WAS - NYP - BWI

[AAARGH!]

Sunday 3/15/09:

-2250 (Acela first class) from WAS to NYP

-99 (Regional coach) from NYP to BYI

After taking the DC Metro from Reagan Airport to Union Station, I asked if I could use an upgrade coupon even though I used the 10% AAA discount when I made the reservation. The ticket counter guy smiled at me and said, we'll take care of you. Woo Hoo!! First time in First Class!!! I shook his hand and thanked him profusely. For those who believe if you are nice to people, they will be nice to you, this is proof! (As I approached him to begin with, I gave him an enthusiastic "good morning sir!")

I made my way to the Club Acela lounge. It reminds me of the Chicago Metropolitan Lounge, but surprisingly (to me) small.

Boarded and found a seat on the single-side with a table. The train was maybe 1/8 full if that. Another gentleman was playing around with the reclining angle of the various seats and found the only ones that reclined much were one of the pairs that face each other. He made some complaint to the attendant and sat down. The attendant explained he couldn't sit there as it was reserved for groups of three or four. They guy went off, being rude and a bit loud about how he had to be able to recline, etc... The attendant held his ground, but was not getting anywhere. Eventually the conductor was notified, but did not do anything about it as the train was empty and the seats were not needed.

However, they then moved a family of three to first class and instructed them to sit with this guy even though there was another set of facing seats available 5 feet away. I guess they were trying to punish this guy, but why do that to the family? As they were about to sit down with him, the guy politely pointed out the open seats and they took those. I don't think the guy was right by any means to take those seats or the way he behaved, but Amtrak should not have forced the issue given the train was near empty.

Same thing in reverse, if you are NOT nice to people, they WON'T be nice to you.

Anyway, the train was on time the whole way up to NYP. The actor Terrence Howard and family(?) got on in Philly and sat right behind me. They didn't get off at NYP, so I don't know how far they were going. He sang to himself part of the way. Nice voice!

FYI, the windows were FILTHY! No attempt had been made to clean them AND/OR the train sat overnight in the rain.

When I got to NYP, the place was jammed! I went above ground and got caught in the throngs heading to MSG for a Ranger's hockey game. I quickly retreated to the Club Acela lounge. It looks the same the same to me as the others, but is a bit bigger, but again seemed surprisingly small to me. I waited until about 20 minutes before my Southbound Regional was to depart.

It was about 10 minutes late arriving (no announcements, nothing on the board). We left about 5 minutes late and was about 5 - 10 minutes late the whole trip. Not bad at all. The train was full, and I do mean full! Every seat and the lounge was full. Lot's of young adults. Nice to see 'kids' using the train. It bodes well for the future. Nothing exciting about this leg, business as usual, nobody famous.

I got my train 'fix' taken care of, for a little while anyway.

 

[MrFSS]

Thanks for the report. Did you get one of those First Class meals? How was it?

 

[AAARGH!]

Thanks for the report. Did you get one of those First Class meals? How was it?

Yes. As it was breakfast, I got the omelette with onions, potatoes and Apple sausage. It was almost the exact same thing as I had on the EB and CZ last fall. The sausage was certainly the same kind. It also came with canteloupe. Decent and fast.

 

[Steve4031]

The behavior of the crew towards that single passenger was inexcusable. They knew that the train was not full, and that those seats would not be needed. They have a manifest ahead of time for first class, if not for bc. I have traveled on a lightly patronized Acela in fc, and the attendant actually encouraged me to ride in a set of facing seats when I selected a set of double seats.

I would never have a sense of entitlement towards are a set of 4 seats, but the crew should live and let live. The appropriate solution is to say, it is ok to sit here, but know that we may have to ask you to move if a family or group that wants to sit together comes along.

Some of these people who work for Amtrak need to realize that the point is to get people to come back, not be right.

 

[AAARGH!]

The behavior of the crew towards that single passenger was inexcusable. They knew that the train was not full, and that those seats would not be needed. They have a manifest ahead of time for first class, if not for bc. I have traveled on a lightly patronized Acela in fc, and the attendant actually encouraged me to ride in a set of facing seats when I selected a set of double seats.
I would never have a sense of entitlement towards are a set of 4 seats, but the crew should live and let live. The appropriate solution is to say, it is ok to sit here, but know that we may have to ask you to move if a family or group that wants to sit together comes along.

Some of these people who work for Amtrak need to realize that the point is to get people to come back, not be right.

I wouldn't go so far to say "The behavior of the crew towards that single passenger was inexcusable", but I do agree with you. I do not know if the cabin attendants know the manifest as the conductor does AND the passenger was unnecissarily (very) rude to them in return, but not for the fact the car was empty, but that the other seats did not recline as far.

I think it was unecessary and even spiteful to try to make the family of three (with a ~7 year old girl) sit with him. I don't care if they were being mean to him (based on how he acted, he deserved it IMHO), but the family is a different story.

 

[Steve4031]

IMHO, based on info. provided in your original post, the crews behavior was inexcusable. Granted the passenger was rude, but deliberately seating that family with him was inappropriate. The family, having upgraded to fc and paying the fare or using upgrade certificates, would have been unnecessarily uncomfortable.

I don't know how belligerent he was, but failing to follow the directive of a conductor could be grounds for removal from the train. And if this guy was not that bad, and they decided to leave it alone, then they should leave it alone. They should not be passive aggressive about it. If a passenger's behavior is inappropriate, than give a warning and remove. Again, on a lightly crowded train, this should not have been that big of a battle.

 

[AlanB]

The FC crew has a manifest of passengers that is printed shortly before departure from the originating station. Of course tickets can and often are sold at upline stations that the FC crew won't know about until such time as the passenger steps onboard with an FC ticket.

Personally I agree that the crew forcing a family to sit at the same table with him was a bit much. On the other hand, I think that the conductor should have thrown that guy off the train. He refused a request by the attendants to do the right thing.

It's also interesting that he felt that those seats were the best reclining. That's not neccesarily true, the best reclining seats are usually those that aren't at a table typically.

 

[AAARGH!]

The FC crew has a manifest of passengers that is printed shortly before departure from the originating station. Of course tickets can and often are sold at upline stations that the FC crew won't know about until such time as the passenger steps onboard with an FC ticket.
Personally I agree that the crew forcing a family to sit at the same table with him was a bit much. On the other hand, I think that the conductor should have thrown that guy off the train. He refused a request by the attendants to do the right thing.

It's also interesting that he felt that those seats were the best reclining. That's not neccesarily true, the best reclining seats are usually those that aren't at a table typically.

I did watch him 'test' the other seats and these did appear to recline the most. These had seats that faced the same way behind them. The ones that had seats facing the other way behind them did not recline half as much.

 

[PaulM]

Whereas being nice is a nice philosophy of life, I don't think that is the issue here. Nor do I think "live and let live" on the part of Amtrak personnel addresses the problem.

It's one of customer service. Their job is to serve the customer, not be a policeman or get into power struggles. The guy wanted a reclining seat, not exactly a high maintenance request. There was one available; so why not?

Analyzing AU posts over a long period of time, I've come to a conclusion. Many customer unfriendly actions on the part of Amtrak personnel are explained as just following the rules. On the other hand, service personnel often ignore rules that are in the customer's favor or don't provide promised services, at least if AU posts are to be believed. Example of the latter: refusing to respond to a request for an on-board upgrade.

By the way, I'm not making any claim that the above behavior happens very often. I'm just disappointed AU poster's try to justify it when it is reported.

 

[jackal]

It's one of customer service. Their job is to serve the customer, not be a policeman or get into power struggles. The guy wanted a reclining seat, not exactly a high maintenance request. There was one available; so why not?

Having worked in customer service for six (long) years, I will quickly attest that there are some people who are just [insert your favorite derogatory term here]s. A customer service representative can try everything humanly possible to mitigate the situation and result in the customer's satisfaction, but some people will simply respond with such venom and vitriol as to make a pleasant transaction absolutely impossible. I am therefore not so quick to question the attendant's actions.

I will question the conductor's attitude toward the attendant, though. While a conductor is not technically a manager over the attendant, it is my management philosophy to always stand behind my employee and never publicly second-guess one of their calls. Unless doing so would cause irreparable harm to the company, I will let the incident proceed and then discuss with the employee later what could have been done differently. If I do need to contradict my employee's decision, I will not do so in a way that puts the employee in a bad light in front of the customer. If the attendant was in the wrong, the conductor should have stood behind the attendant's decision and later, behind closed [vestibule] doors, told the attendant that, given the circumstances, it would have been better to allow the customer to sit there. Again, though, since the conductor and the attendant are not in a supervisor/employee relationship, this kind of thing gets complicated (and perhaps this contributes to what can be the poor morale at Amtrak...).

Of course, in my position, I am effectively loaning every one of my customers a $20,000-$40,000 asset, and it is my job to ensure I screen out those who are less likely to give it back to me, and so therefore I may be more likely than most in the service industry to be willing to be a policeman or get into a power struggle.

Just my $.02...