Update on a less-than-stellar trip

[micmac99]

This is a follow up to my posts around the Fourth of July period talking about my trip to the Austin area on the Texas Eagle.

Hello all: I am on the trip I asked questions about in earlier posts.
Left Tucson for San Antonio early Monday AM. Had a ticket for a lower reserved seat. Was told by attendant on train's arrival and boarding in Tucson that the thru car was sold out and was placed in a window seat in a Sunset Limited car. Hour's delay coming into El Paso. Breakfast was traditional dining car food and setup, yuk! Powdered eggs, soupy grits and cold biscuit at 6am. All other meals from lower level lounge cafe. Cars were older Superliners, definitely showing their age, and had no outlets at the seats. Train was full with pretty much all seats occupied.

Later learned that the Texas Eagle car was pretty much filled up coming out of Los Angeles. Notice I referred to "car" in the singular. They should have had at least 2 or 3 coach cars for TE passengers.

San Antonio: arrived about 12:30am local time, a little over 2 hrs late: tried to scramble to get a hotel room but there is a major conference in town this week and almost all hotel rooms sold out. As a result, had to stay in that cramped San Antonio terminal all night long until the main TE arrived and boarded around 7am. Not fun whatsoever, but about 10-15 others were there with me. Kind of hard to sleep in waiting room seats with Carson Daly and Conan O'Brien blaring from the widescreen TV in the lobby. I got my lower reserved seat all of two hours and three stops until de-training in Taylor, TX (one stop north of Austin).

The severity of my letter of complaint will depend on the return trip to Tucson next week. I will keep you posted.

Today, almost two months after my trip, Amtrak Customer Relations left a message on my VM to call them and left a case number: this was in response to a letter of complaint I sent on July 15th or so...

Reservation xxxx Ticket No: xxxxxxxxxxxxx Amtrak Customer Service
Hello: I am writing to comment on my Amtrak trip from Tucson, Arizona to Taylor, Texas as part of my Fourth of July vacation. The first leg of my trip started June 30th and is the primary portion I need to discuss with you.

I left Tucson for San Antonio early Monday June 30. I had a ticket for a lower reserved seat. I was told by the attendant on train's arrival and boarding in Tucson that the through car for Texas Eagle passengers originating west of San Antonio was sold out, and I was placed in a window seat in one of the Sunset Limited car and told I needed to deboard in San Antonio. I later learned that the through car was pretty much at capacity coming out of its originating city of Los Angeles.

I arrived in San Antonio about 12:30am local time July 1, a little over 2 hrs late: I tried to scramble to get a hotel room in the downtown San Antonio area, but as there was a major conference in town that week, almost all hotel rooms within walking distance of the station were sold out. As a result, I had to stay in a quite crowded and cramped San Antonio terminal all night long until the main Texas Eagle consist arrived; I was able to board the train around 7am.

I was able to have my paid-for and ticketed lower reserved seat all of two hours and three stops until de-training in Taylor, TX (one stop north of Austin), and this was even after the conductor questioned my presence there, initially saying the lower reserved section was reserved exclusively for disabled passengers. The conductor was assured I belonged in that seat upon my showing him my ticket and telling him I originated in Tucson, after which he seemed to understand my predicament.

I do need to stress that although I was provided a seat for my entire trip to Taylor, I did upgrade from a standard coach seat on the Amtrak website to a lower level seat when I originally purchased the ticket on the Amtrak website in March. However, there were no lower level seats on the designated Texas Eagle through car for me, or ANY seats on that car for that matter, when I boarded in Tucson on June 30.

I am bringing this matter up to stress that in my opinion, Amtrak failed to accommodate me and several other Texas Eagle passengers originating in California and Arizona by not having adequate seating capacity on a dedicated Texas Eagle car so they could begin their journey as paid for and ticketed, making for a highly inconvenient and uncomfortable overnight layover in a San Antonio station which was less than adequate for the task.

Had I known in advance that a seat in the through car would not be available, I would have made hotel reservations for the night of the 30th for San Antonio and would have had a better chance of securing a room despite a major convention being in town. I understand that there were challenges related to the Fourth of July holiday travel period, as well as increased demand for rail travel in general in the wake of reduced demand for automobile and air travel. Amtrak, in my opinion, still could have found extra equipment to meet the increased demand and should have done so.

Thank you for your attention to my concerns.

So I call and a woman named Elaine offered to take $50 off my next Amtrak ticket. She said to call Customer Relations with my case number to book. Mailing a voucher is not practical as I live in Phoenix and would need to take the voucher to a station location. Phoenix has not been served directly, as most of you know, for about 7-10 years now.

So finally, my saga of the Texas Eagle 4th of July trip ends...

Moderator deletion of reservation/ticket numbers