Replying to Annoying On-board Staff Experience on Southwest Chief

It is the people enforcing the procedures onboard Amtrak and at the airport that are inconsistent. A professional, courteous TSA employee helps make the trip through security tolerable. Such an employee can also respectfully and politely manage unusual situations and requests.

A incompetent TSA employee can make the trip through security a miserable process, or even worse embarrassing and demeaning.

While most airline passengers are annoyed by the security process, they deal with it because it is a true safety issue.

The Amtrak seating procedure when seats are assigned is OK if the attendant is able to manage requests for window seats, etc. A control freak attendant makes the process miserable and an imposition.

I agree it is best to start of being polite in any situation whether its TSA or dealing with Amtrak employees. When you get an incompetent do nothing, report them. If it is bad enough, tweet it. Send a message to @Amtrak. It is true they just tweet back to call customer service.

However, if enough tweets are out there about incompetent crews, IMHO, someone will take notice.

Why would this possibly make people upset? When you go to your gate at the airport, you MUST obey while you are in the security line. Everyone must go though this process (removing metal items, putting laptops in a seperate bin) etc... Now, how ridiculous would it be to be the only guy who requests to leave your belt on, while everyone else knows the drill. No one is going to think that you are being singled out if you get into trouble because you are not following the Golden Rule. This is exactly what I mean by the Golden Rule..... nothing more. If you wanted to change the rules while waiting in the security line in the airport, or a customs or immigration line, your trip is going to become difficult for no reason at all. This is a fact.

The Amtrak seating process is the same kind of thing. When the coach attendent seats you, you do not move to another seat without his/her permission, otherwise you are going to have a more difficult trip. If he/she gives you permission and they log your change of seating position, then no problem.

I am not trying to tick everyone off here, this is just what I have learned from personal experience. The coach attendent (on Amtrak Trains) REALLY hates it when passengers move out of their assigned seats. For all I know, they are all trained to stop this activity, its a culture thing. Perhaps, on Via Rail in Canada or Virgin Trains in the UK, Everyone CAN get up and move to another seat. If the corporate culture permits it, why not?

I really don't think this is a good employee, bad employee kind of argument. Look at it this way... On a Cruise Ship people must follow orders during the life boat drill, in an airport people follow directions from the TSA while going through the security line, On Amtrak Trains people must obey the coach attendent during the seating process. Is this really so difficult? Different transportation, different culture....

I wanted to PUNCH my screen when I read about one poster's so called "Golden Rule". The Golden Rule SHOULD BE FOR AMTRAK STAFF, not Amtrak passengers.

Gawd it must be great to be a current day employee, where you

• Cannot be fired for any reason. (short of murder with witnesses)
• Can treat the traveling public, (they used to be called "your guests", who btw PAY your salary) like doo-doo.
• Hardly do your job at all, when you ARE on the job.

My apologies to all of the current respectful, honest, hard-working Amtrak employees. You know who you are, it is your scum-bucket "I'm-just-here-to-collect-a-pay-check" brethren who are a minority that give all of you a bad name.

I understand the poster's rationale for "obeying", they want to have a good, fun, non-confrontational trip.... But "if in Rome, the Romans are slaughtering babies just for the fun of it", it doesn't mean we have to join in.................

I wanted to PUNCH my screen when I read about one poster's so called "Golden Rule". The Golden Rule SHOULD BE FOR AMTRAK STAFF, not Amtrak passengers.

Gawd it must be great to be a current day employee, where you

• Cannot be fired for any reason. (short of murder with witnesses)
• Can treat the traveling public, (they used to be called "your guests", who btw PAY your salary) like doo-doo.
• Hardly do your job at all, when you ARE on the job.

My apologies to all of the current respectful, honest, hard-working Amtrak employees. You know who you are, it is your scum-bucket "I'm-just-here-to-collect-a-pay-check" brethren who are a minority that give all of you a bad name.

I understand the poster's rationale for "obeying", they want to have a good, fun, non-confrontational trip.... But "if in Rome, the Romans are slaughtering babies just for the fun of it", it doesn't mean we have to join in.................

Yes, Obey... DURING THE SEATING PROCESS.... Seriously. I have found that doing this little step makes or breaks an Amtrak trip. . I like to think of the seating process like a mandatory "Life Boat Drill" on a cruise ship if it makes you feel better. Everyone must obey during this little initial period, then after that point, you may request whatever you like from the crew for the remainder of the cruise. If the seating process stresses the Coach Attendant the most, why make it even more diffucult for him/her?

Doesn't really help. If you read my original post, I was assigned a seat from the "check in koisk" at the station, quietly went up and sat at the aisle seat though I desperately wanted a window seat, let everyone settle down, let the attendant put that paper thingie over my seat and then went to an empty window seat, yet the attendant came and made me get up from there. Later, as I mentioned, at three different times, the onboard staff made me get up from an empty pair of seats in a half empty train stating "it will get all full at the next station" which never happened. All the way to Albuquerque all three coach cars had about 50% occupancy but just for the heck of it the staff kept insisting that everyone sit crammed in one half of the coach only.

What would happen if you took that little paper thingie with you and stuck it over your new window seat?

Yes, Obey... DURING THE SEATING PROCESS.... Seriously. I have found that doing this little step makes or breaks an Amtrak trip. . I like to think of the seating process like a mandatory "Life Boat Drill" on a cruise ship if it makes you feel better. Everyone must obey during this little initial period, then after that point, you may request whatever you like from the crew for the remainder of the cruise. If the seating process stresses the Coach Attendant the most, why make it even more diffucult for him/her?

Doesn't really help. If you read my original post, I was assigned a seat from the "check in koisk" at the station, quietly went up and sat at the aisle seat though I desperately wanted a window seat, let everyone settle down, let the attendant put that paper thingie over my seat and then went to an empty window seat, yet the attendant came and made me get up from there. Later, as I mentioned, at three different times, the onboard staff made me get up from an empty pair of seats in a half empty train stating "it will get all full at the next station" which never happened. All the way to Albuquerque all three coach cars had about 50% occupancy but just for the heck of it the staff kept insisting that everyone sit crammed in one half of the coach only.

There is a balance here. The attendant is trying to board the passengers in an orderly manner. They are focusing on the seating diagram. So I understand their reluctance to address questions about changing seats. In this case it is best to go with the flow. It's like working with flight attendants on an airline. It's better to follow directions.

However I agree that the entire system of assigning seats is not helpful. As a single traveler I resent being the second single to board and then be assigned to an aisle. If I wait, on a full train no windows are left. On some occasions I played the game but the attendant still refused my request with open window seats available. This all about the desire to seat families together.

This entire process is why I wait to have money to go in a sleeper.

Yes, Obey... DURING THE SEATING PROCESS.... Seriously. I have found that doing this little step makes or breaks an Amtrak trip. . I like to think of the seating process like a mandatory "Life Boat Drill" on a cruise ship if it makes you feel better. Everyone must obey during this little initial period, then after that point, you may request whatever you like from the crew for the remainder of the cruise. If the seating process stresses the Coach Attendant the most, why make it even more diffucult for him/her?


What actually really gets on my nerves are the people that are sitting in your assigned seat as soon as you board. As far as I am concerned the coach attendant is my friend, the passengers in the wrong seat are not following the GOLDEN RULE, and making things difficult for everyone. They are usually my problem, not the coach attendant.


Of course, when I travel by sleeper, there is no need for the GOLDEN RULE..... Just coach.....

Obey? Seriously?

Obey? Seriously?

I'm not aware of any golden rule that starts out like that.

If coach attendants want our respect why can't they show us the same?

We're paying customers, not clueless kindergarteners.

Although I often ride in sleepers I have little tolerance for the way Amtrak chooses to treat their paying coach passengers.

I've been bossed at by Amtrak staff at only to be apologized to when they see I have a sleeper ticket.

What possible explanation can Amtrak have for that sort of severe attitude disparity?

Hello.

Of all the things I have learned, the GOLDEN RULE is obey the coach attendant when you board the train. Try not to question him/her during the seating process. Show respect, when possible. I have found that once you are seated, and provided that you followed the GOLDEN RULE, the coach attendant will be your best friend for the remainder of the trip. If you give him/her a hard timeduring the seating process, the trip can be very difficult from that point on. So before you are assigned a seat, be on your best behavior and do what he/shesays. The turning point occurs when that little slip of paper showing your destination goes on top of your seat, and then after the conductor has seen your tickets.From that point on, I have found it pretty easy to ask for just about anythingincluding changing seats (make sure its a seat in the same destination area as yours....

Just my little observation.... This is the make or break for my Amtrak trips while in coach. Its a culture thing, as the British writer correctly pointedout. When in Rome.......

I have seen Amtrak staff do this sometimes. Most of the time it's for a good reason -- as in -- they are trying to keep everyone getting off at the same destination together because the platform is so short they can't open all the doors, etc. However, other times I do think it can be a "power trip" thing.

Earlier this month, I did 2 one-way trips on the Cardinal with the #10031 Dome, WAS-CHI and NYP-CHI. Anyway, on both trips the train featured 4 coaches when it normally just has 3. It was even advertised as part of the Dome special that an extra coach would be added for extra steating. On both trains, the 4th coach (closest to the Dome) was empty all the way for most of the trip... I guess on the first trip I did they were keeping it just for IND-CHI passengers... but what got me... on the second trip... NO ONE was ever put in the fourth coach. Luckily I was in the sleeper, but that kinda crap would have gotten my goat (GN reference) if I was a coach passenger. Why not open up the 4th coach at all if everyone is crammed into 3? The only explanation seems to be laziness on the part of the coach attendant and/or conductors.

They did the exact same thing on our dome trip on #50 last year. Once, I'm willing to suspend judgment. More than once, it certainly looks like a pattern.

A couple of months ago I rode the City of New Orleans Chicago-New Orleans. The sleeper was on the rear of the train, and after Memphis there were no passengers in the last coach. That afternoon, my sister wanted to take a nap, so I sat in the empty coach reading. After all, coach seats are to my mind (and rear) more comfortable than the seats in the Sightseer Lounge. A conductor asked me what I was doing there, but decided it was fine for me to be in the empty coach because I was a sleeper passenger.

I'll let smarter people than I figure that one out.

Hmmm...wonder how that conductor feels about eating in the diner with coach people?