Friendliest/Unfriendliest Station to Book Tickets

[JackGraham]

I've booked tickets or made inquiries in several stations from San Diego to Santa Barbara for Surfliner trips, and was rather surprised at the vast difference in attitudes of the ticket agents. By far the surliest were in Los Angeles. I buy a ticket every week, and those are some of the surliest people I've ever seen! One, maybe two people in line, and the agents act as if I am interrupting their soap operas when I come to the window. And I've done this enough to know how to specify a ticket request efficiently.

Oceanside has a couple of agents that were real jerks for several weeks until apparently they started recognizing me. Now the black dude in the beret will at least tolerate me long enough to give me a ticket and is occasionally pleasant if I am 100% efficient in my transaction. Sheesh dude, it's not that stressful a place!

The older ladies there seem to be friendly enough, especially after one of them and I ended up in a rather darkly humorous conversation about some dope that jumped in front of the train making me late for a vacation ride. Those agents have less patience for that nonsense than I do apparently.

In contrast, the Old Town and San Diego ticket agents were so nice, as was the Santa Barbara agent.

Anyone else have drastically varying agent experiences?

 

[jackal]

I've only actually spoken to a ticket agent in LAX once, but I think your perceptions of them are accurate.

An agent in SAC was pleasant once when I wanted to make a change to a Surfliner ticket, which required her to issue me a voucher for $6 or so due to a fare difference.

An agent in CLT was fine, if a bit quiet and tired-looking, during a middle-of-the-night transaction (waiting for the Crescent).

Otherwise, my experience with Amtrak ticket agents is pretty much nonexistent, since I travel Amtrak pretty rarely and always book online and use the QT machines...

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

I've found when taking the Lake Shore Limited that the ClubAcela people in Boston and Metro Lounge people in Chicago were quite efficient about getting tickets printed. Maybe a little too efficient (I almost felt like I was holding things up by taking an extra few seconds to get out my photo ID, even though I don't think there were any passengers waiting behind me), but then again, I imagine my getting right to the point as quickly as I could might quite reasonably have left them with the impression that I wanted them to make it quick, which would probably be my fault much more than theirs. I also failed at getting a luggage tag for my backpack in Chicago (which has now made at least two round trips on Amtrak without a nametag) in part because their directions on where the luggage tags were initially didn't make it clear enough to me, and I was also busy thinking about trying to get a timetable and figure out how to drop off a bag in the luggage room all in the space of less than a minute; I guess when I'm trying to do three new things at once I fail to cope well with all of them, and in retrospect, maybe I could have serialized better.

(I also was sufficiently far into a not wanting to talk to people mental state at one point returning to the Lounge in Chicago that I went and sat in the coach passenger waiting area for a little while to mentally switch gears, which might get into the benefits of going coach and using the Quik-Trak machines. The seats in the coach waiting section are certainly not anywhere near as comfortable as the seats in the Metro Lounge, though.)

 

[Rafi]

I've had similar observations on the East Coast. The BWI agents tend to be very, VERY surly (I might be too if I had to work in that ugly building all day), where the Baltimore agents are much more professional and customer service-oriented. I find, by far, the best agents to be in the older, historic stations, however—usually the one-or-two person operations. For example: San Diego, Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Salt Lake City, St. Paul, Grand Junction—those are all stations where I've been pleasantly surprised with great service. Bad experiences include BWI (as I mentioned), Chicago, and Los Angeles.

-Rafi

 

[jackal]

I've had similar observations on the East Coast. The BWI agents tend to be very, VERY surly (I might be too if I had to work in that ugly building all day), where the Baltimore agents are much more professional and customer service-oriented. I find, by far, the best agents to be in the older, historic stations, however—usually the one-or-two person operations. For example: San Diego, Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Salt Lake City, St. Paul, Grand Junction—those are all stations where I've been pleasantly surprised with great service. Bad experiences include BWI (as I mentioned), Chicago, and Los Angeles.
-Rafi

Ya know, I forgot about CVS--the agent that was there the day I had an 8-hour (or whatever it was) layover between the Crescent and the Cardinal was awesome. He took my really, really, really heavy full-size backpack behind the counter and stored it there so I didn't have to lug it all over town while I wandered around during the layover. We chatted for a bit, too--really a great guy. Youngish, I think (20s or so). Seemed happy and excited to work for Amtrak.

 

[Dan O]

I have only bought tickets once--in LA. I would agree that the ticket agent was not the friendliest person in town. A plus for LA though was that my family could board the train and see it before leaving, something that was not allowed in Chicago.

DanO

 

[frj1983]

I have only bought tickets once--in LA. I would agree that the ticket agent was not the friendliest person in town. A plus for LA though was that my family could board the train and see it before leaving, something that was not allowed in Chicago.
DanO

I must confess that I have never had a bad experience with the Chicago Staff...they have always been friendly, helpful, and efficient! Even at some times when things have been tense, they've managed to be upbeat.

 

[nr272]

I haven't traveled Amtrak much, but the station attendant/ticket agent at the Edmonds, WA station was very friendly. He even came out to the station platform and helped me load my bike into the cardboard box.

 

[Dan O]

I must confess that I have never had a bad experience with the Chicago Staff...they have always been friendly, helpful, and efficient! Even at some times when things have been tense, they've managed to be upbeat.

I didn't pick up tickets there so can't say. Altho the folks at the information booth were nice.

DanO

 

[NapTown Jim]

I've only had experiences with ticket agents in Indianapolis and South Bend, IN. Both were pleasent. I've had good experiences with Amtrak staff both in the station and on the trains for the Hoosier State and Lake Shore Limited.

 

[wayman]

One of the stationmasters who works in both CVS and LYH (certain days in each) is a family friend, but also a top-notch guy who goes out of his way to help passengers and is quite friendly. He's also active in the local chapter of the NRHS. Sometimes he's "hosted" the NRHS chapter's Christmas party at Kemper St Station--more like "let the guys hang out with some food on one side of the rather large waiting room one evening in late December, while he does his regular job assisting passengers for the southbound Crescent, and then everyone goes out and celebrates the Crescent's arrival and takes pictures", but it's a nice party I also remember one NRHS meeting when I was pretty young where he presented a slideshow of Amtrak's history, A-Day to ... I guess the early '80s was "current" at that point. Some of the members thought it was a rather odd topic to be enthusiastic about, but I liked it. Not sure I'd ever ridden on Amtrak at that point.

There's the historic building thing, and the one-man operation thing, but also perhaps the Southern hospitality mindset going on?

The stationmaster in Lamy was extremely friendly and we had a nice conversation. Again with the historic building and solo operation.

Both agents I worked with in CHI on my recent "the EB was late, everyone needs re-ticketing" were courteous and helpful, despite the late hour and the tremendously stressed-out mood all the passengers were in. I was very impressed with *that* aspect of Amtrak's customer service for us.

The one time I had to change a reservation at the last minute at WAS, the agent I spoke with there was helpful and efficient.

Y'know, thinking on this, I don't think I've ever had a *bad* customer service experience with a stationmaster or station agent... Wow. Cool.

 

[AlanB]

I must confess that I have never had a bad experience with the Chicago Staff...they have always been friendly, helpful, and efficient! Even at some times when things have been tense, they've managed to be upbeat.

You must not have been in the Met Lounge years ago and before Amtrak replaced the people there with the current nice and pleasant staff. The old employees from about 7 or 8 years ago were some of the rudest, meanest, couldn't care less about their jobs or the passengers, people I've ever met.

 

[darien-l]

Dealing with the ticket agents at New York Penn has always been a bad experience for me: huge lines, overworked and grumpy agents who yell "next!" and "whadda you want?" If you request anything but the simplest of transactions, they sigh and make you feel like you're holding up the line.

In contrast, ticket agents at the Denver Union Station have always been nice, friendly, and helpful.

 

[Hamhock]

My sporadic experiences with staff in Orlando have been very positive; twice now I've purchased a sleeper upgrade for low-bucket rate from the ticket agent when the going rate was much higher.

Anyone along the Downeaster route from Portland to Boston (ticket agents, conductors, cafe service, etc.) has been extremely pleasant.

If you think ticket agents in New York Penn are brusque, you may quake with fear upon entering the separate Customer Service office/room there... and honestly, I don't blame them. The people there have seen it all and heard it all by now, and probably wish they hadn't.

 

[Ispolkom]

At the Minot station the conductor always takes tickets and issues seat checks in the station before the train arrives. So I was surprised to be told last Sunday (in a rather snippy, un-No.Dak. manner) that the conductor takes care of tickets on the train. I was even more surprised to hear, five minutes later, that the conductor was now taking tickets in the station. Couldn't the clerk have said, wait for the conductor. Oh, well, I've been treated worse.

I was pleased by two improvements at the Minot station. One is that it's getting a facelift to return it to its original 1905 appearance. There's a new roof, and they've taken off the hideous siding that's been on the station for what, 40 years?

The second improvement is that an ice cream truck met the train in both directions last weekend. With so many people getting on and off the train, it did a good business.

 

[caravanman]

I have probably travelled over 50 thousand Amtrak miles in the last 6 years, and have found a huge variation in staff attitudes and abilities.

I would like to nominate LAX as consistently the worst for ticket staff, although as others have said, if you ask for something a little different at any station, it can often flumox staff!

You can see the blood drain from their faces as you start to ask about using your railpass.. they know it is going to be a bad day when they hear my English accent!

Funny though, I always got a smile from the ticket lady last week in Budapest, when trying to buy a metro pass without speaking Hungarian...

Ed B)

 

[the_traveler]

The station I use most is KIN, but I still think they are the most friendly agents. They never have a problem "being snippy" or by your "dumb questions". They even gladly help - even if you are using the QT (which is right next to the ticket window)! I have even been asked by them if I wanted to get the tickets printed by them. When I said that I wanted to use the QT to get the bonus points offered, he said "OK, no problem!"

Yes, KIN is a 1 man operation, but most times there are at least 10-20 pax boarding each train - and being on the NEC that on average every 2 hours in each direction! Yet they remain friendly.

Although I don't deal with them that often, I will agree about the agents at NYP at the windows.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Dealing with the ticket agents at New York Penn has always been a bad experience for me: huge lines, overworked and grumpy agents who yell "next!" and "whadda you want?" If you request anything but the simplest of transactions, they sigh and make you feel like you're holding up the line.
In contrast, ticket agents at the Denver Union Station have always been nice, friendly, and helpful.

Their just being Na Yawkahs, ya know. Seriously, though, how would YOU feel if you spent your day working in a basement maze packed to the gils with the largest commuter rail operation in the country? On top of that it is a major subway junction, a food court, a shopping mall, and a homeless shelter. I'd be pretty surly myself.

 

[rogers55]

My experience has been mostly with the smaller stations.

Van Nuys (VNC) California, I seem to always get the same person at the ticket window.

He is always helpful.

At the other end, Schenectady, NY (SDY), the staff seemed to be all young and relatively inexperienced but were equally helpful.

When we arrived at SDY last year they met us at the train to tell us that our bags, that we didn't even know were lost, had been located and would be in on the next train.

They always let us know where our car will be stopping on the platform and other helpful stuff.

San Diego and Chicago were also good although I didn't have much interaction with the ticketing staff.

 

[darien-l]

Seems that there is a general trend emerging: the smaller the station, the better the service, at least from the ticket agents.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Usually the big stations have more than their fair share of petty tyrants. NYP seems to not, for some reason.

 

[The Metropolitan]

It's just amazing how many stations I've been through in the past couple years already!!! Here's my own summary of where I've been with a synopsis of the nature of my transactions following:

Baltimore Penn - Usually pretty good Here, I'm typically picking up pre-paid reservations, but an occasional upgrade or on the spot purchase. There's one lady there who is a bit odd, questioned the NARP discount not knowing what it was, but usually, the transactions are handled well.

Philadelphia 30th - Good - Trading in paper ticket for ticket on an earlier train. Customer service office was rather curt (it was my first time doing this, and I didn't know if it was handled by CS or an agent) but ticket agent was very helpful and explained the bucket change very well. Baggage room employees usually pretty good on my day storage requests.

Boston - Very Good - Redeeming AGR Select coupons for Upgrade on Acela Express. Gentleman was very polite and handled what was a rather complex transaction very well.

Pittsburgh - Excellent - Employees here are always very helpful. I've stashed my baggage here for the day at no charge whatsoever. I've also turned in a paper ticket for a refund here, and was treated well.

Cleveland - Outstanding! - Emergency Call. In doing a rather complicated trip where my party split up (We stayed in Chicago while our friend took Megabus to Cleveland with the intention of intercepting us on the CL, only to have the CL diverted around CLE due to blocked tracks). When he didn't show up in Pittsburgh by sundown, we finally called the CLE station, and the extremely helpful agent was able to pinpoint him, inform me that he had been rebooked onto the LSL to NYP to return back to Baltimore, and that all was well. Later when passing through Cleveland, I saw these folks in action and they were very considerate and kind.

Chicago - Fair - Upgrade ticket turn in - Went fine, largely because I went in the early morning before the mob showed up. Picked up tickets here once as well, and that went fine for me, but a buddy of mine had issues when the agent looked up his V185 code and said it couldn't be used and made him pay the difference.

New Orleans - Excellent - Very cordial staff made us feel welcome, even stating "Good to See you" and "Welcome Aboard," and even had some good quips about Amtrak's odd ID policy!

Denver - Excellent - Check in - Gave us status of the train as we checked in, and even gave us the direct number to the station to let us call for an update to that status. Stored bags here very easily.

San Jose - Excellent - Pick up of prepaid reservation - I had lost my confirmation printout. The agent was instantly helpful and got me on my way with no stress whatsovever!

I think these are all the ones I've visited in the past couple years, but if I think of more, I'll be sure to post.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

Seems that there is a general trend emerging: the smaller the station, the better the service, at least from the ticket agents.

I've sometimes wondered if this is precisely why Amtrak has the ClubAcela / Metro Lounge at the bigger stations, so that Acela First Class and sleeping car passengers can get the level of comfort and service that's present in a smaller station.

Then again, I get the impression that the first class / sleeper lounges have nicer seating than, say, what I've seen in the photographs of SOB.

 

[Railroad Bill]

We have had very pleasant experiences in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Sacramento. I can honestly say that everytime I have gone to a counter to ask a question the people at the window have been helpful and courteous.

 

[JackGraham]

I would like to nominate LAX as consistently the worst for ticket staff

Well, at least it isn't just to me, I guess! Sheesh, they are some mean so-and-sos. I book online and use the machines whenever I can now.