I was on train#49 the LATE Shore Limited on sunday night when it was 8 hours late arriving in Chicago. I had booked a round-the country trip (Jax - NYP - CHI - LAX - SEA - Chi - Was - Jax). The train was scheduled to arrive in chicago at 9:30am but didn't get there until 5pm. Needless to say, I missed my connection to the Southwest Chief and all connections thereafter. I decided to turn around and go back to JAX. This is where the fun began. There was only a coach seat available on #30 and when I called Amtrak, they stated they would put me at #1 on a waitlist for a sleeper and that a sleeper would be opening up in Pittsburgh. I guess I should have booked it with Guest Rewards at the time, but they suggested I talk to the conductor to see if there were any no-shows at Chicago. While I was at Chicago Union Station, i checked with a ticket agent and she suggested that I talk to the conductor as well.
I got on board, heading back to DC with my tail between my legs resigned to the fact that I'd have to do the trip overnight in coach. (i'm not above that, it's just that the entire round the country trip was with a sleeper). I asked the conductor on board and she said "yeah, yeah, yeah, you and the 8 other people who have asked to be upgraded to a sleeper..." I told her politely that I was #1 on a wait list, to which she replied that she'd know if there was a no-show in about an hour once she counted her tickets and that the people at Amtrak do not let the train people know there is a waiting list. 3 hours later, I saw her again and asked politely again if there was a sleeper available and she said there wasn't and I told her that one was to open up in Pittsburgh to which she replied that I needed to call 1-800-USA-RAIL to book it. So I called Amtrak and the agent said I needed to talk to the conductor! I relayed that back to the conductor and she said she'd check on it and get back with me. She never did and I fell asleep in my coach seat.
At 3am a new conductor came on board and I asked her about upgrading to the sleeper which would be opening up in Pittsburgh and she told me that I needed to get off at Pittsburgh and talk to the ticket agent at the station....AARRRGGHH! Needless to say, I slept through Pittsburgh comfy in my coach seat and never got to get the shower that I so desparately wanted. The upside to all of this was that I got (with AGR points) a deluxe room for the WAS-JAX portion back home.
My question is: Had I been a revenue passenger, would any of this have gone any smoother? Everytime someone looked at my ticket and saw that I was traveling on guest reward points, they said I needed to call Amtrak. This was very frustrating and I just hoped there would have been more coordination between AGR and Amtrak. Thanks to you all for letting me vent!
I got on board, heading back to DC with my tail between my legs resigned to the fact that I'd have to do the trip overnight in coach. (i'm not above that, it's just that the entire round the country trip was with a sleeper). I asked the conductor on board and she said "yeah, yeah, yeah, you and the 8 other people who have asked to be upgraded to a sleeper..." I told her politely that I was #1 on a wait list, to which she replied that she'd know if there was a no-show in about an hour once she counted her tickets and that the people at Amtrak do not let the train people know there is a waiting list. 3 hours later, I saw her again and asked politely again if there was a sleeper available and she said there wasn't and I told her that one was to open up in Pittsburgh to which she replied that I needed to call 1-800-USA-RAIL to book it. So I called Amtrak and the agent said I needed to talk to the conductor! I relayed that back to the conductor and she said she'd check on it and get back with me. She never did and I fell asleep in my coach seat.
At 3am a new conductor came on board and I asked her about upgrading to the sleeper which would be opening up in Pittsburgh and she told me that I needed to get off at Pittsburgh and talk to the ticket agent at the station....AARRRGGHH! Needless to say, I slept through Pittsburgh comfy in my coach seat and never got to get the shower that I so desparately wanted. The upside to all of this was that I got (with AGR points) a deluxe room for the WAS-JAX portion back home.
My question is: Had I been a revenue passenger, would any of this have gone any smoother? Everytime someone looked at my ticket and saw that I was traveling on guest reward points, they said I needed to call Amtrak. This was very frustrating and I just hoped there would have been more coordination between AGR and Amtrak. Thanks to you all for letting me vent!