How likely the train can be late? Have a airplane to catch

[Wade]

I just found out that the 4 southwest chief train is often late. I have an airplane to catch around 11 o'clock in the evening at Chicago O'Hare airport. The train is scheduled to arrive at 3:30pm. But just learned it could be late for over 5 hours. And today it is late nearly three hours. I am very concerned about it. What if the train is late arriving, and I missed my plane? Will I be compensated?

 

[Triley]

Just remember that the train has been on the road for over 43 hours by the time it arrives in to Chicago, so anything is possible. Summers are rough for west coast trains due to wild fires, and of course track work. Severe weather can also effect operations.

You will not be compensated if you miss your fight, Amtrak does not guarantee connections to flights (except certain connections to United in the northeast. So I would make sure you have a backup plan in case the train is abnormally late. Or check and see if any of your credit cards offer travel insurance, and if they would cover the connection if you make both purchases on the card.

 

[Guest]

Ok, thanks for your reply. If the train is late, and I chose not to take the train, will I be fully refunded?

 

[Triley]

That's correct, yup! There are refund policies in place for trains that are over certain amounts of time late.

 

[Triley]

"The above restrictions and fees will not apply to refunds requested by passengers who chose not to travel due to a long distance train being two or more hours late or a corridor train being one or more hours late at the departure station."

So you will only be able to cancel any booking on a long distance train, regardless of the booking's cancellation rules, if the train is estimated to departure your station more than 2 hours late.

 

[Guest]

Many thanks!

 

[ehbowen]

You should have some warning; it's highly unlikely that the train will be on-time to Fort Madison and then lose five hours between the Mississippi River and Chicago. If you're running substantially late by Kansas City, consider bailing out there and catching a flight to Chicago.

 

[me_little_me]

Whether it be a train or plane, unless I had a guaranteed connection between the connecting transportation, I would not trust anything but an overnight stay. So if you used airline 1 to Chicago and Airline 2 to your destination and they did not have a joint service agreement of some sort that, if your plane was late, the second flight airline would get you on another plane if you missed it the connection, I'd consider it real chancy.

 

[dogbert617]

I was typing train 4 and Chicago Union Station(using station code chi) into this website, and oddly the results weren't coming up. Here's the average of train delays for the next stop west(Naperville), that I could find. Looks like you should brace for potentially something like 11/2 to 2 hours late into Chicago for the SWC's arrival into Chicago, if not potentially more(amtrak.com reported that one day within the last 5 days for SWC, was 4 hours late):

https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/historychart.php?train_num=4&station=npv&date_start=07%2F22%2F2016&date_end=08%2F21%2F2016&sort=d_dp&chartsize=2&smooth=0

 

[acelafan]

I was typing train 4 and Chicago Union Station(using station code chi) into this website, and oddly the results weren't coming up. Here's the average of train delays for the next stop west(Naperville), that I could find. Looks like you should brace for potentially something like 11/2 to 2 hours late into Chicago for the SWC's arrival into Chicago, if not potentially more(amtrak.com reported that one day within the last 5 days for SWC, was 4 hours late):

https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/archive/html/historychart.php?train_num=4&station=npv&date_start=07%2F22%2F2016&date_end=08%2F21%2F2016&sort=d_dp&chartsize=2&smooth=0

You might not have clicked "AR" for arrival delays. Here you go.

 

[Palmetto]

You should have some warning; it's highly unlikely that the train will be on-time to Fort Madison and then lose five hours between the Mississippi River and Chicago. If you're running substantially late by Kansas City, consider bailing out there and catching a flight to Chicago.

That's a possibility, if one is "made of money." I just checked out of curiosity, and a ticket like that today would set a person back an extra $250.00 or so.

 

[ehbowen]

You are correct; last minute flights are not cheap. If the alternative, though, is missing a nonrefundable international flight... well, let's just say it's an argument in favor of placing an extra day in the schedule.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Even though I've had amazing luck with Amtak schedule keeping over the years I would NEVER intentionally schedule a same day connection to an airline or similarly time sensitive event.

 

[jis]

I have never connected from a train to a plane in the US. In India I have done so many times with a 14 hour connection (12301 Rajdhani Express from Kolkata (Howrah-HWH) to New Delhi (NDLS) and then UA 83 from DEL to EWR). Most times I have most of the 14 hours to goof off doing something else. One time the connection became a 4 hour connection due to massive delay to trains caused by dense fog in the Gangetic Plains. That is about the closest I have come to missing a connection. It involved hightailing it from New Delhi station to Indira Gandhi International Airport in a taxi and getting there just as check in was opening three ours ahead of departure. The inbound was just arriving ahead of schedule as I was getting on the check-in queue.

In the US, given the relative ease of bailing on the way and catching a flight if something untoward happens, I'd probably feel quite comfortable with a 12 hour connection from a train to a plane. In Chicago that would practically mean an overnight stay since nothing arrives there from the west before mid afternoon.

Just as a hypothetical example, I would be comfortable with arriving by the Silver Meteor into Washington DC, or Philly or New York (in the morning) and catching an international flight out of IAD, BWI, PHL, EWR or JFK in the evening. But I would not feel comfortable planning to do so through EWR or JFK with say the Crescent which arrives in the mid afternoon, or anything scheduled to arrive later than that. Still IAD or BWI may be feasible with the Crescent for a evening departure.

 

[Seaboard92]

I feel comfortable personally making the New York connections in one day with the Silver Meteor depending on when the flight is. If I want the A380 on LH I can't make that connection. But a later LH flight or a Norwegian flight I would do it any time.