Why I will never ride Amtrak

[Katie]

:angry:

I will never travel with Amtrak agian. My first trip, as I was traveling on your train and going from Denver CO. to East Lansing MI. My train was 5 hours off schedule, not only did I miss my connecting train from Chicago to Lansing because our train crew decided to stop on the tracks for 45 mintues at a time, with no explination and were exstremly rude when anyone asked them for an estimate for arrival, but when I arrived in Chicago, they told the 25 passangers that were straneded if we wanted a hotel we had to walk ten blocks to the hotel Amtrak was willing to pay for at 1:30 AM in downtown Chicago. Finally after an hour of waiting in the lobby they offered us bus, and refused to take anyone to East Lansing, but now we needed to be picked up in Detriot. Then they told us that ever station would be open at the time of arrival, and with every stop we found that we were stranded in -45 degree weather in the slums of the city. My 18 year-old boyfriend and myself at the age of 17, were stuck in the downton, crime ridden part of Detriot MI for 45 mintues until we could receive a ride home to Saginaw. The Amtrak bus driver admitted several times that he needed directions from us because he didn't recieve a map or directions from anyone at Amtrak and had no way of communication. We finaly got home 6 hours after the estimated time, in a differnt city. We recieved $350 in credit for our next trip. I gave $109 of this credit to a friend, only to have his trip from Denver to East Lansing just as awful. I was told I must make the reservation over the phone so I could use my credit on Amtrak file. I was told by an Amtrak employee that he was reseved a ticket from Denver to East Lansing. When he went to pick up his tickets the night of his trip, they told him that he was never booked a connection train from Chicago to Lansing. When I called the "coustmer service" not only did no one have any anwsers but they refused to do anything about it even after the understanding the fact that my 17 year-old friend would arrive in Chicago at 4pm, get kicked out of the station at midnight when they closed and wait on the streets until 6am to try and possibly book another train. The women on "coustmer service" and informed me the day I made the reservations that he would arrive at 3am in East Lansing and gave me the train number, but she never booked a seat. I'm just informing anyone who is possibly intressted this is what happens and no one at Amtrak is willing to help or compensate me.

*I forgot that I had sent this to Amtrak and thats why it says stuff like "your train". I meant to edit all of that!

but yeah, not at all a good situation

P.S. My friend, is STILL stuck in chicago as we speak!

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Bad things happen, but hey, Amtrak was willing to pay for a hotel room. Airlines screw up the same way and don't bother to offer you any compensation at all. Amtrak is NOT at fault for the 45 minute delays. The crews did NOT "decide" to stop. The host railroad, Union Pacific primarily in your case, ordered them to stop, so as to benefit Union Pacific's freight trains. The crew does not want to be delayed. The faster they get to their crew change point, the sooner they get off from work. They get paid their eight hours for (usually) 6 hours of running, whether they complete it in 5 hours, or 8.

I would have taken the hotel room, the compensation, and been ok with it.

Lastly, they don't want to tell you when they will get in when they don't know. They don't know when or if UP is going to decide having Amtrak on its tracks is currently inconvenient and shove them off to a siding again. This particular aspect is simply not Amtrak's fault. Write to your congressmen and refer to UP as "satanic" a few times in the letter.

 

[Rail Freak]

Bad things happen, but hey, Amtrak was willing to pay for a hotel room. Airlines screw up the same way and don't bother to offer you any compensation at all. Amtrak is NOT at fault for the 45 minute delays. The crews did NOT "decide" to stop. The host railroad, Union Pacific primarily in your case, ordered them to stop, so as to benefit Union Pacific's freight trains. The crew does not want to be delayed. The faster they get to their crew change point, the sooner they get off from work. They get paid their eight hours for (usually) 6 hours of running, whether they complete it in 5 hours, or 8.
I would have taken the hotel room, the compensation, and been ok with it.

Lastly, they don't want to tell you when they will get in when they don't know. They don't know when or if UP is going to decide having Amtrak on its tracks is currently inconvenient and shove them off to a siding again. This particular aspect is simply not Amtrak's fault. Write to your congressmen and refer to UP as "satanic" a few times in the letter.

WOW!!!

That was good!!!!!! And, as a newbie, educational.

Thanx

 

[Katie]

Bad things happen, but hey, Amtrak was willing to pay for a hotel room. Airlines screw up the same way and don't bother to offer you any compensation at all. Amtrak is NOT at fault for the 45 minute delays. The crews did NOT "decide" to stop. The host railroad, Union Pacific primarily in your case, ordered them to stop, so as to benefit Union Pacific's freight trains. The crew does not want to be delayed. The faster they get to their crew change point, the sooner they get off from work. They get paid their eight hours for (usually) 6 hours of running, whether they complete it in 5 hours, or 8.
I would have taken the hotel room, the compensation, and been ok with it.

Lastly, they don't want to tell you when they will get in when they don't know. They don't know when or if UP is going to decide having Amtrak on its tracks is currently inconvenient and shove them off to a siding again. This particular aspect is simply not Amtrak's fault. Write to your congressmen and refer to UP as "satanic" a few times in the letter.

Well, I can agree with you on the fact they did not "want" to stop but had to. But an FYI is Amtrak, as a govermnet owned company, has been caught and reported in newspapers for standing on tracks to rack up thier pay. Also, the hotel vochers were only offerd to a select few, with no transportation to or from the hotel the next morning. Would you personally walk around Chigaco at 2:00AM? Also, if you were under the assumption that you were arriving at a safe place to stay and arrived in Detriot at around 5AM and stood out in the cold as the bus drove away (which by the way, we stopped on the side of the road so the driver could ask directions from a bum, and ended up letting him on the bus to give him a ride). Also there was a women I was chatting with on the bus that had reserved a personal car, and they gave it to her for two hours and kicked her out because they had sold it to someone else. She was left in the isle because no other seats were avalible. Also a women and her three children were left at a station for however long because we were all told by employees that they were open. They did not offer any rides to destinations that people had made, we chose between three stops, which there were over 6 that people had paid for and had to wait for their rides to pick them up an hour further away.

So, what you're trying to say is that you would (at the age of 17 mind you) walk ten blocks to a hotel in chicago, stay there with no money what-so-ever, wait for your train in the morning and walk back only to get more credit, to give to a friend who now has to stay on the streets for 6 hours?

I'm less then surpised this all comes from goverment employees. Sadly my congressmen couldn't care less because he still gets all of the tax money as well as revune to pay for this.

 

[the_traveler]

If you're real lucky, if you're at an airport and due to some reason, the airline may give you a hotel voucher. But even they will not provide transportation to the hotel. But it just happens that many hotels provide their own buses to the airport. Most hotels do not provide transportation to the train station! (I can only think of 2 or 3 in the whole country!)

Instead of walking, there are these things called taxi cabs. They happen to go from the train station to the hotel.

 

[Katie]

If you're real lucky, if you're at an airport and due to some reason, the airline may give you a hotel voucher. But even they will not provide transportation to the hotel. But it just happens that many hotels provide their own buses to the airport. Most hotels do not provide transportation to the train station! (I can only think of 2 or 3 in the whole country!)
Instead of walking, there are these things called taxi cabs. They happen to go from the train station to the hotel.

Oh gee-willikers thanks! taxi-cabs? huh never thought of that! well actully they had told my mom on the phone that they would provide hotel voucher, taxi and food, but believe it or not they didn't give it to us! gee thanks thought for the suggestion.

so I should probley call my friend in Chicago and tell him what a silly goose I am by leading him to believe he would get home today! Because he's not getting any voucher even though I have a reciept they mailed me saying he should arrive in east lansing tomorrow morning at 3am. Instead I should just tell him to muster up <i>more</i> money for this trip, and hey it's the weekend why not go all out? I'll just call and tell him your suggestion, but instead lets put on the ritz with a limo to a 5 star hotel and a steak dinner. But I bet you don't remember being 17 where you've only got a few bucks on ya and holy cow your friend gives you a free train trip. Amtrak did tell me that I could provide a credit card number to get him tranportation as well as a hotel wanna offer up yours?

And captin I-hate-the-airlines I have travel several times with planes and not only does the airport provide shelter all night long unlike your delightful trainstations but they have always gotten me home same day or the next without any hassle or rudenss.

A bit curious as to why the airports are more coustomer friendly? BECUASE IT'S NOT GOVERMENT OWNED! If I have a problem and tell them I'm switching my buiness they are more then happy to make up my trouble. Amtrak, just like your run of the mill goverment grunts do not care what happens because it's the only avaible company

 

[Rail Freak]

If you're real lucky, if you're at an airport and due to some reason, the airline may give you a hotel voucher. But even they will not provide transportation to the hotel. But it just happens that many hotels provide their own buses to the airport. Most hotels do not provide transportation to the train station! (I can only think of 2 or 3 in the whole country!)
Instead of walking, there are these things called taxi cabs. They happen to go from the train station to the hotel.

Oh gee-willikers thanks! taxi-cabs? huh never thought of that! well actully they had told my mom on the phone that they would provide hotel voucher, taxi and food, but believe it or not they didn't give it to us! gee thanks thought for the suggestion.

so I should probley call my friend in Chicago and tell him what a silly goose I am by leading him to believe he would get home today! Because he's not getting any voucher even though I have a reciept they mailed me saying he should arrive in east lansing tomorrow morning at 3am. Instead I should just tell him to muster up <i>more</i> money for this trip, and hey it's the weekend why not go all out? I'll just call and tell him your suggestion, but instead lets put on the ritz with a limo to a 5 star hotel and a steak dinner. But I bet you don't remember being 17 where you've only got a few bucks on ya and holy cow your friend gives you a free train trip. Amtrak did tell me that I could provide a credit card number to get him tranportation as well as a hotel wanna offer up yours?

And captin I-hate-the-airlines I have travel several times with planes and not only does the airport provide shelter all night long unlike your delightful trainstations but they have always gotten me home same day or the next without any hassle or rudenss.

A bit curious as to why the airports are more coustomer friendly? BECUASE IT'S NOT GOVERMENT OWNED! If I have a problem and tell them I'm switching my buiness they are more then happy to make up my trouble. Amtrak, just like your run of the mill goverment grunts do not care what happens because it's the only avaible company

Maybe a good " Chill or Time Out " is in order to get over it & go forward. ( JUST NOT BY RAIL!!!)

 

[NOT A BUM]

Hey,

I think it was me that gave your bus driver directions that night, and just wanted you to know that I am not a bum, I had been to a costume party.

Also, my nice house is near the station in Detroit, and I find it to be quite an upscale exclusive area. (I have 12 televisions) I am however thinking of moving home to Saginaw..

****in Ghengis 3rd.

 

[Kimo]

Sigh ... gripe, gripe, gripe. Last fall, my wife sat in a plane on the tarmac at O'Hare for six hours! Stuff happens. Still, this is a good example of a rookie Amtrak passenger just not knowing some of the basics. Like, for instance, not taking ANY connection for granted. I usually plan to stay overnight. One complaint is legit: Amtrak crews are notorious for not informing passengers about delays. Most of the passengers simply want to know the "why". If a conductor will just come on the PA and say "We're waiting for a freight and we expect the delay to be about 30 minutes," that will take care of the problem. I would also like to see conductors make a point of telling people that the delay is caused by UP or BNSF or CSX. Instead, if they DO make an announcement, they apologize, leaving the pax to ASSUME the delay is somehow Amtrak's fault.

 

[RailFanLNK]

Flip the calendar back to July '05. I sat at Lincoln NE airport for 4 hours waiting for my flight. Knowing I was going to miss my connecting flight in CHI to Toronto. The airline was telling me the delay was "weather", the Weather Channel was saying, "hottest and most dry summer on record". When my puddle jumper plane arrived, an off duty pilot was onboard. He told us, "its not weather related, we can't get into Chicago because the airspace is so jammed up". I was told on my flight that my Toronto flight had been delayed due to "weather" and that I would make my connecting flight. We landed in CHI and had to taxi for 45 minutes because there was no gate to de-plane at. I was one of 10 passengers let off "first" so I could RUN to my connecting flight to Toronto. When I arrived at the gate, the airline personel laughed and said, "it left 2 hours ago". I then was directed to Customer Service, (customer pimping) where I stood in line with 500 other stranded passengers. From 10pm-1am the rudest employees treated us like we were the "problem". At 1am I recieved a 50% off voucher for a hotel at the airport. I had to figure out where to find their shuttle bus. By the time I found the bus and entered the hotel it was 2am. Customer pimping gave me 50% off a hotel room that was $120. Thus I had to pay $60 for the room. Customer Pimping told me, "you are booked on the 6am flight to Toronto, its considered an International flight so be back here two hours before departure." I slept from 2am to 3:30am and then went back to O'Hare, there was a woman I had stood in line with for 3 hours just 3 hours earlier shaking her head, "the TSA's aren't here until 5:30am, so we can't even get close to our gate". So I was 1 1/2 hours early for no reason. When I finally arrived in Toronto, I could have taken Amtrak and Via Rail (Canada's Rail Company) and arrived 1 hour earlier than the flight I ended up getting on. I missed 1 whole day of a convention that is only once every five years.

On the way back home, (same airline) I was barked at because even though it was a ***** flight, it was operated by Air ***** and that I was in the wrong terminal. They then barked out the message on their PA like I was mentally challenged and 40 of us got out of line, grabbed our carryons and looked for Air *****, things looked great until Air ***** didn't have a plane for that flight. We were delayed 4 hours and then I was then let out "first" again at O'Hare to run for my flight going to LNK, when I ran to the puddle jumper concourse for my flight that was leaving in 5 minutes, I almost boarded a flight to Green Bay WI. The LNK flight had been delayed due to "weather". Sat and waited for the flight that the employees told me was departing in 5 minutes for 3 hours.

Katie, welcome to the wonderful world of the USA and thier messed up transportation system. You chose Amtrak and its underfunded. You can fly the friendly skies and have just as much trouble or more. Sitting in an airport being delayed is alot more uncomfortable than sitting in a train. It was this experience with the airlines that has made me switch to Amtrak. I have had a few problems on a few trips, but nothing NOTHING like this trip from hell in July 2005.

 

[transit54]

While I understand your frustration with what you went through, let me tell you about my day today. I work for an airline, and today I went into work for a 12-6 shift. On the second flight, we were put 2.5 hour ground delay into JFK as a result of high winds. Winds! At least your train had something physical blocking its path (other trains).

Now, there were nine people trying to get to Portland, OR. We fly one flight a day to Portland, OR, and because of the connection time, they weren't going to make it. So they decided to fly to New York tonight and fly to Portland at 7:20 PM tomorrow - more than 24 hours beyond their original flight. Do they get any compensation from us? A hotel, food, anything? Nope. Why? Because the delay was out of our control - it was set by the FAA/JFK ATC and thus there was nothing we could do but wait around and let us to go. No airline reimburses or compensates for anything outside of their control (if we did, we'd probably be out of business).

And I disagree that airlines provide better customer service than Amtrak. Perhaps some do (I'd argue my carrier is one of the better ones out there), but I work around a lot of other airline employees that just don't give a crap and are downright rude to people. So it depends what you get. I'm talking from the experience of flying 2-3 times a month, sometimes 10+ times a month, and having traveled thousands of miles by rail. There's a well known saying in the airline industry - in a customer's eyes, you're only as good as your last flight. And that's so true - you haven't had a horrible (and I mean horrible, not your run of the mill delays/cancelations) flying experience yet. You've only been on a train once - why should you assume that every train and every train crew are the same as you experienced that one time? If you had a bad airline experience, would you never fly again?

I'd urge you to try another Amtrak trip at some point, I really do. Because as someone who knows airlines from the inside out, I can tell you that there are a lot of times when I'd much rather be on a train. I have some real horror stories from flying around this country, and despite a few Amtrak mishaps (some late trains, and a bussing incident involving a derailment), nothing comes close to my worst airline experiences.

Lastly, where did you get the fact that Amtrak trains purposely sit on sidings, and that this is supposedly documented? As someone with an above-average familiarity with trains in this country, I can say I've never, ever heard something like that and really doubt the factual basis for such a claim.

I really urge you to try Amtrak out once more. I assure you that what you experienced isn't Amtrak's best.

 

[the_traveler]

And captin I-hate-the-airlines I have travel several times with planes and not only does the airport provide shelter all night long unlike your delightful trainstations but they have always gotten me home same day or the next without any hassle or rudenss.
A bit curious as to why the airports are more coustomer friendly? BECUASE IT'S NOT GOVERMENT OWNED! If I have a problem and tell them I'm switching my buiness they are more then happy to make up my trouble. Amtrak, just like your run of the mill goverment grunts do not care what happens because it's the only avaible company

Once, I flew from Providence to Detroit. The flight was normal - until we got to Detroit! We circled and circled - so much that we were running low on fuel. So we flew to Indianapolis to refuel. Then we sat on the runway there for a long time, before they let us go back to Detroit. Then we get back and again circled and circled. Then we finally landed, but sat on the tarmac until a gate opened up.

By the time I got off, it was over 8 hours from when I left Providence. (Normally it is a 2 hour flight!) And of course I missed my connecting flight.

The only way I could get home to Las Vegas (actually a 2 hour drive south) was to fly to Seattle and then take another flight to Las Vegas.

So should I say "I'm never going to fly again!"? :huh:

The airlines and airports may not be Government owned, but they are Government subsidized! NO? What do you call the Billions and Billions of $$$$ given to the airlines after 9/11? And do you think the airlines paid the full cost to build all the airports? And do you think the airlines pay the full cost of Air Traffic Control?

Without Government support, that $300 ticket (or what ever it cost) to fly from Denver to Detroit would probably cost $75,000.00! But I'm sure you would rather have that than a choice of a train to take.

And I never have, and may never will, fly into Denver International! So why do I have to pay for it (through my taxes)? :angry: Let's close it down!

_____________________________

I agree - it's time for a "time out" and cool down! If you don't want to ride on Amtrak, that's your right.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I don't know about the other people here, and why they take trains. I didn't start out as a rail fan. I started taking trains because my dad doesn't fly. Once I started taking the train, the plane became less and less pleasant. The limited room suffocated me. The social atmosphere annoyed me. The impersonality of EVERYTHING about flying and airports degraded me. The train is spacious, social, and very humanly personal. Until one nightmare flight that involved massive delays, people spilling things on me and then yelling at me for sitting in my assigned seat, and crap like that, I said to myself, never again.

And I haven't looked back. The only acceptable way to get from A to B when A and B are more than 500 miles apart is Amtrak train. Or a cargo freighter. (I did that a couple of times, too.) Yes, flying is faster. It will get you there a lot faster. I don't care. Flying is stressful, and life isn't long enough to be stressed out. Ok, so Amtrak can have some awful delays. So what? They'll put me up in a hotel, and I'll get there a day later. Big deal. I'll get there, relaxed, comfortable, and happy. And not stressed.

I don't care if I miss a guaranteed connection. I miss it, I miss it. Amtrak will take responsibility for it and solve my problem for me. They'll bus me to the train, or put me up in a hotel and put me on the next train. I get the opportunity to spend some extra time in a city I don't know on Amtrak's dime. Why not?

I'm not that much older than you; I'm 23. I wouldn't mind taking a cab to a hotel room by my self. Maybe you are too young to see my point of view on this, maybe not. If you want to race around, ok. Thats your prerogative. Maybe doing everything as quickly as possible matters to you. I want to enjoy as much of my life as I can, and I can't enjoy anything when I am stressed out.

Now I am a rail fan, yes. But that isn't how I started out, and isn't why I did it. I love the magic of riding a train, but that isn't why I use them as transportation. Its why I go on purely rail vacations, but not why I ride them for other purposes. Its a small community of people who have never met before, and will most likely never meet again, eating, sleeping, and living together for an amount of time as a group. I enjoy it.

Maybe you should cut Amtrak a little slack. As for employees leaving trains sitting just to rack up pay, It has probably happened a few times in the history of Amtrak. Crap like that happens places. But for the other 99.9999999999% of trains, it doesn't. Nobody tolerates a train sitting around blocking up their track. A crew does that, they are going to be summarily fired, if not executed. Perhaps you are confusing this with going "dead on the law", which is a matter of legality. Legally, a train crew can not operate a train for more than 12 hours. That means that 12 hours, 720 minutes, or 43,200 seconds after the crew has taken over operation of the train, they MUST legally stop the train and wait for a relief crew. If they don't both they and their employer get heavily fined.

 

[VentureForth]

Hi Katie,

I know you're young and impressionable and I really know that Chicago can be a scary place to be at night - especially for a young girl. I drove through South Chicago when I accidentally got off the Interstate to find a McDonald's. I couldn't wait to get back on the highway! As a lone Texas boy in his way-early twenties, it was spooky.

Thanks for writing your concerns. This stuff happens. I know it's too late now to 'prep' you on your first ride, but some of the common advise to new long distance train riders is to think very openly and always expect the unexpected. Hope for the best; plan for the worst.

I think that your complaint has merit - I'm glad you sent it to Amtrak. I don't think you'll get much more than the credit you've already received, but that's better than nothing.

For what it is worth, I believe that the standing Amtrak policy is to only offer hotel rooms to sleeping car passengers who have been inconvenienced.

I know that I'm not really giving deep advise here. But I want you to know that there are certainly very rude people at Amtrak and some that really care. Keep in mind that a vast majority of customer service folks reply very defensively (right or wrong) if they perceive that they are being attacked personally. Of course, there are those who are trained to take the 'next level' of customer frustrations. Always ask to speak with a manager or supervisor if you're not satisfied with the first line folks.

I hope that you get a chance to use your credit to try them again. Keep an open mind - stay safe first - and sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

 

[lilyluvstherail]

I don't know about the other people here, and why they take trains. I didn't start out as a rail fan. I started taking trains because my dad doesn't fly. Once I started taking the train, the plane became less and less pleasant. The limited room suffocated me. The social atmosphere annoyed me. The impersonality of EVERYTHING about flying and airports degraded me. The train is spacious, social, and very humanly personal. Until one nightmare flight that involved massive delays, people spilling things on me and then yelling at me for sitting in my assigned seat, and crap like that, I said to myself, never again.
And I haven't looked back. The only acceptable way to get from A to B when A and B are more than 500 miles apart is Amtrak train. Or a cargo freighter. (I did that a couple of times, too.) Yes, flying is faster. It will get you there a lot faster. I don't care. Flying is stressful, and life isn't long enough to be stressed out. Ok, so Amtrak can have some awful delays. So what? They'll put me up in a hotel, and I'll get there a day later. Big deal. I'll get there, relaxed, comfortable, and happy. And not stressed.

I don't care if I miss a guaranteed connection. I miss it, I miss it. Amtrak will take responsibility for it and solve my problem for me. They'll bus me to the train, or put me up in a hotel and put me on the next train. I get the opportunity to spend some extra time in a city I don't know on Amtrak's dime. Why not?

I'm not that much older than you; I'm 23. I wouldn't mind taking a cab to a hotel room by my self. Maybe you are too young to see my point of view on this, maybe not. If you want to race around, ok. Thats your prerogative. Maybe doing everything as quickly as possible matters to you. I want to enjoy as much of my life as I can, and I can't enjoy anything when I am stressed out.

Now I am a rail fan, yes. But that isn't how I started out, and isn't why I did it. I love the magic of riding a train, but that isn't why I use them as transportation. Its why I go on purely rail vacations, but not why I ride them for other purposes. Its a small community of people who have never met before, and will most likely never meet again, eating, sleeping, and living together for an amount of time as a group. I enjoy it.

Maybe you should cut Amtrak a little slack. As for employees leaving trains sitting just to rack up pay, It has probably happened a few times in the history of Amtrak. Crap like that happens places. But for the other 99.9999999999% of trains, it doesn't. Nobody tolerates a train sitting around blocking up their track. A crew does that, they are going to be summarily fired, if not executed. Perhaps you are confusing this with going "dead on the law", which is a matter of legality. Legally, a train crew can not operate a train for more than 12 hours. That means that 12 hours, 720 minutes, or 43,200 seconds after the crew has taken over operation of the train, they MUST legally stop the train and wait for a relief crew. If they don't both they and their employer get heavily fined.

Thanks for the lovely descriptive about why you like the rail. I am passing it on to a couple of friends who dont understand my plane hatred and train love.

Just have one other comment to Katie. I am a government employee and so so tired of the govt employee bias and hatred. I have been treated far worse by air crew than any train personnel. Yes people have bad days - and guess what it doesnt have anything to do with being an employee of the government. I took my first sleeper and the attendant was unbelievable - it was like being in a first class hotel. Just wish I could afford to ride sleepers all the time. But you know on a government salary....

 

[darien-l]

When he went to pick up his tickets the night of his trip, they told him that he was never booked a connection train from Chicago to Lansing. When I called the "coustmer service" not only did no one have any anwsers but they refused to do anything about it even after the understanding the fact that my 17 year-old friend would arrive in Chicago at 4pm, get kicked out of the station at midnight when they closed and wait on the streets until 6am to try and possibly book another train.

I don't understand this part. Why didn't they simply fix your reservation when you informed them of the error? Also, why would your friend wait 'till 6 am to book another train instead of simply buying a ticket for the 6 pm East Lansing departure after arriving at Chicago at 3:50 pm? (And if this was today, the #6 from Denver arrived 25 minutes early, too, giving him plenty of time)

 

[transit54]

I know that I'm not really giving deep advise here. But I want you to know that there are certainly very rude people at Amtrak and some that really care. Keep in mind that a vast majority of customer service folks reply very defensively (right or wrong) if they perceive that they are being attacked personally. Of course, there are those who are trained to take the 'next level' of customer frustrations. Always ask to speak with a manager or supervisor if you're not satisfied with the first line folks.

Not to get too OT, but this is so true in my experience. Working for an airline, I deal with dissatisfied people day in and day out. If you approach me with a problem, I will go above and beyond to try and help you. If you approach me with an attitude, I'll try and help, but if you continue to give me attitude, I'll basically give you whatever are standard policy is and nothing more. For instance, I had a woman today who was likely going miss her international connection on another carrier, which we had no relation to. I could have just told her (as some would have) that it isn't our responsibility, but instead I offered our phone so she could call them, and when they weren't cooperative, I obtained her a seat in the front of the plane, gave her permission to carry on her enormously oversized bag, and even escorted her up to the plane to make sure the flight attendants wouldn't give her any trouble about its size, and to explain the situation. I occasionally get customers who, during a delay that's out of our control (weather, for the most part), begin berating me and my airline because they might miss a connection. Those are the people I tell to call their other carriers and that we have no responsibility for the issue.

I don't know how the specifics of the OP's situation unfolded, but I find that in any situation, if one approaches someone in a customer service position with an issue as, "I have a problem, I need your help," rather than, "Your train service sucks and I want compensation and I'm never riding again!" they will be far more receptive to what you need. I simply don't understand why people think getting incredibly agitated will make people want to help them. The second someone snaps at me, their chances of getting extra vouchers, meals, transportation or assistance diminishes rapidly. I understand that some people get frustrated and need to vent, and I'm very accepting of that. I completely understand the people who've been delayed four hours and then are quite upset when their bags aren't in. And I have no problem dealing with upset, frustrated customers. But the second that someone's attitude gets in the way of me helping them, that's when I start to make less of an effort, also. (For example, one night I located a customer's missing bags in New York, and was just finishing the baggage paperwork (takes about two minutes). So that we'd know what to look for on incoming flights, I asked her, "Could you describe what the bags look like?" and she screamed at me, "Why do you need to know what the bags look like when you know where they are?!?!?" It's that sort of unhelpful attitude that causes me to be a little bit less helpful also.)

 

[RobertF]

>> Would you personally walk around Chigaco at 2:00AM?

Having worked in downtown Chicago, I walked around there at 2am many times. As long as you keep to the main streets, it's plenty safe.

Lot fewer pan-handlers out then too!

 

[RobertF]

If you're real lucky, if you're at an airport and due to some reason, the airline may give you a hotel voucher. But even they will not provide transportation to the hotel. But it just happens that many hotels provide their own buses to the airport. Most hotels do not provide transportation to the train station! (I can only think of 2 or 3 in the whole country!)
Instead of walking, there are these things called taxi cabs. They happen to go from the train station to the hotel.

Oh gee-willikers thanks! taxi-cabs? huh never thought of that! well actully they had told my mom on the phone that they would provide hotel voucher, taxi and food, but believe it or not they didn't give it to us! gee thanks thought for the suggestion.

so I should probley call my friend in Chicago and tell him what a silly goose I am by leading him to believe he would get home today! Because he's not getting any voucher even though I have a reciept they mailed me saying he should arrive in east lansing tomorrow morning at 3am. Instead I should just tell him to muster up <i>more</i> money for this trip, and hey it's the weekend why not go all out? I'll just call and tell him your suggestion, but instead lets put on the ritz with a limo to a 5 star hotel and a steak dinner. But I bet you don't remember being 17 where you've only got a few bucks on ya and holy cow your friend gives you a free train trip. Amtrak did tell me that I could provide a credit card number to get him tranportation as well as a hotel wanna offer up yours?

And captin I-hate-the-airlines I have travel several times with planes and not only does the airport provide shelter all night long unlike your delightful trainstations but they have always gotten me home same day or the next without any hassle or rudenss.

A bit curious as to why the airports are more coustomer friendly? BECUASE IT'S NOT GOVERMENT OWNED! If I have a problem and tell them I'm switching my buiness they are more then happy to make up my trouble. Amtrak, just like your run of the mill goverment grunts do not care what happens because it's the only avaible company

I find it interesting that this was your first set of posts here (at least under this name). Perhaps if you had taken the time to see what to expect from rail travel first, rather than blasting it because it didn't meet your expectations, you might have been less disappointed overall. Additionally, the last time I was short sighted enough to assume that my first experience would mirror all or most of my experiences, I was quite young... say maybe GRADE SCHOOL. I think your post is short sighted, lacking in anything resembling balance and elementary. Plenty of people have had wonderful experiences with Amtrak (and there are those who have had bad experiences too).

If I didn't know better, I'd say you must be associated with some representative of congress with an agenda that includes shutting down Amtrak. A Short sighted plan in my opinion.

 

[RobertF]

I know that I'm not really giving deep advise here. But I want you to know that there are certainly very rude people at Amtrak and some that really care. Keep in mind that a vast majority of customer service folks reply very defensively (right or wrong) if they perceive that they are being attacked personally. Of course, there are those who are trained to take the 'next level' of customer frustrations. Always ask to speak with a manager or supervisor if you're not satisfied with the first line folks.

Not to get too OT, but this is so true in my experience. Working for an airline, I deal with dissatisfied people day in and day out. If you approach me with a problem, I will go above and beyond to try and help you. If you approach me with an attitude, I'll try and help, but if you continue to give me attitude, I'll basically give you whatever are standard policy is and nothing more. For instance, I had a woman today who was likely going miss her international connection on another carrier, which we had no relation to. I could have just told her (as some would have) that it isn't our responsibility, but instead I offered our phone so she could call them, and when they weren't cooperative, I obtained her a seat in the front of the plane, gave her permission to carry on her enormously oversized bag, and even escorted her up to the plane to make sure the flight attendants wouldn't give her any trouble about its size, and to explain the situation. I occasionally get customers who, during a delay that's out of our control (weather, for the most part), begin berating me and my airline because they might miss a connection. Those are the people I tell to call their other carriers and that we have no responsibility for the issue.

I don't know how the specifics of the OP's situation unfolded, but I find that in any situation, if one approaches someone in a customer service position with an issue as, "I have a problem, I need your help," rather than, "Your train service sucks and I want compensation and I'm never riding again!" they will be far more receptive to what you need. I simply don't understand why people think getting incredibly agitated will make people want to help them. The second someone snaps at me, their chances of getting extra vouchers, meals, transportation or assistance diminishes rapidly. I understand that some people get frustrated and need to vent, and I'm very accepting of that. I completely understand the people who've been delayed four hours and then are quite upset when their bags aren't in. And I have no problem dealing with upset, frustrated customers. But the second that someone's attitude gets in the way of me helping them, that's when I start to make less of an effort, also. (For example, one night I located a customer's missing bags in New York, and was just finishing the baggage paperwork (takes about two minutes). So that we'd know what to look for on incoming flights, I asked her, "Could you describe what the bags look like?" and she screamed at me, "Why do you need to know what the bags look like when you know where they are?!?!?" It's that sort of unhelpful attitude that causes me to be a little bit less helpful also.)

My WORST flight experience was with United. After being bumped off our originating flight for a flight 6 hours later, we end up in Denver. We then walk to the rebooking desk as instructed. At the desk, a lone employee is handling the rebooking of a line of about 20 passengers. With, say, maybe 14 left in the line, the agent LEFT the desk and told the rest of us to goto the ticketing desk. I was livid. If he had told us that when we first got there, instead of making us wait in line for an HOUR, I would not have erupted at him (which I did).

I WORKED for United at the time (but I was a full revenue passenger). I called the station manager later that week about the incident. Let's just say, I got satisfaction and an apology.

 

[Cascadia]

>> Would you personally walk around Chigaco at 2:00AM?Having worked in downtown Chicago, I walked around there at 2am many times. As long as you keep to the main streets, it's plenty safe.

Lot fewer pan-handlers out then too!

Well, Robert, I don't think that's really fair, you are a man and knew the city, she is a teenage girl. I wouldn't expect any woman to feel comfortable walking in any city at 2 am, much less a very young one, in a place she doesn't know. I think if she went walking down the street at 2 am and something happened to her, people would respond with "What did you think was going to happen?" It's very different for men than it is for women. And young women are a target where ever they go, no matter what time of day it is. Just saying, and speaking generally.

More specifically to the thread, she said there were 25 of them at the station who were told they could walk to the hotel, so I'm sure they could have all walked together and that would have been a good way to handle it, or all split cabs together too.

OP, you being a teenage girl, if you had asked the other passengers for assistance, they would have helped you. I know how it is when you get freaked out though, and you probably weren't thinking too clearly at 2 a.m, for which I don't blame you.

I think everyone on this thread wants you to try the train again just so you don't miss out on what can be a good experience, we don't want you to be cheated of the pleasures of rail travel just because you had one bad experience, for your own sake. As you can tell from the stories above, flying is no picnic either sometimes.

 

[RobertF]

>> Would you personally walk around Chigaco at 2:00AM?Having worked in downtown Chicago, I walked around there at 2am many times. As long as you keep to the main streets, it's plenty safe.

Lot fewer pan-handlers out then too!

Well, Robert, I don't think that's really fair, you are a man and knew the city, she is a teenage girl. I wouldn't expect any woman to feel comfortable walking in any city at 2 am, much less a very young one, in a place she doesn't know. I think if she went walking down the street at 2 am and something happened to her, people would respond with "What did you think was going to happen?" It's very different for men than it is for women. And young women are a target where ever they go, no matter what time of day it is. Just saying, and speaking generally.

More specifically to the thread, she said there were 25 of them at the station who were told they could walk to the hotel, so I'm sure they could have all walked together and that would have been a good way to handle it, or all split cabs together too.

OP, you being a teenage girl, if you had asked the other passengers for assistance, they would have helped you. I know how it is when you get freaked out though, and you probably weren't thinking too clearly at 2 a.m, for which I don't blame you.

I think everyone on this thread wants you to try the train again just so you don't miss out on what can be a good experience, we don't want you to be cheated of the pleasures of rail travel just because you had one bad experience, for your own sake. As you can tell from the stories above, flying is no picnic either sometimes.

You probably make a good point there..... I just know I've seen women walking around Chicago downtown alone at night. You are right though, I would not want my daughter to do so. But thats more because I'm an over-protective daddy! I wouldn't let he walk down Las Vegas Blvd. at 2am, which I think is plenty safe (again, stay on the Blvd, and avoid the side streets!!!)

 

[AlanB]

Katie,

First and foremost let me tell you that this site is not owned, nor is it operated by Amtrak. This is a privately owned and operated site that has no relationship with Amtrak. This site was created to help educate people about Amtrak and its intricacies, to give people a place to ask questions, to give people a place to have discussions about Amtrak, a place for reports about Amtrak, as well as a place for the good and the bad about Amtrak. And you will find both of those two later things here.

So while we can offer advice, suggestions, and corrections to things that you’ve stated, we can’t intervene with Amtrak for you. We can only give you a place to vent, which you’ve done, and again some advice/suggestions for now and the future should you decide to reconsider your decision not to use Amtrak again.

Second, I truly am sorry that your trip did not go as expected. It is too bad that you didn’t find us first, as you might have been better prepared for some of the issues that you did encounter.

Now, turning to the actual experience, I don’t understand why you were still in the station at 1:30 AM if your train was only 5 hours late. It shouldn’t have taken 4 and a half hours to get you a hotel voucher.

I also have to say that I’m surprised that you weren’t offered a taxi voucher, as that is standard operating procedure, unless a shuttle is arranged which often does happen. But I’ll take you at your word for that.

Next, Amtrak doesn’t own any buses and they don’t employ any bus drivers. They contracted with some company that night to get you on that bus. That’s probably why the driver didn’t want to be bothered going to every stop. Why his company would let him go out without proper directions though, I can’t say. But that isn’t something that Amtrak can control. I suspect that the fact that this was thrown together at the last minute probably did contribute to things, but still it shouldn’t have happened. But really all Amtrak can do about that is to never use that company again. They can’t fire the driver, since he doesn’t work for them.

But an FYI is Amtrak, as a govermnet owned company, has been caught and reported in newspapers for standing on tracks to rack up thier pay.

I’d love to see the proof on this one. I’m sorry, but I’ve been following Amtrak for years and I’ve never heard this story before. And short of standing in Chicago’s Union Station, it can’t happen and wouldn’t happen just about anywhere else, for several reasons.

First, as already mentioned by other’s Amtrak runs on tracks owned by freight companies and there is no way that they would permit Amtrak to block their tracks for something like this. Making money off of moving their freight is far more important to them, than ensuring that some Amtrak worker gets an extra hour of pay! Some of those freight RR’s would do anything that they could to prevent Amtrak from ever running on their tracks. So they certainly aren’t going to let them park a train there.

Second, the operating crews (engineer & conductors) can’t easily play a game like that, as two things happen. First, they are only allowed by law to work a certain number of hours. If they go over that, bad things happen. Second if they don’t get to where they are going within a reasonable amount of time, then they don’t get enough rest and can’t work their next shift, which means that they now loose potentially 8 or more hours of pay.

And believe me; most of the crews want to ensure that either they get home to their own beds that night, or to the hotel where they are supposed to stay. They don’t want to run out on their hours of service and be stuck in the middle of no where waiting for a van to come pick them up and take them to their hotel, much less standing there facing angry passengers who want to know why the train is stopped.

As for the on board service crew, the car attendants, waiters, cooks, café attendants; those guys and gals have pretty much been on duty for two days straight by the time they get to Chicago. They aren’t looking for an extra hour or two of work at that point; they are looking for a bed!

Finally, we don’t know all of the fact regarding the women who said she had booked a sleeper. Occasionally double bookings do happen. But it is also possible that she boarded at the wrong stop, and therefore the crew believed that she was a no-show and sold her room to someone who wanted to upgrade.

 

[jackal]

A bit curious as to why the airports are more coustomer friendly? BECUASE IT'S NOT GOVERMENT OWNED! If I have a problem and tell them I'm switching my buiness they are more then happy to make up my trouble. Amtrak, just like your run of the mill goverment grunts do not care what happens because it's the only avaible company

Actually, I just wanted to correct a minor mistake here--most, if not all, major airports in the United States (and quite possibly the world) are owned by governments--either city governments, state governments, or quasi-governmental organizations (e.g. the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey).

 

[RailBirder]

Amtrak is NOT at fault for the 45 minute delays. The crews did NOT "decide" to stop. The host railroad, Union Pacific primarily in your case, ordered them to stop, so as to benefit Union Pacific's freight trains.

Don't let the facts get in the way of your opinions. From Denver to Chicago, the CZ runs on BNSF lines, not UP rail. Host railroads don't screw with Amtrak for fun. Delays are caused by congestion, mechanical breakdowns, weather, etc. Yesterday, Amtrak 5 was stopped west of Grand Junction due to rock slides. Was that anyone's fault?