Should the travel industry give passport laggards a break?

News that the State Department has modified its passport requirements for U.S. citizens traveling to several popular destinations is coming as a relief to the summer vacation crowd. But is it enough?

Late last week, under immense pressure from travelers, lawmakers and its own employees, the government announced that U.S. citizens traveling to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda who have applied for but not yet received passports can still enter and depart from the United States by air with a government issued photo identification and Department of State official proof of application.

That just doesn’t cut it.

First, the grace period ends on Sept. 30, 2007. We need more time.

What happens on Oct. 1, especially if the “record-breaking” demand (their words) for passports continues? The State Department’s passport FAQs offer no meaningful answer.

But if the past six months is any indication, it’s likely that we’ll just go back to what we had before: chaos.

The days leading up to the June 8 announcement were completely insane, from my vantage point. Thanks to my State Department contacts, I was able to help numerous travelers get their passports just in time for their overseas trips. But many more readers wrote in to tell me about their ruined vacations, and complained about the fact that they had absolutely no way to get a refund.

I certainly hope the backlog of applications gets cleared away by this fall. I’m skeptical, though. There is no public source that lists the number of passport applications received versus processed, but in this online Q&A with Maura Harty, the assistant secretary for consular affairs, it’s clear that that the agency will process as many as 13 million this year — and probably many, many more.

That’s a lot of ruined trips, potentially.

The second (and in my mind larger) problem is that the travel business has been largely indifferent to the plight of passport laggards. I think the industry — especially the airlines — should consider waiving their change fees for travelers whose passports haven’t arrived on time. Hotels shouldn’t punish travelers with cancellation fees, and cruise lines ought to offer generous credits.

How about it, guys?

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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