Passport Renewal - 2 "Routine" Renewal Applications, 2 Different Results

The two of us mailed in our renewal applications in mid October,

Individually or both in one envelope?
We sent ours in a single envelope ( regular processing) and now have consecutively numbered passports. Not sure if our experience is typical or the exception.

To joe32F
We sent our renewal applications in separate envelopes. That just made the most sense to us at the time. Perhaps we should have used one envelope for our 2 renewal applications. Thanks for your comment.

We did the same as Joe and had our passports in less than a month with consecutive numbers.

This thread is timely. We just received our Passports on Saturday. Our experience was the same as joe32F & Diane. The postal worker at our post office also recommended using one envelope, (priority mail to track.) We received ours in less than a month with consecutive numbers.

We sent our renewals in one envelope, received date was 11/25/22. We got both back a few days ago, separately but consecutive numbers. So it took 8 weeks. Then yesterday, I applied online for renewal of our Global Entry (mine expires Oct 23, husband May 23). We got the Approved notice today! So we didn't need to interview again.

I need to renew my own passport later this year. Reading about oddball delays makes me nervous.

I believe I read in the past (pre-pandemic) about folks who contacted their Congressman about an apparently-inexplicable passport delay. That appeared to be effective. I hate to recommend that; it's a pain for you, it's a pain for the constituent-support staff in the Congressman's office, and any exceptional processing wastes time at the Passport Office, reducing overall efficiency. But maybe there's a batch of applications with a file folder sitting on top of it or something like that. If you don't need the passport for several months, I'd be comfortable waiting a bit longer, but I think, given how long you've already waited, I'd want to try to shake the tree if you're traveling within 2 months or so. (That's just an arbitrary time frame.)

The inexplicably delayed passport continues to be "in process". Its been 14 weeks wait without any change in status or any communication about the reason for the delay. The "routine" renewal application was expected to take 6 to 9 weeks which would have been fine had that happened. This is not a question of whether to apply "routine", "expedited", through the mail or on-line for passport renewal. This is a question of how to deal with an inexplicable passport delay in any renewal application category. Thanks to acraven for giving me the phrase "inexplicable passport delay". I do fear that this file has slid off someone's desk and has disappeared down a heating vent. Argh!

This sounds like it might the Passport Office equivalent of "found in supposedly empty equipment"; the Postal Service used to have a rubber stamp like that. It was applied to letters found in mailsacks thought to be empty that had been folded up and not used for a very long time--sometimes years later, at which point one or more pieces of mail were discovered. Stuff happens. Not often, but it's awful when it happens to you.