Disappointing trip on CONO and CZ

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johnmiller

johnmiller

Train Attendant
Joined
Sep 30, 2019
Messages
39
Do any of you think Amtrak will improve? Do you think that it can ever go back to what it was, say five years ago or so?

I went on the City of New Orleans from Memphis to Chicago, then the California Zephyr from Chicago to Emeryville. Not a good trip. The transition sleeper on the CoNO was old and dirty. There were many issues on the CZ. The Dining Car had a grill that didn't work because the vent fan was broken. So it was all microwaved food the whole way. The Dining Car staff were unpleasant, which I have experienced many times on many trips. Menus in the Roomettes say that you are supposed to be able to get drinks while the Dining Car is operating. But the staff would only give us drinks when we were seated. The windows didn't seem to get washed, even though this is what's considered the most scenic trip in the system.

We did have probably the best Room Attendant we have ever had. My wife and I had our own Roomettes. I booked half a year ahead of time and got the Roomettes cattycorner to each other. But our attendant asked the two men across from me if they would be okay moving, and they obliged. My wife was able to be across from me the whole time that way. Our attendant also kept coffee brewing for a good part of the day. He also kept us supplied with water. He said that the Dining Car ignored the menu saying that we could have drinks while they were open, because Amtrak wants us to spend more money on drinks.

I am grateful, as always, for the safe operation of the train. I don't think there was the slightest jerk the whole time, except for the stretches of bad track on the CoNO, which is Canadian National's issue.

We lucked out with the weather, which was great. And the person narrating our trip through the Rockies did a great job. The conductors were fine. But the issues that Amtrak has imposed on the system, plus what I talked about, doesn't make me want to hop back on Amtrak all that soon. We had been regular travelers once a year through 2017 and have only had the almost four-year hiatus in part because of COVID, but a lot because of how Amtrak has changed things.

Do you think things will change back at some point? Thanks for your input!
 
I'm glad to hear you enjoyed your trip.

as you say, the quality of experience can vary depending on the staff and how dedicated they are. I think this has always been the case with staff being anything from totally disinterested to spot on attentive. This is probably a question of staff hiring and training procedures.
 
Too bad about the fan issue - the new dining car menu is actually very good. I had a completely different experience when I took the Zephyr, the Coast Starlight, and the Southwest Chief in June. They hadn’t yet restored traditional dining until the ride home on the Chief - the other legs were flexible but all the sleeper attendants and diner crews I had were great and it was a fantastic experience. While obviously the fan issue wasn’t the crew’s fault - if anyone was exceptionally rude I’d consider reporting it to customer relations as well as your accommodation condition on the first leg.

While many on this board aren’t fans of Amtrak management in general - even if you had a perfect management and you brought back OBS Chiefs etc. it’s impossible to have a spot light on every crew on every train frequency and on every crew - passenger interaction to ensure they are following procedures so it’s important customers do send in feedback to customer relations or fill out the survey if you get one and make sure you provide details on the survey if you received one. Surveys are part of what generate’s a route’s “customer satisfaction index” which is the metric management uses for accessing passenger attitudes - basically if the CSI score is within a certain an optimal range they consider that people are satisfied. Can’t of course guarantee anything would occur but feedback is still important. One thing I’ve always thought Amtrak (and other transportation providers) should do is “mystery shoppers” that is done in some sectors. This allows management to catch isolated crew inconsistencies, rudeness, etc. that you may not otherwise find out about - in fact I may suggest it thru RPA. Though whether the labor agreements would allow for that not sure.
 
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lordsigma said:
Too bad about the fan issue - the new dining car menu is actually very good. I had a completely different experience when I took the Zephyr, the Coast Starlight, and the Southwest Chief in June. They hadn’t yet restored traditional dining until the ride home on the Chief - the other legs were flexible but all the sleeper attendants and diner crews I had were great and it was a fantastic experience. While obviously the fan issue wasn’t the crew’s fault - if anyone was exceptionally rude I’d consider reporting it to customer relations as well as your accommodation condition on the first leg.

While many on this board aren’t fans of Amtrak management in general - even if you had a perfect management and you brought back OBS Chiefs etc. it’s impossible to have a spot light on every crew on every train frequency and on every crew - passenger interaction to ensure they are following procedures so it’s important customers do send in feedback to customer relations or fill out the survey if you get one and make sure you provide details on the survey if you received one. Surveys are part of what generate’s a route’s “customer satisfaction index” which is the metric management uses for accessing passenger attitudes - basically if the CSI score is within a certain an optimal range they consider that people are satisfied. Can’t of course guarantee anything would occur but feedback is still important. One thing I’ve always thought Amtrak (and other transportation providers) should do is “mystery shoppers” that is done in some sectors. This allows management to catch isolated crew inconsistencies, rudeness, etc. that you may not otherwise find out about - in fact I may suggest it thru RPA. Though whether the labor agreements would allow for that not sure.
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Great response. Let me add that there is nothing in the labor agreement preventing "mystery shoppers" . It is a practice that has long been used and they are termed "spotters". They write a report on anything and everything they observe on the train. How/If the information is used is sometimes questionable....
 
The past month was not a good time to ride a long-distance Amtrak train for the experience. First, being holiday season, the trains were packed, and while a packed train is good for Amtrak's bottom line and indicates more cars are being taken off the road, it does mean the staff has to deal with more passengers and may thus not be able to give the passengers the kind of attention they might get if there were fewer people aboard. I would think this would be especially true for the food service. It also means that fares are higher, and you have more of a chance of having an "unpleasant" (however you judge it) seat companion.

This is also the time the winter weather starts in earnest, so there's more chance for weather related delays.

Also, and this is continuing after the holidays when the passenger loads will probably decrease, is that Amtrak has a worker shortage, due to the fact that they let a lot of people go at the start of the pandemic, and they haven't replaced them yet. This is compounded by the fact that a lot of the existing workers are either catching the Covid Omricon variant or have come into contact with people who have and are thus required to quarantine and are thus not on the job. This isn't just operating crew and OBS, it also includes ticket agents, baggage handlers, redcaps, and, most importantly, the mechanical crews. If the mechanical teams, some of which seemed to have been having problems even before the pandemic, are shorthanded, this just increases the chance that they'll miss stuff and send defective rolling stock out, which can then break down en route, resulting in nonfunctional kitchen equipment or massive delays.

They are supposedly hiring, so I would expect to see things improve sooner or later.

All of these stressors are true for every mode of transportation out there, and if you drive, you also get the opportunity to actually have to operate your own vehicle in bad weather and possibly get stuck on the highway in bad weather. Be sure to pack a sleeping bag, blanket and some emergency rations. Plus, you have to endure expensive, indifferent lodging and roadside food. Nothing seems to be up to its prepandemic standards.
 
When did you travel on Amtrak? If it was in the past couple of weeks, keep in mind that all transportation has been, to put it mildly, a mess. A combination of factors has been a perfect storm for travel. My son-in-law had to travel by air for a work training session between Christmas and New Years. Between extra holiday travelers, bad weather, and COVID-related staff shortages, it was a nightmare both ways. Flights both ways were cancelled, the Philadelphia airport was crammed with stranded passengers, he ended up missing the first day of the training session entirely, and got home a day later than planned as well. Will he fly again? Probably. And, although he sent a tart email to the airline in question, I suspect the odds he gets any positive response is less than it would be for Amtrak, which has a reasonably good track record (pun intended) of making goodwill gestures to disappointed passengers.
 
As to the free anytime soft drinks, I was told on the Zephyr that it only applied for flex service, not traditional. However, if you got flex service, they should have accommodated you. On the other hand, you can, at meals, ask for a second soft drink then take it back with you for later. If the menu said you should have unlimited drinks, I'd file a formal complaint with Amtrak as that's a violation of policy if they claim that the menu is wrong.

As to the condition of the cars - that blame goes back to the executives who have done nothing in the years past about cars that were deteriorating but just pushed off maintenance and now paying the price. They had a perfect opportunity during 2020 with 3 day service to fix cars and instead chose to sideline them without maintenance. Pure, unadulterated incompetence is the best that can be said about the executives and the board that is supposed to oversee them. Even now, Amtrak is just putting a fresh coat of paint on cars that are falling apart and claiming it's the best thing since the invention of the steam engine.

As to unpleasantness - First, the employees are probably demoralized as they see the complaints and have to live with run down cars; second, management has done little to help them other than working them more because management had no idea what they were doing when they downsized; third, employees at Amtrak have always had a wide variation in attitude and management has ignored the issue and preferred to buy off passengers who complain by handing out vouchers rather than to actually fix the problem that has been going on for many years.
 
johnmiller said:
Do any of you think Amtrak will improve? Do you think that it can ever go back to what it was, say five years ago or so?
Click to expand...
To give an entirely political answer, I volunteer with Rail Passengers Association and campaign at elected and appointed officials in order to try to make Amtrak improve.

I can't predict the future -- but I can try to change it.
 
joelkfla said:
OP rode both CONO & CZ, and said that the food service issues were on the Zephyr.
Click to expand...

The microwaved omelette on the CONO was seriously bad, though. And my wife had the same thing, it wasn't good either. We spent a total of $1800 on this trip for the both of us, with two Roomettes on both trains. I'm just out of patience with Amtrak. We really deserve better.
 
Maverickstation said:
The City of New Orleans does NOT offer Traditional Dining Service, that train continues to offer Flexible Dining, so where is this confusion coming from ?

These are trains that are on Flexible Dining, and have been for awhile now.

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Ken
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My eyes! Good lord I recall these horrible meals were on all the trains back in March 2020. And how sad it is that my beloved Texas Eagle has been gutted and reduced to flex For now…or permanently….

so much missed marketing opportunitie. If you cant offer a signature meal on a train named after New Orleans, you just aren’t doing it right.
 
johnmiller said:
Do any of you think Amtrak will improve? Do you think that it can ever go back to what it was, say five years ago or so?

I went on the City of New Orleans from Memphis to Chicago, then the California Zephyr from Chicago to Emeryville. Not a good trip. The transition sleeper on the CoNO was old and dirty. There were many issues on the CZ. The Dining Car had a grill that didn't work because the vent fan was broken. So it was all microwaved food the whole way. The Dining Car staff were unpleasant, which I have experienced many times on many trips. Menus in the Roomettes say that you are supposed to be able to get drinks while the Dining Car is operating. But the staff would only give us drinks when we were seated. The windows didn't seem to get washed, even though this is what's considered the most scenic trip in the system.

We did have probably the best Room Attendant we have ever had. My wife and I had our own Roomettes. I booked half a year ahead of time and got the Roomettes cattycorner to each other. But our attendant asked the two men across from me if they would be okay moving, and they obliged. My wife was able to be across from me the whole time that way. Our attendant also kept coffee brewing for a good part of the day. He also kept us supplied with water. He said that the Dining Car ignored the menu saying that we could have drinks while they were open, because Amtrak wants us to spend more money on drinks.

I am grateful, as always, for the safe operation of the train. I don't think there was the slightest jerk the whole time, except for the stretches of bad track on the CoNO, which is Canadian National's issue.

We lucked out with the weather, which was great. And the person narrating our trip through the Rockies did a great job. The conductors were fine. But the issues that Amtrak has imposed on the system, plus what I talked about, doesn't make me want to hop back on Amtrak all that soon. We had been regular travelers once a year through 2017 and have only had the almost four-year hiatus in part because of COVID, but a lot because of how Amtrak has changed things.

Do you think things will change back at some point? Thanks for your input!
Click to expand...
I just went from New Orleans to Chicago on sleeper car. I was very disappointed in the food. It was all microwaved, the best part of traveling on Amtrak has always been the dining car, meeting people and having a lovely dinner. The microwaved salmon I had was overcooked the rice was mushy. On another subject, the windows on the car continue to be filthy.
 
Cathy Hardy said:
I just went from New Orleans to Chicago on sleeper car. I was very disappointed in the food. It was all microwaved, the best part of traveling on Amtrak has always been the dining car, meeting people and having a lovely dinner. The microwaved salmon I had was overcooked the rice was mushy. On another subject, the windows on the car continue to be filthy.
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