When is One Notified That a Sleeper is Bad-Ordered?

[DivMiler]

If a sleeper is taken out for mechanical problems, and it is known before leaving the originating station, is there a typical time for Amtrak to notify affected passengers? I read this article on the March 2011 "Member Amtrak Trips" forum -- the poster noted that he was notified the night before his trip (about 24 hours before departure).

In my case, I will be traveling this week on the Silver Meteor out of Philadelphia, after connecting from the Pennsylvanian. I leave on the Pennsylvanian before the Meteor leaves New York. If I don't hear anything from Amtrak within a few hours of departure, should I feel pretty safe?

I know anything can happen, but does Amtrak do a fairly thorough check of the systems (e.g. toilets, heat, electricity) on the cars several hours before they leave on a journey?

 

[the_traveler]

Yes they do, and I would also make sure that your cell phone number is associated with your reservation. That way, Amtrak could contact you enroute.

 

[darien-l]

I don't know if my experiences are typical or not, but both times my sleeper was bad-ordered, I got zero advance notification:

1) As I was getting on the train, I was told that the air conditioner in my sleeper car had broken enroute, temperatures climbed to unsafe levels, and passengers in the affected car were downgraded to coach.

2) As I was getting on the train at its point of origin, I was told that my sleeper was bad-ordered due to plumbing problems and I was downgraded to coach. When I inquired why I hadn't received advance notification, I was told that they expected to fix the plumbing problems but didn't have time to do so because the train arrived very late at its terminus and had to be turned around very quickly.

 

[AlanB]

It all comes down to when is the problem detected. If they don't see the problem until the last minute, then there is no time to warn anyone boarding at the originating station or even one of the first few stops. And cars are indeed sometimes pulled at the very last minute.

Two years ago I was coming back on the EB from Seattle holding a reservation for a roomette in the Boston sleeper of the Lake Shore to Albany and a coach ticket from Albany to NY. Shortly after leaving Milwaukee, my mom and I decided that we were going to try to upgrade to the only remaining Bedroom available in a NY sleeper. We were going to do that both for the space and so that we didn't have to change in Albany.

Upon arrival into Chicago we went right to the ticket counter to try and affect that change. That agent couldn't get that Bedroom anymore. When we got to the Metro lounge we found out that that NY sleeper had been bad ordered within the last hour, which is why the Bedroom got blanked. Thankfully we didn't get that upgrade or we'd have been traveling in coach on that trip.

The train actually left about an hour late so that they could switch out the sleeper and add an extra coach for those sleeper passengers.

 

[rrdude]

It all comes down to when is the problem detected. If they don't see the problem until the last minute, then there is no time to warn anyone boarding at the originating station or even one of the first few stops. And cars are indeed sometimes pulled at the very last minute.

Two years ago I was coming back on the EB from Seattle holding a reservation for a roomette in the Boston sleeper of the Lake Shore to Albany and a coach ticket from Albany to NY. Shortly after leaving Milwaukee, my mom and I decided that we were going to try to upgrade to the only remaining Bedroom available in a NY sleeper. We were going to do that both for the space and so that we didn't have to change in Albany.

Upon arrival into Chicago we went right to the ticket counter to try and affect that change. That agent couldn't get that Bedroom anymore. When we got to the Metro lounge we found out that that NY sleeper had been bad ordered within the last hour, which is why the Bedroom got blanked. Thankfully we didn't get that upgrade or we'd have been traveling in coach on that trip.

The train actually left about an hour late so that they could switch out the sleeper and add an extra coach for those sleeper passengers.

Hey Alan, if that happens, does the traveler have the right to refuse the downgrade, and get a 100% refund, even if the tix have been printed?

 

[darien-l]

Hey Alan, if that happens, does the traveler have the right to refuse the downgrade, and get a 100% refund, even if the tix have been printed?

My experiences: Both times I was downgraded, I was told by the conductor that I was eligible a full refund of the accomodation charge. (And since railfare is refundable before departure, I suppose I could have gone back inside the station and gotten a full refund, maybe minus the service charge.) I opted to call Amtrak Customer Service instead, and both times was issued a voucher for more than the cost of railfare and sleeper accomodation combined.

 

[AlanB]

It all comes down to when is the problem detected. If they don't see the problem until the last minute, then there is no time to warn anyone boarding at the originating station or even one of the first few stops. And cars are indeed sometimes pulled at the very last minute.

Two years ago I was coming back on the EB from Seattle holding a reservation for a roomette in the Boston sleeper of the Lake Shore to Albany and a coach ticket from Albany to NY. Shortly after leaving Milwaukee, my mom and I decided that we were going to try to upgrade to the only remaining Bedroom available in a NY sleeper. We were going to do that both for the space and so that we didn't have to change in Albany.

Upon arrival into Chicago we went right to the ticket counter to try and affect that change. That agent couldn't get that Bedroom anymore. When we got to the Metro lounge we found out that that NY sleeper had been bad ordered within the last hour, which is why the Bedroom got blanked. Thankfully we didn't get that upgrade or we'd have been traveling in coach on that trip.

The train actually left about an hour late so that they could switch out the sleeper and add an extra coach for those sleeper passengers.

Hey Alan, if that happens, does the traveler have the right to refuse the downgrade, and get a 100% refund, even if the tix have been printed?

Yes.

 

[D.P. Roberts]

It all comes down to when is the problem detected. If they don't see the problem until the last minute, then there is no time to warn anyone boarding at the originating station or even one of the first few stops. And cars are indeed sometimes pulled at the very last minute.

Two years ago I was coming back on the EB from Seattle holding a reservation for a roomette in the Boston sleeper of the Lake Shore to Albany and a coach ticket from Albany to NY. Shortly after leaving Milwaukee, my mom and I decided that we were going to try to upgrade to the only remaining Bedroom available in a NY sleeper. We were going to do that both for the space and so that we didn't have to change in Albany.

Upon arrival into Chicago we went right to the ticket counter to try and affect that change. That agent couldn't get that Bedroom anymore. When we got to the Metro lounge we found out that that NY sleeper had been bad ordered within the last hour, which is why the Bedroom got blanked. Thankfully we didn't get that upgrade or we'd have been traveling in coach on that trip.

The train actually left about an hour late so that they could switch out the sleeper and add an extra coach for those sleeper passengers.

What would happen if this situation were reversed - if there were a handful of rooms open on another sleeper when yours gets bad ordered? Is it like the airlines, where the first person at the ticket counter (or the person with the fastest Uber-phone) gets the available seats? And do the available accommodations make a difference (i.e. the people who were booked into bedrooms on the bad-ordered car get the first crack at any available bedrooms in other cars), or what?

 

[Tumbleweed]

It can even happen enroute....we were on the SM in February and they set out a sleeper that had a flat wheel. I think they distributed the occupants between the rest of the sleepers and coach....

 

[Rail Freak]

Yes they do, and I would also make sure that your cell phone number is associated with your reservation. That way, Amtrak could contact you enroute.

I have to 2nd that! On my EB eastbound trip into CHI, when I realized I was going to miss my CL connection to WAS, I was disconnected on my call to AGR. As I was on hold on my redial, they called me on my cell phone!!! I didnt remember if I'd given them my cell #. Got me a Sleeper all the way to Florida on President's Day weekend, a very busy time!!!!

RF

 

[AlanB]

It all comes down to when is the problem detected. If they don't see the problem until the last minute, then there is no time to warn anyone boarding at the originating station or even one of the first few stops. And cars are indeed sometimes pulled at the very last minute.

Two years ago I was coming back on the EB from Seattle holding a reservation for a roomette in the Boston sleeper of the Lake Shore to Albany and a coach ticket from Albany to NY. Shortly after leaving Milwaukee, my mom and I decided that we were going to try to upgrade to the only remaining Bedroom available in a NY sleeper. We were going to do that both for the space and so that we didn't have to change in Albany.

Upon arrival into Chicago we went right to the ticket counter to try and affect that change. That agent couldn't get that Bedroom anymore. When we got to the Metro lounge we found out that that NY sleeper had been bad ordered within the last hour, which is why the Bedroom got blanked. Thankfully we didn't get that upgrade or we'd have been traveling in coach on that trip.

The train actually left about an hour late so that they could switch out the sleeper and add an extra coach for those sleeper passengers.

What would happen if this situation were reversed - if there were a handful of rooms open on another sleeper when yours gets bad ordered? Is it like the airlines, where the first person at the ticket counter (or the person with the fastest Uber-phone) gets the available seats? And do the available accommodations make a difference (i.e. the people who were booked into bedrooms on the bad-ordered car get the first crack at any available bedrooms in other cars), or what?

To my knowledge, here's what I believe happens:

First, as soon as they realize that they have a problem that will almost certainly result in blanking the sleeper, if there are any rooms still unsold in the remaining cars they are immediately taken out the sales inventory in ARROW so as to prevent anyone from booking a room at the last minute. This is why that bedroom that I saw still up for sale on the approach to Chicago went from available to sold out.

Then Amtrak starts filling those empty rooms with those displaced from the blanked sleeper based upon room type and date of booking. Yet one more reason to book your trip as early as you possibly can. I'm not sure if those holding a reservation for a bedroom are given the choice of a roomette first, before those holding roomette reservations, assuming that no bedrooms are available. Or if they only deal with things based upon like accomodations first.

 

[Eric S]

In my (very recent) experience, I received a phone call (voicemail message) and an email from Amtrak on Friday and was scheduled to leave on Sunday. The Boston sleeping car of the Lake Shore Limited was bad-ordered, so I was switched into a roomette on one of the New York sleepers and switched to a coach seat at Albany. (I guess I should clarify that I was traveling CHI-BOS.)

 

[fillyjonk]

Not really a "bad order," but I was on a sleeper that was involved in a (very minor, thank God) derailment a couple Januaries ago in an ice storm in St. Louis.

It was kind of chaotic figuring out what to do because it was the middle of the night, we were (mostly) half-asleep (I had JUST fallen asleep when they knocked on my door and told me I had to leave). We sat in the lounge car for a very long time. They tried to get us rooms on the other sleeper but none were left. So, the first thing that happened, the conductor thought he had permission to leave an empty coach on, and we could all go in there and have the coach to ourselves (the 15 or so people who had been in the sleeper). Probably the best solution at the time. I think I got about an hour of sleep there stretched out between two seats.

BUT - before Amtrak got going again (this all happened at St. Louis), they decided they had to remove that car. So the conductor came back again and routed us out of the empty coach and told us to "go find a seat in one of the other coaches." We had had SOME assistance with luggage and such the first go-round, the second time we had to move everything ourselves - and in a hurry. The train was nearly full so it was no picnic trying to find a seat.

I only got a seat because a woman traveling with small children saw me standing, bewildered, in the aisle, wondering if I could just sit on the floor, and she moved her child out of the seat she was occupying (she had moved the child from the seat next to her to have more room). But it was frustrating how little help Amtrak gave us in finding seats at that point - it was like 1 am and I was very leery of waking up some stranger to ask if they would sit up so I could have the seat next to them. (Also, that night in coach reminded me why I pay the cost of the sleeper! There was an exceptionally loud snorer a few seats over and even earplugs didn't block the sound out). We were some 9 hours late getting to Mineola (my destination). I wound up renting a hotel room for the night as I was way too tired to drive the 2 hours safely to get home.

In retrospect, I think they should have offered for us to stay in the lounge car - it was one of those big Viewliner type lounges. But no one suggested that and I didn't want to settle in again just to be told to move a third time.

It was a giant effort (involving several calls to customer service) but I did get a refund of the sleeper car cost of the trip, and a $75 voucher.

I also weathered a "bustitution" caused by flooding in and around St Louis - Little Rock several years ago. That was an even bigger nightmare - 18 hours on what amounted to a city bus, with loud movies being played all night long.

I really hope that's the extent of my "unexpected" adventures with Amtrak.