Two hunters were running in the woods with an angry bear in hot pursuit. One said, "I don't know if I can keep running faster than this bear." The other one says, "I don't need to run faster than the bear, I just need to run faster than you."
Sometimes on this forum, people write about some experience on Amtrak where they get less than perfect service from Amtrak personnel. On the basis of the negative experience, people cry that Amtrak is doomed and iif those lazy government/union workers at Amtrak aren't whipped into sahpe, passenger rail service in the US is doomed. The trouble with this line of reasoning is that it assumes that the competition has no problems in this area. I had an experience last week that indicates that may not be the case.
I was up in my camp in the Maine woods and made a 4 hour drive to the Manchester NH airport to pick up up my wife and daughter, who were flying up from Baltimore. About halfway through the drive, I get a call from my daughter iinforming me that the plane needed new windshield wipers (It was a clear sunny day), and they were estimating an hour dfelay. When I hit Concord, about 20 minutes from the airport and got out to shop at the New hamshire State Liquor Store, I got another call. My family was still sitting in BWI. Now it looked like the arrival would be 2 hours late. I went into Manchester and did a little more tax-free shopping to kill time, and got myself to the airport about 20 minutes before the estimated time of arrival. This is where I got to see Amtrak's competion at its less than best.
First off, when I walked into the terminal, the delayed flight was not on the arrivals monitor. Thus, I had no immediate way of knowing whether the plane has arrived. At every Amtrak station I've been to, train status, even for delayed trains, is routinely posted, even if only with a chalkboard. Then I went to look for an information desk, a standard feature on the larger stations in the northeast corridor. No such luck at the "Manchester-Boston Regional Airport." So I had to go the the Southwest Airlines ticket/check-in counter and get in line. At my turn, the agent was flustered becuase I didn't pull out my credit card to do a self-service check-in, but rather asked her about the delayed flight. She didn't seem so eager to want to help, but told me that the plane had arrived. The attitude was similar to the baggage agent at the Baltimore train station who was no so eager to check my skis a day ahead on #66 to Boston.
I went up to where they make people wait for arrivals and saw some people deplaning from a Southwest jet, but my family wasn't there. Finally, a lady with a smartphone told us that the southwest web page posted the flight as having just landed. After another 10 minutes or s, the plane finally taxied to the gate and unloaded the passengers.
Once reunited, we went down to the baggage claim, where it took them quite a while to let us know which baggage carousel was being used for our flight. Fortunately, the suitcases were there, and we were on our way. The flight was uneventful, but given that the flight time is 1:30, a 2 hour delay is the proprtional equivalent of boarding the Empire builder in Seattle and arriving in Chicago three days after the scheduled arrival time. (I.e. taking 6 days to make the trip.)
By the way, the "discount" Southwest Airlines nonrefundable fare was $100, purchased about 2 months in advance. The 14-day advance purchase fare on the Northeast Regional from BAL to BOS is about $75.
I don't mean to knock on Southwest Airlines. Most of the times I fly them, their service is excellent. But they are not perfect. And given that Southwest is a highly profitble entrepeneurial company, you can't accuse the reluctant agent of being some sort of government drone.
If this doesn't convince you, I can tell you a tale of some truly abysmal service I got from United Airlines at SFO from outsourced check-in agents who appeared to know nothing about their jobs. It appeared that United expected their pax to use the self-service check-in kiosks and carry on all their bags. I had paid axtra for baggage check, and I kind of excpected someone at the check-in countermight know how to do that.
So my experience, in general is that Amtrak people are no worse than the folks working in other transportation companies.
Sometimes on this forum, people write about some experience on Amtrak where they get less than perfect service from Amtrak personnel. On the basis of the negative experience, people cry that Amtrak is doomed and iif those lazy government/union workers at Amtrak aren't whipped into sahpe, passenger rail service in the US is doomed. The trouble with this line of reasoning is that it assumes that the competition has no problems in this area. I had an experience last week that indicates that may not be the case.
I was up in my camp in the Maine woods and made a 4 hour drive to the Manchester NH airport to pick up up my wife and daughter, who were flying up from Baltimore. About halfway through the drive, I get a call from my daughter iinforming me that the plane needed new windshield wipers (It was a clear sunny day), and they were estimating an hour dfelay. When I hit Concord, about 20 minutes from the airport and got out to shop at the New hamshire State Liquor Store, I got another call. My family was still sitting in BWI. Now it looked like the arrival would be 2 hours late. I went into Manchester and did a little more tax-free shopping to kill time, and got myself to the airport about 20 minutes before the estimated time of arrival. This is where I got to see Amtrak's competion at its less than best.
First off, when I walked into the terminal, the delayed flight was not on the arrivals monitor. Thus, I had no immediate way of knowing whether the plane has arrived. At every Amtrak station I've been to, train status, even for delayed trains, is routinely posted, even if only with a chalkboard. Then I went to look for an information desk, a standard feature on the larger stations in the northeast corridor. No such luck at the "Manchester-Boston Regional Airport." So I had to go the the Southwest Airlines ticket/check-in counter and get in line. At my turn, the agent was flustered becuase I didn't pull out my credit card to do a self-service check-in, but rather asked her about the delayed flight. She didn't seem so eager to want to help, but told me that the plane had arrived. The attitude was similar to the baggage agent at the Baltimore train station who was no so eager to check my skis a day ahead on #66 to Boston.
I went up to where they make people wait for arrivals and saw some people deplaning from a Southwest jet, but my family wasn't there. Finally, a lady with a smartphone told us that the southwest web page posted the flight as having just landed. After another 10 minutes or s, the plane finally taxied to the gate and unloaded the passengers.
Once reunited, we went down to the baggage claim, where it took them quite a while to let us know which baggage carousel was being used for our flight. Fortunately, the suitcases were there, and we were on our way. The flight was uneventful, but given that the flight time is 1:30, a 2 hour delay is the proprtional equivalent of boarding the Empire builder in Seattle and arriving in Chicago three days after the scheduled arrival time. (I.e. taking 6 days to make the trip.)
By the way, the "discount" Southwest Airlines nonrefundable fare was $100, purchased about 2 months in advance. The 14-day advance purchase fare on the Northeast Regional from BAL to BOS is about $75.
I don't mean to knock on Southwest Airlines. Most of the times I fly them, their service is excellent. But they are not perfect. And given that Southwest is a highly profitble entrepeneurial company, you can't accuse the reluctant agent of being some sort of government drone.
If this doesn't convince you, I can tell you a tale of some truly abysmal service I got from United Airlines at SFO from outsourced check-in agents who appeared to know nothing about their jobs. It appeared that United expected their pax to use the self-service check-in kiosks and carry on all their bags. I had paid axtra for baggage check, and I kind of excpected someone at the check-in countermight know how to do that.
So my experience, in general is that Amtrak people are no worse than the folks working in other transportation companies.
