Travellers wait hours, try multiple times to get passports at Vancouver office

Dramatically long lines at passport offices Surging interest in travel is making lineups dramatically longer at Vancouver-area passport offices.

Surging interest in travel is making lineups at Vancouver passport offices dramatically longer, with some showing up hours before the centre even opens.

A group was huddled on lawn chairs outside downtown's Sinclair Centre Friday morning. Some said they showed up at 5:15 a.m. one day, but didn't get in for an appointment.

The next time they tried, they came even earlier. The office at Sinclair Centre opens at 8:30 a.m.

Others waiting said they were on their fourth try to get a rushed passport for their upcoming trips.

Service Canada said it's experiencing an influx of passport renewals and advises travellers to plan well ahead. Even then, the waits can be lengthy and nerve-wracking.

The Rolfe family, who had a trip to Las Vegas booked for the Easter long weekend, thought they had time to spare when they sent a passport application by courier in February. They said the Service Canada website said the turnaround was approximately 20 days.

But when the passport hadn't come a week before their April 14 departure from Vancouver, the family started to panic.

They too went to a Vancouver passport centre and waited for several hours to get an emergency passport.

Appointments can be booked online, however some have said it's still difficult to get a spot.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Shannon Paterson