But Did She Ever Return?

[PaulM]

I wonder what the point is of having everyone wait for a voucher only to have them wait a second time for the cash. Airlines use vouchers but you can just hand them over to the hotel or the food provider directly and they worry about cashing it in with the airline after you're on your way. That seems like a better system to me.

If I recall correctly, you do present a voucher at the hotel. The cash is for food and cab. Wouldn't a voucher be good only at restaurants and cab companies having a relationship with Amtrak?

On our last mis-connect, we biked to the hotel and were too tired to eat, and were able to pocket the cash. Amtrak's system worked better for us.

All that being said, unless you absolutely need the cash then and there, you are better off leaving with the vouchers and cashing them later when things have quieted down.

 

[Trainmans daughter]

You are correct, Paul. The cash voucher was for taxi/food or to just stick in your pocket. The hotel voucher was separate and was presented to the clerk at the hotel. I saw several people who decided they didn't want to wait in line last night to cash out their food vouchers and planned to do it this morning. Bad idea as the line was vastly longer this morning!

 

[fairviewroad]

Do those cash vouchers have to be cashed out at CHI? I think if my home station was staffed I'd just wait and do it there, if that was an option.

And in the meantime I'd just use plastic to pay for meals/cabs.

 

[AlanB]

I wonder what the point is of having everyone wait for a voucher only to have them wait a second time for the cash. Airlines use vouchers but you can just hand them over to the hotel or the food provider directly and they worry about cashing it in with the airline after you're on your way. That seems like a better system to me.

The point is to try to control any potential theft. By having one person hand out the voucher and another cashing out the voucher, you have to get two employees working in cahoots together to essentially hand out cash to their friends.

As for the airline vouchers, while I'm far from an expert on flying, I believe those food vouchers are only good at airport establishments. Kind of like a mall gift certificate is honored by all stores in that mall. In Amtrak's case, while that could work in within the station, it wouldn't work once the people get to their respective hotels.

 

[jis]

It is truly sad when the only way to keep your employees from stealing is to make your customer stand in two long lines, one after the other, instead of just one. But c'est la vie, I suppose.

 

[PaulM]

Do those cash vouchers have to be cashed out at CHI? I think if my home station was staffed I'd just wait and do it there, if that was an option.

And in the meantime I'd just use plastic to pay for meals/cabs.

Or mailing them in? or converting them to e-vouchers?

 

[Devil's Advocate]

It is truly sad when the only way to keep your employees from stealing is to make your customer stand in two long lines, one after the other, instead of just one. But c'est la vie, I suppose.

Agreed.

This policy would appear to be penalizing the customer in order to attack the symptom rather than doing anything to address the hiring and employing of untrustworthy employees in the first place. Then again this is Chicago we're talking about.

As for the airline vouchers, while I'm far from an expert on flying, I believe those food vouchers are only good at airport establishments. Kind of like a mall gift certificate is honored by all stores in that mall. In Amtrak's case, while that could work in within the station, it wouldn't work once the people get to their respective hotels.

You're right that in general the airline vouchers work in the airport where they're distributed. That being said if you can get a hotel to accept a voucher for a room you could presumably get the same hotel to accept a voucher for food. It's been a while since I've had to use airline vouchers and I don't recall if the food vouchers worked at the hotels but it seems like a relatively minor modification to the prepaid voucher contract. Maybe hotel food is just a bit too expensive to be useful for the current voucher limits.

 

[MrFSS]

It is truly sad when the only way to keep your employees from stealing is to make your customer stand in two long lines, one after the other, instead of just one. But c'est la vie, I suppose.

Agreed.

This policy would appear to be penalizing the customer in order to attack the symptom rather than doing anything to address the hiring and employing of untrustworthy employees in the first place. Then again this is Chicago we're talking about.

As for the airline vouchers, while I'm far from an expert on flying, I believe those food vouchers are only good at airport establishments. Kind of like a mall gift certificate is honored by all stores in that mall. In Amtrak's case, while that could work in within the station, it wouldn't work once the people get to their respective hotels.

You're right that in general the airline vouchers work in the airport where they're distributed. That being said if you can get a hotel to accept a voucher for a room you could presumably get the same hotel to accept a voucher for food. It's been a while since I've had to use airline vouchers and I don't recall if the food vouchers worked at the hotels but it seems like a relatively minor modification to the prepaid voucher contract. Maybe hotel food is just a bit too expensive to be useful for the current voucher limits.

I can only remember a couple of times when I had a hotel/meal voucher from an airline, but if I recall, the airline set it up with the hotel where there wasn't even any paper involved. We showed up at the hotel, they checked us in and the restaurant had a special menu for voucher folks to order from. No paper, no cash changed hands. I did leave a tip in the restaurant, but was told I really didn't need to. The service was so good, I left one anyway.

 

[fairviewroad]

You're right that in general the airline vouchers work in the airport where they're distributed. That being said if you can get a hotel to accept a voucher for a room you could presumably get the same hotel to accept a voucher for food. It's been a while since I've had to use airline vouchers and I don't recall if the food vouchers worked at the hotels but it seems like a relatively minor modification to the prepaid voucher contract. Maybe hotel food is just a bit too expensive to be useful for the current voucher limits.

I've only been "hoteled" by airlines 2 or 3 times but in each case a food voucher would have been useless at the hotel. Most "mid-range" chain hotels near airports do not offer food other than the free continental breakfast (save for vending machines, I suppose). It's probably a little different at the downtown Chicago hotels used by Amtrak, but most major airline hubs have plenty of Comfort Inns, Holiday Inn Express', La Quintas, and what-have-you.

 

[Trainmans daughter]

HOME!

I've never written a trip report before, but I really should for this one. Involving police activity, medical emergency, bustitution, cancelled train, passenger carry-by, frozen switches, Polar Vortex, mooning, etc, it was a very eventful trip.

Thanks so much for all the help you gave me rebooking the cancelled train.

 

[MikefromCrete]

It is truly sad when the only way to keep your employees from stealing is to make your customer stand in two long lines, one after the other, instead of just one. But c'est la vie, I suppose.

Agreed.

This policy would appear to be penalizing the customer in order to attack the symptom rather than doing anything to address the hiring and employing of untrustworthy employees in the first place. Then again this is Chicago we're talking about.

As for the airline vouchers, while I'm far from an expert on flying, I believe those food vouchers are only good at airport establishments. Kind of like a mall gift certificate is honored by all stores in that mall. In Amtrak's case, while that could work in within the station, it wouldn't work once the people get to their respective hotels.

You're right that in general the airline vouchers work in the airport where they're distributed. That being said if you can get a hotel to accept a voucher for a room you could presumably get the same hotel to accept a voucher for food. It's been a while since I've had to use airline vouchers and I don't recall if the food vouchers worked at the hotels but it seems like a relatively minor modification to the prepaid voucher contract. Maybe hotel food is just a bit too expensive to be useful for the current voucher limits.

That slur against the good people of Chicago was totally unnecessary.

 

[Trainmans daughter]

I don't know whether to post this on my trip report, or in the regular forum discussion, so I'll do both.

I wrote Amtrak last month detailing my New Years trip. I was very generous in my compliments regarding the actions of the crew members dealing with extreme conditions. I did suggest that there should have been better response in place at CUS to take care of the hoards of people needing help that night. I closed by saying that some people suggested I request a credit for future travel due to the inconveniences encountered but said that's not my style. Amtrak got us safely to our destination and took good care of us. However, if they really wanted to send me one, I wouldn't argue with them!

So today, I received a $100 certificate from Amtrak! Happy! Happy! Happy!