Credits/Refunds

[Konrad]

I will be travelling from LAX to NYP in late March.

I'm a little concerned about my connections between the SWC to the CL and the NEC. Not too worried about the transfer to the CL but am rather concerned about the transfer to the NEC.

My question is that there is much discussion on the forum about 'credits' from Amtrak for service problems (and I can beat most of you for poor service stories) but as this will be one of my last Amtrak trips for quite a while (our dollar has been reduced to crud) can I demand a credit to my card in lieu of a 'credit' if, for example I should happen to end up in coach on the LSL rather than in my bedroom on the CL - and arriving hours later into NYP?

Simply put, is an Amtrak 'credit' the only way Amtrak compensates passengers (or are we 'customers' nowadays).

 

[jmbgeg]

I will be travelling from LAX to NYP in late March.
I'm a little concerned about my connections between the SWC to the CL and the NEC. Not too worried about the transfer to the CL but am rather concerned about the transfer to the NEC.

My question is that there is much discussion on the forum about 'credits' from Amtrak for service problems (and I can beat most of you for poor service stories) but as this will be one of my last Amtrak trips for quite a while (our dollar has been reduced to crud) can I demand a credit to my card in lieu of a 'credit' if, for example I should happen to end up in coach on the LSL rather than in my bedroom on the CL - and arriving hours later into NYP?

Simply put, is an Amtrak 'credit' the only way Amtrak compensates passengers (or are we 'customers' nowadays).

Yes, they do issue refunds to credit cards in cases of service interruptions, but the process takes 30-60 days from my experience.

 

[Konrad]

I will be travelling from LAX to NYP in late March.
I'm a little concerned about my connections between the SWC to the CL and the NEC. Not too worried about the transfer to the CL but am rather concerned about the transfer to the NEC.

My question is that there is much discussion on the forum about 'credits' from Amtrak for service problems (and I can beat most of you for poor service stories) but as this will be one of my last Amtrak trips for quite a while (our dollar has been reduced to crud) can I demand a credit to my card in lieu of a 'credit' if, for example I should happen to end up in coach on the LSL rather than in my bedroom on the CL - and arriving hours later into NYP?

Simply put, is an Amtrak 'credit' the only way Amtrak compensates passengers (or are we 'customers' nowadays).

Yes, they do issue refunds to credit cards in cases of service interruptions, but the process takes 30-60 days from my experience.

Given that I paid for my berths when our dollar was at 98 cents a refund, no matter how long it takes, could almost pay for the trip with our dollar bouncing among at 64cents!

 

[sky12065]

I will be travelling from LAX to NYP in late March.
I'm a little concerned about my connections between the SWC to the CL and the NEC. Not too worried about the transfer to the CL but am rather concerned about the transfer to the NEC.

My question is that there is much discussion on the forum about 'credits' from Amtrak for service problems (and I can beat most of you for poor service stories) but as this will be one of my last Amtrak trips for quite a while (our dollar has been reduced to crud) can I demand a credit to my card in lieu of a 'credit' if, for example I should happen to end up in coach on the LSL rather than in my bedroom on the CL - and arriving hours later into NYP?

Simply put, is an Amtrak 'credit' the only way Amtrak compensates passengers (or are we 'customers' nowadays).

Yes, they do issue refunds to credit cards in cases of service interruptions, but the process takes 30-60 days from my experience.

Given that I paid for my berths when our dollar was at 98 cents a refund, no matter how long it takes, could almost pay for the trip with our dollar bouncing among at 64cents!

Unless it was for the experience, I don't understand why you would take the CL/NEC route rather than the LSL out of Chicago! Overall you gain only an estimated 3 hours on arrival at NYP by using the CL route in addition to having to make an extra train connection. Personally I would have given up the extra 3 hours, saved the extra hassle of the extra train change and relax at Chicago and enjoyed the cheese and wine on the train while waiting!

 

[ralfp]

Personally I would have given up the extra 3 hours, saved the extra hassle of the extra train change and relax at Chicago and enjoyed the cheese and wine on the train while waiting!

Mmmmm, $1-2 worth of cheap cheese and wine.

 

[Konrad]

Personally I would have given up the extra 3 hours, saved the extra hassle of the extra train change and relax at Chicago and enjoyed the cheese and wine on the train while waiting!

Mmmmm, $1-2 worth of cheap cheese and wine.

A late departure and no dinner is enough to put me off trying the LSL. And the reports regarding what food is served are enough to completely discourage me.

 

[Chatter163]

I have been bumped out of a sleeper into coach due to Amtrak problems, and the credit for the sleeper fare was given immediately, and showed up on my credit card within days. Amtrak keeps the rail fare, but immediately returns a sleeper fare. Late trains are one thing (no refund there), but being displaced from sleeper to coach is an entirely different matter.

 

[AlanB]

Personally I would have given up the extra 3 hours, saved the extra hassle of the extra train change and relax at Chicago and enjoyed the cheese and wine on the train while waiting!

Mmmmm, $1-2 worth of cheap cheese and wine.

Trust me, I drink more than a bucks worth of wine!

That said, I agree that it's still not quite worth the fare charged. One can often get a sleeper on the Capitol for far less than the LSL and get a full dinner, breakfast, and lunch for that lower price. On the LSL, it's wine & cheese, breakfast, and lunch only.

 

[Tony]

Trust me, I drink more than a bucks worth of wine!

Gosh, that would mean you need to drink over 2 gallons of their stuff.

 

[sky12065]

Personally I would have given up the extra 3 hours, saved the extra hassle of the extra train change and relax at Chicago and enjoyed the cheese and wine on the train while waiting!

Mmmmm, $1-2 worth of cheap cheese and wine.

Trust me, I drink more than a bucks worth of wine!

That said, I agree that it's still not quite worth the fare charged. One can often get a sleeper on the Capitol for far less than the LSL and get a full dinner, breakfast, and lunch for that lower price. On the LSL, it's wine & cheese, breakfast, and lunch only.

Not disputing your statement regarding fares, I did checked out a price for CHI to NYP for both routes by randomly picking March 7 as a travel date. On the LSL I got a single fare of $244 total and for the Capitol & Acela Express route I got $438 total.

As for the cheese and wine, I'd have to plea no contest! I don't have wine and cheese very often even though I'm 100% Italian, so I'm no connoisseur. However I did enjoy the wine and cheese that Mike our SA brought to us while we were awaiting departure. BTW, I have mentioned some posts back in another topic that Mike was the SA that recognized us from a previous trip 10 years ago!

With the limitations of my perspective I would still chose the LSL route even though I've been on it to ALB about 10 times and have never been on the Capitol!

 

[AlanB]

Trust me, I drink more than a bucks worth of wine!

Gosh, that would mean you need to drink over 2 gallons of their stuff.

Hardly. The last time I rode the Chardonnay that I had normally retails for around $14.99 a bottle, from a discounter maybe you'd get it down to $9.99. And I had at least 3/4ths of a 750 ML bottle.

On one trip about a year ago, after having two glasses during the actual tasting, as they were closing up shop I asked the very nice attendant for one more glass. Instead he gave me a bottle that was still half full at least. I couldn't finish the bottle off that night, but it went the following night at home.

 

[AlanB]

That said, I agree that it's still not quite worth the fare charged. One can often get a sleeper on the Capitol for far less than the LSL and get a full dinner, breakfast, and lunch for that lower price. On the LSL, it's wine & cheese, breakfast, and lunch only.

Not disputing your statement regarding fares, I did checked out a price for CHI to NYP for both routes by randomly picking March 7 as a travel date. On the LSL I got a single fare of $244 total and for the Capitol & Acela Express route I got $438 total.

Well if you booked an Acela, no wonder. Amtrak offers no discounts for connecting to an Acela. Allow the system to book you automatically onto a regional and I'll bet you'll get much closer and perhaps (depending on pax loads) even come in lower than the LSL.

Although I will admit that's a very good price for the LSL in a roomette.

 

[sky12065]

That said, I agree that it's still not quite worth the fare charged. One can often get a sleeper on the Capitol for far less than the LSL and get a full dinner, breakfast, and lunch for that lower price. On the LSL, it's wine & cheese, breakfast, and lunch only.

Not disputing your statement regarding fares, I did checked out a price for CHI to NYP for both routes by randomly picking March 7 as a travel date. On the LSL I got a single fare of $244 total and for the Capitol & Acela Express route I got $438 total.

Well if you booked an Acela, no wonder. Amtrak offers no discounts for connecting to an Acela. Allow the system to book you automatically onto a regional and I'll bet you'll get much closer and perhaps (depending on pax loads) even come in lower than the LSL.

Although I will admit that's a very good price for the LSL in a roomette.

Your right! I ran it as you suggested and I saved $15 by going the Capitol route! If it were me, I'd still take the LSL, have my wine and cheese and be able to stay in my room for the whole trip instead of making the additional train change in Washington and finishing the trip in coach as well as having to claim my baggage and carry it on the regional. It would be well worth the extra $15 to me!

As a side note I ran the LSL again and the price went up by $28 since earlier today! That would have made a total difference of $43 more, but even that wouldn't have changed my mind!