fewer people knowing or using them). fortunately my lines for domestic planes are usually human scale while the lines coming from international flights can be disaster-movie scale. and it's after those  extra long flights i'm not so able to cope with endless immigration lines. why i usually cho ose Mobile Passport over Global Entry (which i have). or wheelchair US entry service at JFK4 when i have to use JFK.  (btw- on Delta i've found Detroit is an excellent alternative to JFK to/from Europe when available).

[Islesguy]

On 7/29/2021 at 11:06 PM, tassojunior said:

Congrats !!

Haven't been out of US for over a year but i found the (then) free Mobile Passport the gov't has worked very well. Faster than Global Entry or Clear. Domestically Clear is certainly faster. 

For premium cards i stick with the Ritz Carlton. 450 fee offset by immediate 300 airline credit which Southwest and American giftcards work on (have to say they were baggage fees). Plus Priority Pass for up to 3 and primary car insurance, plus Global Entry credit. Not open to new apps but most Marriott cards can be product changed to it by phone after a few months and the new Bonvoy card is giving 3 50K nights free SUB.

if you look the part (many of us do) asking for a wheelchair gets you through immigration and customs almost immediately no matter how long a line. and i don't know how anyone over 30 makes that long long hike then endless line at terminal 4 JFK. i always ask for a wheelchair there- because i have to- and am through in 2 minutes. one privilege of age.  

I do as well. I hate that terminal with a passion. It's amazing how domestic Delta flights land there instead terminal 2 which is Delta exclusive.

[Bargara Leatherboy]

On 7/19/2021 at 8:43 AM, mike carey said:

The couple of accounts above are astonishing. A caveat, I haven't applied for a passport in the age of Covid, but as mine was stolen last year, I called to cancel it [irrevocably as it turns out] and it was recovered within 24 hours, I'll have to renew it soon. When I renewed it a few years ago I filled in the renewal form on-line, took the form and my passport to the post office where I submitted the application (the post office took the photo I used for the new passport). They cut the corners off my old passport, effectively cancelling it, but gave it back to me. I paid the new passport fee by credit card at the post office, and they sent it off. My new passport was delivered by registered mail two or three weeks later, and that was the standard processing, not the express rate. Governments can do things efficiently if they want to.

My Australian Passport is due to expire in March 2022.  For some reason I had it in my mind that it was March 2021.  we had a trip to Bali rebooked last year, so we were hopefully to travel in November 2020, so it would need to be a new one for the 6 month validity.

I asked last year at my local post office, where I have had a PO BOX for 20 years, I was told don’t renew it while the borders are shut, and you are a 2 year period after it expires to do the easy renewal process we normally do.

 

Come March 2022. I think I might just get it done, so that when the borders do open up , I can use some of those million FF points I have and continue to earn.   

 

However having said that I would love to see a discounted rate based on the number of months or years that we have not been able to use our passports due to the restrictions on outbound and inbound travel from our country .