So... we walked from the hotel to Union Station yesterday in the morning. It was pretty brisk, but not too bad.
Once we got to Union Station, we went right to the 1st class lounge. Now, There were 2 employees at the desk in the Metropolitan Lounge. One woman was checking a passenger in, the other guy was sitting staring off into space... When he noticed us walk 1/2 way to the desk, he snapped "Come here." We approached and fished out our tickets. He looked at them, and I started to explain our situation. "NO! You need to go to the ticket counter RIGHT NOW! Come back when you have valid tickets!" I tried to explain again, "NO! GO!" He then pushed back from the counter and glared at us until we left. Brian headed for the ticket counter, even though I wanted to go to passenger services right away. I followed him to the ticket counter anyway.
After waiting 5 minutes in line, we headed back to the lounge. This time the woman checked us in and was extremely pleasant. The guy that was there before was still sitting staring off into space.
We dropped our carry-ons with the red cap and left for passenger services. I explained the entire situation to the friendly woman in passenger services, who immediately phoned the lounge to ask them if they could reissue tickets. The woman at the lounge explained that they could if it was just a quick exchange, etc. Woman in passenger services apologized, explained lounge was too busy to make the exchange, etc. I was not convinced, but whatever. Went back to lounge where woman stopped us, asked to check our tickets again. She apologized and explained that normally they'd be able to do it, but sometimes it's too busy, etc. I explained that the gentleman at ticket counter on Sunday night told us not to worry about the ticket counter in the morning, that we would just be able to go to the lounge and they would take care of us. The man in the lounge butted in that "He was wrong." Woman explained/apologized again. Man says, "Yeah, see, he was wrong!" At that point in time, I just gave up, thanked the woman, and walked away. While we were in the lounge, I saw the man yell at passengers no less than 4 times, including one time at an elderly couple that was moving too slowly for him. He also glared at me any time I walked anywhere near him.
We went and grabbed lunch from Pizza Hut Express on Amtrak's dime (we still had the $60 they had given us for food) and then wandered back to the station.
At about 3:30P, Brian left to have coffee with his account rep from CDW while I sat in the lounge on the internet. Their wi-fi was slightly flaky, but I had my AT&T 3G cell card with just in case.
6:00P rolled around, and right on clockwork they called our train for boarding, to meet the agent at the back door of the lounge. She walked us out about 3/4 of the way to the train and we boarded. Our car attendant Sharon met us on the stairs of the car, and asked us what room we were in... When we told her room A, she said, "They weren't supposed to sell A! It isn't safe!" She showed us to room A, and told us to have a seat while she went to talk to the conductor. The upper bunk wouldn't latch to the ceiling, and was being held up with bungee cords and duct tape. I was immediately beyond upset, and voiced my frustrations repeatedly. She said she'd take care of everything, and not to worry at all. We sat and waited and waited and waited in a tiny lil sardine can. Room A is DEFINATELY smaller than the others, though it would probably be ok if you were travelling alone. Finally the conductor came and asked us for our tickets, and then told us we were moving to room E. Once we got to room E, which was MUCH more spacious, we got settled in. I was EXTREMLY happy with Sharon, and she will be getting a big tip courtesy of Amtrak (we still have about $45 of the money they gave us for food left... she's not getting all of it, but probably around $25).
We got rolling exactly at 7:05P, and the evening went pretty quickly. When 8:00P rolled around, we made our way to the Dining car for our 8:00P reservations. Jane was our dining attendant, and was super! We both had the flat iron steak, and while it was oddly seasoned, I was pretty happy with it. The red velvet cake was extremely dense and flavorful, and they even gave us the ice cream to go with it for free! We also had quite a bit of entertainment, with the women at the table across from us spilling their pop and just generally having a good time. Lori, the LSA was awesome too. At last call for dinner, she announced "This is your last call for breakfast, last call for breakfast! I MEAN DINNER! IT'S DINNER! Last call for dinner!" We had lots of fun picking on her after that... I mentioned that my french toast tasted suspiciously like steak as we were leaving the dining car, she just laughed.
Went back to the room, and our bunks had been lowered. We climbed into bed, and I adjusted my pillow so my head was next to the window, and sat and stared out the window until I finally fell asleep, sometime around 1:00A.
Once we got to Union Station, we went right to the 1st class lounge. Now, There were 2 employees at the desk in the Metropolitan Lounge. One woman was checking a passenger in, the other guy was sitting staring off into space... When he noticed us walk 1/2 way to the desk, he snapped "Come here." We approached and fished out our tickets. He looked at them, and I started to explain our situation. "NO! You need to go to the ticket counter RIGHT NOW! Come back when you have valid tickets!" I tried to explain again, "NO! GO!" He then pushed back from the counter and glared at us until we left. Brian headed for the ticket counter, even though I wanted to go to passenger services right away. I followed him to the ticket counter anyway.
After waiting 5 minutes in line, we headed back to the lounge. This time the woman checked us in and was extremely pleasant. The guy that was there before was still sitting staring off into space.
We dropped our carry-ons with the red cap and left for passenger services. I explained the entire situation to the friendly woman in passenger services, who immediately phoned the lounge to ask them if they could reissue tickets. The woman at the lounge explained that they could if it was just a quick exchange, etc. Woman in passenger services apologized, explained lounge was too busy to make the exchange, etc. I was not convinced, but whatever. Went back to lounge where woman stopped us, asked to check our tickets again. She apologized and explained that normally they'd be able to do it, but sometimes it's too busy, etc. I explained that the gentleman at ticket counter on Sunday night told us not to worry about the ticket counter in the morning, that we would just be able to go to the lounge and they would take care of us. The man in the lounge butted in that "He was wrong." Woman explained/apologized again. Man says, "Yeah, see, he was wrong!" At that point in time, I just gave up, thanked the woman, and walked away. While we were in the lounge, I saw the man yell at passengers no less than 4 times, including one time at an elderly couple that was moving too slowly for him. He also glared at me any time I walked anywhere near him.
We went and grabbed lunch from Pizza Hut Express on Amtrak's dime (we still had the $60 they had given us for food) and then wandered back to the station.
At about 3:30P, Brian left to have coffee with his account rep from CDW while I sat in the lounge on the internet. Their wi-fi was slightly flaky, but I had my AT&T 3G cell card with just in case.
6:00P rolled around, and right on clockwork they called our train for boarding, to meet the agent at the back door of the lounge. She walked us out about 3/4 of the way to the train and we boarded. Our car attendant Sharon met us on the stairs of the car, and asked us what room we were in... When we told her room A, she said, "They weren't supposed to sell A! It isn't safe!" She showed us to room A, and told us to have a seat while she went to talk to the conductor. The upper bunk wouldn't latch to the ceiling, and was being held up with bungee cords and duct tape. I was immediately beyond upset, and voiced my frustrations repeatedly. She said she'd take care of everything, and not to worry at all. We sat and waited and waited and waited in a tiny lil sardine can. Room A is DEFINATELY smaller than the others, though it would probably be ok if you were travelling alone. Finally the conductor came and asked us for our tickets, and then told us we were moving to room E. Once we got to room E, which was MUCH more spacious, we got settled in. I was EXTREMLY happy with Sharon, and she will be getting a big tip courtesy of Amtrak (we still have about $45 of the money they gave us for food left... she's not getting all of it, but probably around $25).
We got rolling exactly at 7:05P, and the evening went pretty quickly. When 8:00P rolled around, we made our way to the Dining car for our 8:00P reservations. Jane was our dining attendant, and was super! We both had the flat iron steak, and while it was oddly seasoned, I was pretty happy with it. The red velvet cake was extremely dense and flavorful, and they even gave us the ice cream to go with it for free! We also had quite a bit of entertainment, with the women at the table across from us spilling their pop and just generally having a good time. Lori, the LSA was awesome too. At last call for dinner, she announced "This is your last call for breakfast, last call for breakfast! I MEAN DINNER! IT'S DINNER! Last call for dinner!" We had lots of fun picking on her after that... I mentioned that my french toast tasted suspiciously like steak as we were leaving the dining car, she just laughed.
Went back to the room, and our bunks had been lowered. We climbed into bed, and I adjusted my pillow so my head was next to the window, and sat and stared out the window until I finally fell asleep, sometime around 1:00A.
