An anecdote regarding the original application process from about 5-7 years ago.
At the time, you simply could not get an appointment whatsoever. I trolled around the internet and found out everyone that was getting appointments was quite IT savvy so I dug a little deeper. There was a Linux script people were using to query the CBP scheduling server, literally pounding on it every minute, and the second it found an appt it would take it. It would then pound on it subsequently finding better and better appointments.
While I’m no longer tech-useful, I looked at the basic code, installed it on my mac, tinkered for about 4 hours with a bourbon, and sent it to work. Within 24 hours I had an appt 6 months out. Within 48 hours I had one for the next day.
Not sure if CBP improved their IT capabilities since then (doubt it, its a gov agency), but if you’re techie you can probably find that script for appointment scheduling, install it, and get a face to face interview in days rather than years.
When I renewed, it was via zoom and I had no trouble getting it the normal way within about two weeks.