Urgent Advice, Please

[GAT]

You may have read my thread about my friend in his eighties taking the CZ and CL to Charlotsville, VA. It was almost five hours late leaving EMY on Monday and is now expected into CHI at midnight tonight. He has missed his connection to the CL and has been informed that everything for the next few days has been sold out. I guess it's the conductor who informed him, because the train isn't into CHI yet.

He texted he's thinking of renting a car to complete the trip. I've advised him to be sure he gets reimbursed by Amtrak and IMO that means CHI hotel tonight and AT LEAST reimbursement for the remainder of his trip (the CL portion, including bedroom).

He really prefers not to fly if at all possible, so he would not like to have to accept an Amtrak offer of a plane ticket.

Can anyone help with advice:

1) As to what he should be asking for from Amtrak?

2) How much negotiating leverage does he have?

3) Also, does he have to settle for whatever Amtrak at Chicago offers, or can he follow up further after he gets home?

I'd like to get back to him later tonight or tomorrow morning if possible.

Many thanks!

 

[AlanB]

George,

I see at least 1 room left on the Lake Shore for tomorrow. I would suggest having him trying to call and make an unpaid reservation for that room. Then when he gets to Chicago, he can have customer service convert that room over as his on the current reservation. They can then route him to DC on a Regional.

If he gets the right agent on the phone, they may even be able to handle things right up front for him taking out of CS's hand in Chicago. Of course he still needs to go to CS to get hotel vouchers, cab & food vouchers.

 

[AlanB]

Now that said, I doubt that Amtrak will offer him a plane ticket. I'd expect that they'll work out something else somehow, maybe even adding an extra coach if they've got a lot of people missing their connections.

He doesn't have to accept an offer of a plane ticket, but refusing it would also release to some extent Amtrak's obligation to get him to his destination. If he does that, then he should expect a refund for that portion of his trip, since Amtrak didn't provide it. I'm not sure if that however would also allow Amtrak to refuse him a hotel room.

 

[Bob Dylan]

:hi: Alan has a some Good advice but I'll also add that he's Not the Only One Missing his Connection in CHI so Usually Amtrak has a Plan for situations like this! Theyll probabably have $$ for Cabs/Hotel Rez and eating $$ for the Pax that Miss Guaranteed Connections in CHI!

Once he gets Home he can Also Call Customer Reltations and see about Compensation in the Form of any Rebated Due/ perhaps a Voucher for Future travel for his Trouble etc. :help: Ive always ffound the People in CHI very Good at this, they/ve had LOTS of Experience in this Area! :excl: :excl: Keep us Posted, Good Luck to your Friend!

 

[GAT]

Thanks, Alan and Jim. I've relayed your advice to my friend. It is much appreciated. I'll let you know how it works out.

 

[Michael061282]

:hi: Alan has a some Good advice but I'll also add that he's Not the Only One Missing his Connection in CHI so Usually Amtrak has a Plan for situations like this! Theyll probabably have $$ for Cabs/Hotel Rez and eating $$ for the Pax that Miss Guaranteed Connections in CHI!

Once he gets Home he can Also Call Customer Reltations and see about Compensation in the Form of any Rebated Due/ perhaps a Voucher for Future travel for his Trouble etc. :help: Ive always ffound the People in CHI very Good at this, they/ve had LOTS of Experience in this Area! :excl: :excl: Keep us Posted, Good Luck to your Friend!

I've been on a couple of trains from the west coast that missed connections in Chicago. Amtrak will usually put a couple of customer Service supervisors on the train in Galesburg to help with necessary changes and to hand out vouchers for a night in a hotel plus a free cab ride, actually the last time this happened to me, 2008, Amtrak had a bus waiting outside of Union Station just to ferry passengers to the hotel, which was some ways outside of Chicago itself. But yeah, if he has a phone I'd call and TALK TO A HUMAN and see if he could switch to the LSL then something out the next morning to CVS, although he'll probably have to spring for a hotel in NYC himself.

 

[GAT]

Great point. I've relayed this info also. Right now, they're an hour out of Galesburg. Thanks to everybody.

 

[amamba]

I still see roomettes and bedrooms available for the Cap on both Friday & Saturday, too.

 

[GAT]

This perhaps should be on trip reports, but I thought I'd update you on my friend's trip to Charlottesville that could have been wiped out by the CZ's delay into Chicago yesterday.

The best way to tell it is through his text messades to me (John is his travelling companion):

(Galesville) John's first experience on Amtrak has not been all that he had hoped for.

 

(Chicago) George, life with Amtrak is not easy. But we have been treated well and fairly and arrived Chicago 4:04 AM. The line was long, but the CHI station was well staffed, efficient, and friendly. They rerouted us to Charlottesville on the Cardinal leaving just a couple of hours from now. We have a deluxe bedroom. We arrive Charlottesville tomorrow midafternoon. We were assigned a hotel in Chicago, which was very comfortable. Amtrak told us that we will be nothing out of pocket for these delays.

 

(Chicago) We pulled out of Union Station Chicago precisely at 5:45. Accommodations are very nice. We are scheduled to arrive Charlottesville tomorrow at 2:47. We have a very pleasant crew and a very nice SCA. John says to tell you he's happy again. Having had a good few hours sleep this afternoon really helped.

Thanks to everyone for your help. It seems that Amtrak really came through for them. (I should be so lucky to get a Deluxe Bedroom on the Cardinal some day!)

 

[AlanB]

George,

Glad to hear that it all worked out. Amtrak usually is pretty good in cases like this. Yes, occasionally they get it wrong or screw something up. And there are still times that some will complain no matter what Amtrak does for them. But again, generally Amtrak handles these delay issues pretty well.