# CHI to WAS



## Jay S. (Feb 12, 2008)

So... we walked from the hotel to Union Station yesterday in the morning. It was pretty brisk, but not too bad.

Once we got to Union Station, we went right to the 1st class lounge. Now, There were 2 employees at the desk in the Metropolitan Lounge. One woman was checking a passenger in, the other guy was sitting staring off into space... When he noticed us walk 1/2 way to the desk, he snapped "Come here." We approached and fished out our tickets. He looked at them, and I started to explain our situation. "NO! You need to go to the ticket counter RIGHT NOW! Come back when you have valid tickets!" I tried to explain again, "NO! GO!" He then pushed back from the counter and glared at us until we left. Brian headed for the ticket counter, even though I wanted to go to passenger services right away. I followed him to the ticket counter anyway.

After waiting 5 minutes in line, we headed back to the lounge. This time the woman checked us in and was extremely pleasant. The guy that was there before was still sitting staring off into space.

We dropped our carry-ons with the red cap and left for passenger services. I explained the entire situation to the friendly woman in passenger services, who immediately phoned the lounge to ask them if they could reissue tickets. The woman at the lounge explained that they could if it was just a quick exchange, etc. Woman in passenger services apologized, explained lounge was too busy to make the exchange, etc. I was not convinced, but whatever. Went back to lounge where woman stopped us, asked to check our tickets again. She apologized and explained that normally they'd be able to do it, but sometimes it's too busy, etc. I explained that the gentleman at ticket counter on Sunday night told us not to worry about the ticket counter in the morning, that we would just be able to go to the lounge and they would take care of us. The man in the lounge butted in that "He was wrong." Woman explained/apologized again. Man says, "Yeah, see, he was wrong!" At that point in time, I just gave up, thanked the woman, and walked away. While we were in the lounge, I saw the man yell at passengers no less than 4 times, including one time at an elderly couple that was moving too slowly for him. He also glared at me any time I walked anywhere near him.

We went and grabbed lunch from Pizza Hut Express on Amtrak's dime (we still had the $60 they had given us for food) and then wandered back to the station.

At about 3:30P, Brian left to have coffee with his account rep from CDW while I sat in the lounge on the internet. Their wi-fi was slightly flaky, but I had my AT&T 3G cell card with just in case.

6:00P rolled around, and right on clockwork they called our train for boarding, to meet the agent at the back door of the lounge. She walked us out about 3/4 of the way to the train and we boarded. Our car attendant Sharon met us on the stairs of the car, and asked us what room we were in... When we told her room A, she said, "They weren't supposed to sell A! It isn't safe!" She showed us to room A, and told us to have a seat while she went to talk to the conductor. The upper bunk wouldn't latch to the ceiling, and was being held up with bungee cords and duct tape. I was immediately beyond upset, and voiced my frustrations repeatedly. She said she'd take care of everything, and not to worry at all. We sat and waited and waited and waited in a tiny lil sardine can. Room A is DEFINATELY smaller than the others, though it would probably be ok if you were travelling alone. Finally the conductor came and asked us for our tickets, and then told us we were moving to room E. Once we got to room E, which was MUCH more spacious, we got settled in. I was EXTREMLY happy with Sharon, and she will be getting a big tip courtesy of Amtrak (we still have about $45 of the money they gave us for food left... she's not getting all of it, but probably around $25).

We got rolling exactly at 7:05P, and the evening went pretty quickly. When 8:00P rolled around, we made our way to the Dining car for our 8:00P reservations. Jane was our dining attendant, and was super! We both had the flat iron steak, and while it was oddly seasoned, I was pretty happy with it. The red velvet cake was extremely dense and flavorful, and they even gave us the ice cream to go with it for free! We also had quite a bit of entertainment, with the women at the table across from us spilling their pop and just generally having a good time. Lori, the LSA was awesome too. At last call for dinner, she announced "This is your last call for breakfast, last call for breakfast! I MEAN DINNER! IT'S DINNER! Last call for dinner!" We had lots of fun picking on her after that... I mentioned that my french toast tasted suspiciously like steak as we were leaving the dining car, she just laughed.

Went back to the room, and our bunks had been lowered. We climbed into bed, and I adjusted my pillow so my head was next to the window, and sat and stared out the window until I finally fell asleep, sometime around 1:00A.


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## Sam Damon (Feb 12, 2008)

The two Amtrak stations I least like to use are: 30th Street, in Philadelphia, and Chicago's Union Station. IMO, both are stuffed with officious bureaucrats who don't give a tinker's d**n about customer service -- 30th Street, especially.

Compare and contrast your experience to the typical experience one had in the mid-80's on DB. 1) Purchase ticket from agent or ticket machine 2) Go directly to the train platform, where solari boards indicate which train is on which track and its status 3) Board train, which almost always arrived within five minutes of scheduled arrival time (except on Friday nights).

Despite DB's "cost" and "overmanning", not once did I encounter in my travels on DB people like these:



> Now, There were 2 employees at the desk in the Metropolitan Lounge. One woman was checking a passenger in, the other guy was sitting staring off into space... When he noticed us walk 1/2 way to the desk, he snapped "Come here." We approached and fished out our tickets. He looked at them, and I started to explain our situation. "NO! You need to go to the ticket counter RIGHT NOW! Come back when you have valid tickets!" I tried to explain again, "NO! GO!" He then pushed back from the counter and glared at us until we left.


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## AlanB (Feb 12, 2008)

Jay,

I hope that you got that guy's name and will write and/or call Amtrak to complain about his attitude. That is the primary problem as I see it. Yes, he should have also been able to handle the ticket exchange for you as that is part of their job. In any other lounge I doubt that you would have had a problem. Now I will say if they had a line out the door, which does sometimes happen, then yes it would be tough for them to make the ticket exchange. However, even in that case first he should have been polite, second he should have quickly explained things to you and then offered you the choice of waiting until the line abated to handle things or your walking out to get the new tickets more quickly at the regular ticket desks or customer service.

But bottom line it should have been your choice, not his!

Report him!

It's the only way to get rid of the bad apples.


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## iron mountain (Feb 13, 2008)

Jay,

Sorry to hear about your bad experience at Union Station in Chicago. My recent experience their was great. Everyone I dealt with could not have been more polite and helpful. Came in on the Lincoln Service and caught the Capitol Limited to Pittsburgh. On the reverse trip I had a simlar positive experience. I had booked tickets on the Texas Eagle back to St. Louis but since the Cap was early I got on a Lincoln Service train. Had no problems changing tickets. I guess that goes to show you never know but I would certainly report the creep that was so obnoxious. We all have a responibility as consumers to DEMAND appropriate behvior from Amtrak staff.


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## Railroad Bill (Feb 14, 2008)

Our experiences at the lounge in Chicago have always been positive. The male and female at the counter (strange we have had the same two people on four trips into the lounge) have been very pleasant, helpful and courteous. The Red Caps in the luggage storage have been great also. A fun sense of humor in most of them!!.

Yes, you should get the name of that guy and report him. Amtrak employees like that make it bad for the good ones who care and work hard. 

Railroad Bill


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## opaque (Feb 14, 2008)

Thanks for your trip report. I was a bit confused at first until I looked at your first post elsewhere and it all makes sense 

Good to know what another of the routes I will be taking is like!


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## MrFSS (Feb 15, 2008)

We just returned from a trip on #4 and #50, a connection in CHI, last night. More in a full trip report later when I get organized.

But, we had two fantastic ladies in the lounge in CHI last night. All kinds of problems with 50 and bad ordered cars, etc. They constantly kept us all posted on what they could find out and were calling whoever it is they call for info every 5 minutes.

Amtrak will hear from me about this over the top service we received.


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## had8ley (Feb 15, 2008)

MrFSS said:


> We just returned from a trip on #4 and #50, a connection in CHI, last night. More in a full trip report later when I get organized.
> But, we had two fantastic ladies in the lounge in CHI last night. All kinds of problems with 50 and bad ordered cars, etc. They constantly kept us all posted on what they could find out and were calling whoever it is they call for info every 5 minutes.
> 
> Amtrak will hear from me about this over the top service we received.


Sounds like an interesting trip~ and interesting company on the west coast. Glad you had a safe trip.


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## Sam Damon (Feb 15, 2008)

MrFSS said:


> We just returned from a trip on #4 and #50, a connection in CHI, last night. More in a full trip report later when I get organized.
> But, we had two fantastic ladies in the lounge in CHI last night. All kinds of problems with 50 and bad ordered cars, etc. They constantly kept us all posted on what they could find out and were calling whoever it is they call for info every 5 minutes.
> 
> Amtrak will hear from me about this over the top service we received.


Nice to hear about that sort of service. Now if Chicago Union Station could do something about the boarding procedure for coach passengers... <_<


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## TVRM610 (Feb 17, 2008)

Sam Damon said:


> The two Amtrak stations I least like to use are: 30th Street, in Philadelphia, and Chicago's Union Station. IMO, both are stuffed with officious bureaucrats who don't give a tinker's d**n about customer service -- 30th Street, especially.
> Compare and contrast your experience to the typical experience one had in the mid-80's on DB. 1) Purchase ticket from agent or ticket machine 2) Go directly to the train platform, where solari boards indicate which train is on which track and its status 3) Board train, which almost always arrived within five minutes of scheduled arrival time (except on Friday nights).
> 
> Despite DB's "cost" and "overmanning", not once did I encounter in my travels on DB people like these:
> ...


While Chicago has always been a bit of a toss-up, I have had nothing but friendly amtrak staff at 30th Street lounge. Are you talking about general amtrak staff, or the staff in the ClubAcela lounge particularly?


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