Travelers Recount Frustrations at Local Passport Office

At the U.S. passport office south of Market Street in San Francisco, there was no sugarcoating the feelings of some.

"It's been pretty frustrating," a man who identified himself as Gary told KCBS. "I mean, we were told 8 to 10 weeks and for me it's been 12. I'm leaving on Saturday and so I barely got an appointment today."

Gary joined a blocks-long line cueing up for a passport appointment.

The San Francisco passport office opens at 9:00 a.m. Jack Nestler of Santa Rosa said he left his house at 5:30 a.m., arriving at 7:15 a.m. and wasn't even close to the head of the line to secure his travel document.

"Oh, I applied for one back in April and it hasn't come yet," he lamented.

Nestler clearly had good intentions but he was no match for the line that stretched far and wide, as there are plenty of people who began arriving before 6:00 a.m.

Stockton resident Earl Stites spent the entire day, a second time, trying to get his passport so he can attend a family celebration in Toronto.

"It's easier to go to the Sharks game or go to a concert than it is to get through the process of this line," he equated the experience.

"Waiting an hour, feed the meter, wait and hour, feed the meter," Stites said of his strategy to secure his passport.

Still doubting the difficulties? Consider Mona, who flew in from Los Angeles to get her passport. She leaves for London today.

"So the fiftieth time when I actually got through, they told me it's not going to happen so just fly to San Francisco," she recounted. "They told me on the phone to fly up here."

Despite the trip to northern California, she was wary of her prospects.

"Hopefully I get my passport now," she said. "It's been a long, rough six months. It's horrible."

U.S. passport officials could not be reached for comment.

KCBS' George Harris reports