I went to pick up the kids last night at DFW airport. Our son called as I was pulling into the airport to tell me they were on the ground and taxiing in. He said that he wanted to let me know they were down because they were informed on the plane that all cell phones had to be turned off while going through customs or they would be confiscated. What’s the rationale for this? Who knows? Because they can?

I had our daughter-in-law’s passport with me in the car so in case she was hassled my son – who had a valid passport – could come get hers and take it back so that she could get through.

After about 45 minutes of my waiting curbside, they showed up. Here’s what happened in passport control:

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As might be expected, our daughter-in-law’s passport arrived a couple of days ago, right in the middle of their trip to Mexico.

MD called FedEx to see if we could get it to her on Saturday so she would have it for the trip home today (Sunday). FedEx told MD that they could only guarantee delivery by next Wednesday (so much for their promise of overnight anywhere), so the DIL elected not to take the chance. She figured that if the passport got delivered after they had left, there would be a huge possibility that it would never find its way back to her in Dallas.

We faxed a copy of the new passport to her in Puerto Vallarta. They come home this afternoon, so we’ll see what happens when she tries to get through Mexican passport control and U.S. passport control and customs with a copy (and her driver’s license, certified copy of her birth certificate, etc.). I’ll head to the airport to pick them up at about 6:30 today with her passport in hand in case they call and I have to bring it in. I’ll post as to what happens after they’re home or sent back to Mexico or jailed or whatever the case may be so that others can plan accordingly.

It took a little over seven weeks for her to get her passport, for which she had paid for expedited service that allegedly would get it to her in two weeks. After four weeks she contacted Kay Baily Hutchison’s (one of the U.S. Senators from Texas) office for help. I don’t know if the seven plus weeks that it took to get the passport is standard now or if there was intervention on the part of KBH to help expedite the process. Some commenters have reported 11 plus week waits.

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I’m reporting the following as a cautionary warning to anyone needing a passport for foreign travel any time soon.

Our son and daughter-in-law planned a 10th anniversary trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico several months ago. The DIL, who is incredibly anal about never waiting until the last minute for anything (one wonders why she married into this family), went to the post office to renew her passport six weeks ago. The lady who waited on her asked when her trip was, the DIL said six weeks, the lady said it should take no more than four weeks, the DIL (her anality kicking in) said I want to pay the extra $75 to expedite and get it here in two weeks, and I want to pay the extra $15 to have it overnighted. The lady told her that all that was unnecessary, but it was her money.

After four weeks had passed with no passport, the DIL tried to call the number given to her as a number to use to check the status. She would call, get an automated message telling her that all agents were busy and to stay on the line and her call would be answered in the order in which it was received. She would stay on the line for 10-15 minutes then get a message that said there were an unusually large number of calls right then, please call back later, goodbye, and would then disconnect. She went through this process a couple of dozen times over two days, then hied herself back to the passport place at the post office.

After spending almost an hour in a long line (while managing two toddlers), the agent told her that there was nothing that could be done there but that she should call Kay Baily Hutchison’s (KBH) office. KBH is one of the U.S. Senators from Texas. The DIL called KBH and talked to the staff. They took her number and said many people were having the same problem and that they would get to work on it. After a week, with her trip looming a few days away, the DIL called KBH again. The staff told her they were aware of her problem and working on it, but that all their efforts were going into the problems of people leaving the next day, not the next week. Don’t call back, they said, we’re working on it.

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