No Steak? SWC out of LA

[seat38a]

I don't blame the unionization, VIA's crews are unionized as far as I know. The problem is the general onboard customer service inconsistency, which I lay squarely at the feet of Amtrak management. The main difference is VIA has an onboard service manager to whom all onboard staff is accountable. Amtrak doesn't. Their crews are "free range".

That is what the LSA is supposed to be doing. If you look up the job description, supervisory role is one of them. I'm getting this from third party job description sites, not directly from Amtrak. I've been on trains where the LSA refers to themselves as the "boss" but in reality, they have no bite and their staff do whatever they want and even argue with each other in the middle of the dining car. So unless someone can correct me, either they aren't doing their job because they don't care, or they really have no authority.

 

[jis]

LSA is not a train supervisor. My understanding is that VIA has a Train Supervisor. That is also common practice on prestige trains in many other countries. Amtrak at one point tried such, but the whole thing collapsed under internecine warfare between the management and the union(s) involved as to whether the supervisor should be management or union.Apparently management felt that there would be a conflict of interest if such a supervisor were a member of the same union as the ones supervised. but the union wanted it to be so. No further attempt has been made since then

 

[zephyr17]

Confirming VIA does indeed have Train Supervisors and the on board staff is accountable to them and management is their ONLY job on board. They are not serving/taking payment in the dining car. It is a real supervisory position with real responsibility and accountability.

I have said it before and will say it again, the wildly inconsistent level of on board service is Amtrak's biggest single problem that is wholly within its control.

 

[JayPea]

On my travels thus far this year I have had five different dining car crews. Four of them have been excellent. The one exception was on the CS from Seattle to Los Angeles and that was a mess. I have never seen such chaos in my life. It was a rare and lucky passenger who got the meal they ordered. The LSA was a jerk at the beginning and went downhill from there. I was traveling with my unclear and at lunch the first day the LSA sullenly took our reservation time and asked how many of us, in which the answer was two. No problem. For dinner when he slouched to our room, for the only time I have ever had this happen he didn't ask how many in our party, so I made a point of telling him there were two of us. I know he heard me as he glanced back and nodded. Come dinner time, my name was called--as a party of one. I told him he'd made a mistake and that there were two of us. His reply was sorry, there was only room in the diner for one. Never mind the diner wasn't half full. :angry: At that point I got a tad testy and told him again that I had told him there was two of us. At which point he angrily asked who made the reservation. I told him even more forcefully I had and that I had specifically told him there was two of us. At that point he got the message and "generously" seated both of us. For the rest of the trip he went out of his way to avoid me which didn't bother me a bit. On the trip back it couldn't have gone smoother. No surly LSA's, and cheerful excellent service. At one point, right in the middle of dinner the first night we had to stop and pick up a stranded engine that the previous day's #11 had hit a truck with. We were without power for an hour and a half delaying several dinner seatings. But the LSA, Jackie, did a great job of getting passengers in and out on a timely basis so that no one really was too late getting there meals. A complete 180 from our previous experience. And our other trip involving a Chicago-Sacramento round trip on the CZ and a Chicago-Spokane run on the EB were excellent. Great crews all around. I can see the frustration with the inconsistent service. The first trip was so bad it nearly overshadowed the other four.

 

[Lazy Z]

We will be boarding SWC in Fullerton-can we expect dinner? I think we depart 6:30/6:45pm...

 

[pennyk]

I boarded the SWC in LAX 7/18. We got the first reservation at 7:15 with a full menu. The steak was offered and I ordered.

Things are a bit chaotic this evening, the second night. 130 Boy Scouts boarded in Raton. Most are in coach, but some are in sleepers and were eating in the dining car.