SCA service seems to be going downhill fast

[jis]

But there is a guy in a room within 85' who can be raised by banging on the door even if all call buttons and phones in the world did not work.

I've never tried to wake an Amtrak SCA in the middle of the night but I have noticed the supposed SCA room was empty during the nighttime hours. Sometimes your SCA is tending to more than one car and sometimes they're using seemingly random bedrooms. I suppose you could just bang on every room or drag a metal cup along the walls while screaming. I guess I never really considered how many ways there are to get around Amtrak's silly call button.

Actually I have done so several times and it worked each time. That is why I mentioned it.

Again, just because you have a button that notifies the SCA does not mean that even if the button is actually working, it is any better than banging on the SCA's door, if the SCA is not there.

But the bottom line still is getting help by any means. For that purpose, unless you are the only passenger in the entire car, banging any number of random doors would be a good start. Afterall there will be someone that will be willing to help.

I am not suggesting that Amtrak could not do a better job.of providing emergency alert systems. However, that does not mean that the current situation is an entirely unworkable one either, as some are trying to make it out to be. Even in hotels with fancy looking phones on each floor, in my experience more often than not when you pick up one of those phones in the dead of the night you are as likely as not to find anyone at the other end in any reasonable amount of time. So then you bang a few doors and ask for help.

 

[AlanB]

Are there even any unused pins on the inter car commlink connections to provide such functionality at present? Suffice it to say though that the hall phone in a reasonable sized hotel may be further away than a walk to the Dining/Lounge car in a typical Amtrak train. And of course if someone goes and bangs hard enough on the door of the SCA I find it very hard to believe that s/he will proceed to ignore it.

It is my understanding that at least on Superliner's, the call buttons from one car can be linked to the next car. I'm not sure that it tells the SCA in the other car which room rang; it may just inform them that a call button was pushed in the other car. But once in the other car it's pretty easy to figure out which room rang. I also have no idea if one can turn off the alarm within room #1 where the SCA is trying to sleep while still having the pass through to the next car working.

And I have no idea if the Viewliners have this same functionality.

 

[AlanB]

I've never tried to wake an Amtrak SCA in the middle of the night but I have noticed the supposed SCA room was empty during the nighttime hours. Sometimes your SCA is tending to more than one car and sometimes they're using seemingly random bedrooms.

And this is a real problem and a major concern. The SCA is supposed to be in their assigned room just in case there is an emergency and not someplace else. In my experience I've probably seen maybe 1/5th to 1/6th of my SCA's sleeping someplace else. So it is a problem, though I don't believe that a majority of the SCA's take liberties that they're not supposed to.

Of course in coach, the SA's that staff those cars are up sleeping in the trans/dorm which leaves coach pax no choice but to head to the diner to find help.

Conductors are always awake when on the job but may be on the opposite side of the train or tucked away where someone is unlikely to find them quickly. Seems like there should be a way for someone in serious danger to hail a conductor in an emergency. I'll admit I never really thought to keep tabs on where the staff went at night but maybe I'll look closer next time. On VIA it's easy to tell where the staff are because unlike Amtrak the rooms are labeled and easy to spot.

And again, outside of making stops; at least one conductor is always supposed to be in either the dining car or the cafe car during the overnight. The other may patrol the train a bit or sometimes in the Trans/dorm; but most often they sit together.

 

[AlanB]

Regarding the 9PM beds down thing, this seems to be spreading wider and wider with many crews trying to get more shut eye. This is especially true on the Lake Shore where I've had at least 3 or 4 SCA's in the last year or two tell me that they were going off duty at 9. I just tell them that I'll deal with the beds when I'm ready and reduce the amount of tip that they're going to get.

 

[Sauve850]

I always try to be friendly to my SCA on all trips. I introduce myself, chat with them and try to learn about them etc. And Im sincere about it. I haven't had water rationing and never a lack of ice when requested. Most of them are quite good at their jobs. Ive done a bunch of LD trips.

This past year Ive had SCA's announce on the PA what time they are going off duty. On the CZ it was 9:30 as "last call". I get my bedroom made up early with an extra blanket so I don't have an issue. I can sit on the bed or the chair after dinner and turn in when I wish. I also tell the SCA what time in the morning I would like my bed made up and that I will hit the call button and leave door ajar. As simple as that sounds it always seems to work.

As far as luggage goes when I board I always have a small suitcase and wear a backpack. If no offer of luggage help (40% of the time) I smile and leave them the suitcase and ask if they would bring up to me. Upon detraining, if I think I need too, I open my bedroom door and slide my suitcase slightly into hall and when they come by to tell me my stop is next they grab my suitcase without asking and all is well. Im friendly and gently control my own situation on all trips so even with with absent SCA's it works out. I do the same with dining room folks.

 

[andersone]

As Dick Clark might say, I will give the SCA's an overall 85- pretty easy to dance to and the lyrics are above average,,,

We often eat late and if the SCA says they are crashing at 9 then we just do the beds ourselves,,,, however if I do the beds myself - unless there are other circumstances like meals served, lots of ice calls, etc,,, there initial $20 is the only tip they get,,, if service is good then then get another $20 when we de-train.

On our last trip on the CZ we had someone pass in a sleeper downstairs, and then a medical in the middle of Gore Canyon,,,, in the first the staff quietly handled the situation, with the time being lost waiting on the coroner. No fuss just professionalism ,,,, for the medical all sorts of rumors started running around and the SCA calmly walked thorugh and gave us the scoop...I don't know what I will do if I ever have a code blue myself,,, I can barely talk,,,,,,, great scene for a movie - waking the SCA with hand signals,,,,

 

[neroden]

I generally get my bed made up early, either at dinnertime (and we always eat at the earliest sitting), or before.

On the LSL, I want my bed made the moment I get on the train, because of the 9:30 departure time. For some reason they aren't pre-made, despite the departure time.

Most SCAs are great, but the bad SCAs just won't do it and I have had to wait up to two hours to get assistance with making the beds. (Usually I can do it myself, but sometimes I'm crippled.)

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

While I can easily survive with a no-show SCA, the extra services and attention from an outstanding SCA are ALWAYS appreciated and rewarded. For the no-show SCA, the Tipping Hand never can seem to find the Billfold when departing the train.

 

[Montreal Ltd]

The beds were all made when I got on the LSL at 930p on Nov 3.

 

[HenryK]

"I don't have a dog in this specific fight but one thing I've noticed over the years is that Amtrak critics tend to have actual complaints about specific events that disappointed them while Amtrak apologists tend to just repeat the same vague "everything's fine on my trips" response over and over again."

Can you spell "boxcar generalization"?

 

[niemi24s]

In an emergency aboard a train, would something like this... http://www.lifealerthelp.com/about.aspx?gclid=CjwKEAiAmeyxBRCJxoKk7IWLl2oSJABvZjhhJOcc7inedPP7cSW7DM_h4UU8nAaF1u0xJRZjmN7GmxoCykrw_wcB ...be of any use?

 

[jebr]

I don't think so. Those usually connect to a landline and work as a cordless phone of sorts, not a cellular phone that can work virtually anywhere.

 

[fillyjonk]

The whole "inaccessible SCA in the middle of the night" thing....on the TE, they often announce that if you need someone overnight, there will be conductors/other crew in the dining car or lounge car. If a situation happened where someone needed help, someone in the sleeping car could go and *get* one of the people. In an instance of the person who first finds the person in need being unable to get to the dining car, for example, if they pounded on my door or hollered and woke me up - I'd go.

I get that people are less willing to help people in need than they once were (though didn't the Kitty Genovese incident happen back in the 60s?) but there are still people out there who will help.

 

[Montreal Ltd]

If you are on a sleeper and near the transdorm (eg 0832), there is a crew lounge on the lower level.

 

[wjh2]

When I rode the Capitol Limited six months ago, the SCA told me to knock on his door if there was an emergency. The SCA in the other car was real good about handling both cars in the night with boarding/detraining and other non emergency needs.