Cap Ltd. Service Disruptions

[eee]

I have a trip booked in a few weeks from South Bend to Washington, DC, departing on a Saturday night. It's an AGR trip with a roomette. Now I'm thinking about moving my departure up a day to Friday night to avoid the uncertainty.

If I were to depart on Saturday and be bustituted, would I be compensated in some way? Would I get some of my AGR points back?

 

[Dovecote]

I have a trip booked in a few weeks from South Bend to Washington, DC, departing on a Saturday night. It's an AGR trip with a roomette. Now I'm thinking about moving my departure up a day to Friday night to avoid the uncertainty.

If I were to depart on Saturday and be bustituted, would I be compensated in some way? Would I get some of my AGR points back?

Doubt you will be compensated based on my past experience in December 2010. I was bustituted from MSP to CHI due to inclement weather. The ticket agent at MSP suggested that I seek compensation with AGR since it was a redemption trip. I spoke to two different AGR agents about compensation and neither of them would provide it. Both agents explained that Amtrak got me from point A (MSP) to point B (HFY via CL).

 

[ATXEagle]

You would think they'd give you some of your points back if you were scheduled to be in a roomette with breakfast in the dining car and instead ended up on a bus at PGH with no breakfast en route to WAS.

 

[Bob Dylan]

You would think they'd give you some of your points back if you were scheduled to be in a roomette with breakfast in the dining car and instead ended up on a bus at PGH with no breakfast en route to WAS.

Customer Relations Now handles all concerns/complaints even for AGR Award trips, they will NOT give you Points back (unless the Trip was Cancelled by Amtrak or by you On Time!)but Should send you a Voucher for missing Sleepers/Meals/ Late rerouting/equipment problems etc. Call and ask, it's worked for lots of us, they are usually pretty good about this! If you get a jerk (aka Yankee! :lol: )or a Newbie that doesnt know, ask for a Supervisor, or call back, the squeeky wheel gets the grease!) :help:

 

[ATXEagle]

You would think they'd give you some of your points back if you were scheduled to be in a roomette with breakfast in the dining car and instead ended up on a bus at PGH with no breakfast en route to WAS.

Customer Relations Now handles all concerns/complaints even for AGR Award trips, they will NOT give you Points back (unless the Trip was Cancelled by Amtrak or by you On Time!)but Should send you a Voucher for missing Sleepers/Meals/ Late rerouting/equipment problems etc. Call and ask, it's worked for lots of us, they are usually pretty good about this! If you get a jerk (aka Yankee! :lol: )or a Newbie that doesnt know, ask for a Supervisor, or call back, the squeeky wheel gets the grease!) :help:

Thanks for the info... you would think that if people are missing out on the accommodations that they "spent" points on Amtrak would want to keep them happy. Presumably, those folks are some of Amtrak's most loyal customers. But such is the state of customer service today. (I do give thanks that despite its problems Amtrak does allow itinerary changes and cancellations without outrageous penalties up to departure time.)

 

[AlanB]

[RANT]

As nasty as this situation is for through passengers from Chicago to Washington, consider the plight of passengers holding reservations on #30 from points east of Pittsburgh. Here are the kind words being given to those poor folks:

If Train 30 is delayed arriving at Pittsburgh, service will be cancelled at Connellsville, Cumberland, Martinsburg, Harpers Ferry and Rockville and alternate transportation will not be provided. If the train is cancelled, passengers boarding at these stations will be contacted by phone early in the morning (after midnight) on the day of their scheduled train departure.

Are they kidding? Someone could be holding a through ticket from Cumberland to Miami on 30 and 97 connecting at WAS, and sometime "early in the morning" of the day they are leaving, Amtrak could call and say, "tough luck, here's your money back, you're on your own, have a nice day." Some group of suits at Amtrak's headquarters got their little heads together and came up with that one?

Here's what should be happening. If the train is late and and misses the window, buses will cover all stops for both arriving passengers and boarding passengers. Cumberland people would show up at the station and either a train or bus would show up. Either way, they get to their destination. You can't tell people that they should sit and wait for a early morning phone call, a call that would come literally a couple of hours before departure, to find out if their travel plans have been ruined or not. Oh, wait. You can. Amtrak's doing it.

Lets hope that someone at Amtrak has a speck of grey matter and changes this plan. If not, maybe Congressional micro-managing is not so bad after all.

[/RANT]

Bill,

My guess, and it just that, is that someone looked at the prices charged from those stations to DC and decided that it wouldn't be worth the hassle and cost to put people on the buses to collect those tickets from the few number of passengers boarding at those stations.

However, as you rightfully point out, they're just looking at the small picture of the Capitol while potentially throwing the baby out with the bath water. These actions could well result in cancellations of reservations worth a thousand dollars or more to Amtrak if one of those passengers just happens to be connecting to a Silver train or the Crescent in DC and would have been occupying a Bedroom. And again, I'm betting that the decision maker never considered that loss when weighing the cost of putting someone to collect those tickets on one of the buses.

 

[the_traveler]

I agree - contact Customer Service at 1-800-USA-RAIL, not AGR!

If you get a jerk (aka Yankee! :lol: )

I'm not a jerk - I'm a (NE) Patriot!

 

[jis]

Disruption postponed by a week. Now starts on the 24th. See:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11196/1160517-53.stm

 

[PaulM]

My guess, and it just that, is that someone looked at the prices charged from those stations to DC and decided that it wouldn't be worth the hassle and cost to put people on the buses to collect those tickets from the few number of passengers boarding at those stations.

Assuming the passengers are able bodied, they could put themselves on the bus. How much extra could it cost to take a ticket?

 

[PRR 60]

I don't think I've ever seen an organization with a greater "can't do" attitude than Amtrak. They come up with a million and one excuses why things can't happen, while spending little effort to find innovative ways to make things happen. On the "ladder of accountability", I put them on the "make excuses" rung.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I don't think I've ever seen an organization with a greater "can't do" attitude than Amtrak. They come up with a million and one excuses why things can't happen, while spending little effort to find innovative ways to make things happen. On the "ladder of accountability", I put them on the "make excuses" rung.

I'd say that the Amtrak Suits have their feet on Four Rungs:

!)Unconcious/Unaware

2)Make Excuses

3)Blame Others

4)Wait and Hope

:wacko:

 

[AlanB]

My guess, and it just that, is that someone looked at the prices charged from those stations to DC and decided that it wouldn't be worth the hassle and cost to put people on the buses to collect those tickets from the few number of passengers boarding at those stations.

Assuming the passengers are able bodied, they could put themselves on the bus. How much extra could it cost to take a ticket?

I wasn't saying that Amtrak planned to have someone put the passengers on the buses.

I was saying that Amtrak would have to put a conductor on the buses to collect the tickets. So it would cost the salary of at least 2, maybe 3 conductors as I'm sure that normal work rules would still apply. And then Amtrak would have to put said conductors up in a hotel for the night, plus of course the cost of getting them to/from the hotels along the way.

 

[the_traveler]

Is that a ladder or a RR track and ties?

On my trip back from the Gathering, I am on the Cardinal (in a Bedroom

). I was thinking about switching to the CL, but this has me deciding to keep the Cardinal!

(I've already taken the Cardinal 3 times eastbound, and had enough of the diner-lite and "lounge" car!

)

 

[Bob Dylan]

Is that a ladder or a RR track and ties?

On my trip back from the Gathering, I am on the Cardinal (in a Bedroom

). I was thinking about switching to the CL, but this has me deciding to keep the Cardinal!

(I've already taken the Cardinal 3 times eastbound, and had enough of the diner-lite and "lounge" car!

)

Why not ride the LSL to NYP or BOS and take #67 or #66 to get home Dave?(if #448 isnt late into BOS) This almost ensures your connection in CHI and no worry with possible Bustitutions from PGH or a Super Late Cardinal like you and I rode in May to NTD!

 

[AudenHoggart]

When Amtrak says that this disruption will not occur on Fridays and Saturdays, does this mean departure date from Chicago, or departure date from Pittsburgh? That is, is a CL leaving Chicago on a Thursday subject to this risk or not?

How would checked baggage from CHI to WAS be dealt with in the event of a bus substitution from Pittsburgh?

On a related issue, does anyone know if there's meal service into WAS for sleeper passengers now that the schedule has been moved up (and assuming, of course, no bus substitution!)