The Empire Builder has been running quite late both east and west for almost a week now. Some portions have even cancelled. How long might this continue? Why is it happening? What are the chances of an on-time (or at least not 7 hours late) trip on Friday, Feb. 11?
Yesterday I was due to make a trip TAC-SEA-MKE hoping to enjoy the winter scenery. Instead the trip turned into SN-A-FU.
A day before leaving a friend told me the EB 8 was ten hours late. Before setting out on a long drive to Tacoma, I called Amtrak to confirm
the train was running, let alone on time as I only had a 8-hour pad in MKE for another mode of transportation. No problem....#8 leaves Seattle at the regular time of 4:45 p.m..
After making the long drive to TAC, I learned #8 would leave SEA 3 hours late departing. No problem.
After boarding the (45-minute late) Talgo to SEA, another annoucement: #8 pax would be bussed to Spokane, then bussed to Whitefish, MT! By the time we arrived in Seattle it was near time for the busses to depart. They hustled me to a counter agent who couldn't guarantee the busses would even make it over the pass, let alone tell me when #8 would depart from Whitefish if they made it.
They held the bus up while trying to weigh my options. Trying to be nice the agent suggested I call Custormer Service for options. While stood there at the counter on terminal hold waiting to even get an rep to transfer me - once done then I'm told they only handle 'complaints', not 'options' yada, yada. I gave my cell phone to the agent to speak with them (which at first he wouldn't do) resulting in an exhange of 'words' between the two. By the time I got it back on the CS person on the phone told me the ticket agent didn't know what he was talking about.
I canceled the trip. I asked for and received a refund on my TAC-SEA ticket that I just completed. The agent personally went and collected the ticket the Conductor turned in. I asked for and received free passage back to TAC where my car was parked. The agent escorted me to the head of the long line for the 5:30 Talgo to Eugene to give them the pass.
Too late to handle the logistics of flying to MKE today, I do so in the morning arriving MKE about the time #8 would have arrive there.