All Hail Amtrak Customer Service (Maintenence crew for the Pennsylvani

[MARC Rider]

It's always more enjoyable to be able to say something nice about the service you get, rather than complain.

My daughter rode home from college for Thanksgiving on the Pennsylvanian (Huntingdon to Philadelphia) then the Northeast Regional from Philly to Baltimore. When she arrived, she was quite concerned because she had taken out her ID to show the conductor when he lifted the ticket, and couldn't find it in her wallet when she checked later. The best we could figure was that she let it drop down into the seat, or fall on the floor, and we were going to be stuck with going to the Motor Vehicle Administration to get a duplicate when she came home for winter break. (Not to mention the fact that she wouldn't have an ID for the trip back to school after Thanksgiving weekend.) Anyway, as far as I was concerned that ID was gone forever.

Well wasn't I pleasantly surprised to find in my mail the first week of December a letter from Amtrak with the missing ID. It seems when they came around to clean the car, someone in the cleaning crew found the ID, passed it on, and Amtrak returned it. Thank goodness our holiday season won't have to include hlf a day of sitting around at the MVA getting a new ID.

That said, my advice for my daughter (aside from being **very** careful to the point of paranoia when handling ID, is to not bother to take it out unless the conductor specifically asks for it. In the 10 years since they' started the ID policy I have been asked only once by a conductor for ID. The only other time I was asked for ID on a train was in the late 1990s by a plainclothes DC cop who was checking our car while they were changing engines in WUS. He was also very particular to know which bags in the overhead rack were mine. I think they were looking for someone in particular. The moral of the story is that most likely the conductor is not going to ask for ID, and if you are asked, the conductor is going to wait for you to take it out anyway, so you're not saving any time taking it out in advance, and there's no need to risk dropping it or otherwise losing it.

Anyway, good for Amtrak.

 

[me_little_me]

That said, my advice for my daughter (aside from being **very** careful to the point of paranoia when handling ID, is to not bother to take it out unless the conductor specifically asks for it.

Of course, that was just after you suggested she write a nice letter to Amtrak thanking the person that found it and Amtrak's prompt effort to get it back to you.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Well wasn't I pleasantly surprised to find in my mail the first week of December a letter from Amtrak with the missing ID. It seems when they came around to clean the car, someone in the cleaning crew found the ID, passed it on, and Amtrak returned it.

Sounds like a great ending!

That said, my advice for my daughter aside from being **very** careful to the point of paranoia when handling ID, is to not bother to take it out unless the conductor specifically asks for it.

Losing your ID isn't fun but it's not worth getting an ulcer over either. Even a passport or birth certificate can be replaced.

The only other time I was asked for ID on a train was in the late 1990s by a plainclothes DC cop who was checking our car while they were changing engines in WUS. He was also very particular to know which bags in the overhead rack were mine. I think they were looking for someone in particular.

I don't think I've never been asked for ID by a plain clothes anything. Did he even have a badge?

 

[bobnabq]

The only other time I was asked for ID on a train was in the late 1990s by a plainclothes DC cop who was checking our car while they were changing engines in WUS. He was also very particular to know which bags in the overhead rack were mine.

Around 1972 I crossed over from New York into Canada on a bus full of hippies (I being one at the time).

Canadian customs took one elderly couple off the bus for further inspection, leaving the rest of us alone.....much to our relief. :giggle:

 

[MARC Rider]

I don't think I've never been asked for ID by a plain clothes anything. Did he even have a badge?

Yes he did.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

The only other time I was asked for ID on a train was in the late 1990s by a plainclothes DC cop who was checking our car while they were changing engines in WUS. He was also very particular to know which bags in the overhead rack were mine.

Around 1972 I crossed over from New York into Canada on a bus full of hippies (I being one at the time).

Canadian customs took one elderly couple off the bus for further inspection, leaving the rest of us alone.....much to our relief. :giggle:

So the lesson learned here is that the next time one of us 'old folks' goes to Canada, and we don't want to be 'hassled' at the border, we need to make sure it is not on a bus full of young long-hair types? :lol: