Bedroom downgraded to Coach a week before departure

[Eric in East County]

We got through to Guest Rewards and were able to cancel our two reservations made with travel points without penalty. Also, we received refund receipts via e-mail within minutes. We're still waiting for a refund receipt from our LD reservations. (This might take longer because there is cash involved.)

 

[Rasputin]

IMPORTANT UPDATE

We called Amtrak again this morning (Sunday, June 5th) and this time asked to speak to an agent. (To do so, we had to request a “call back,” which we received in about 15 minutes.) We spoke with “James” who initially told us that, yes, there had been some changes made to the Southwest Chief sleeping cars, but our bedroom reservations were still good as we’d been transferred to a different car. We thanked him and ended the call. Then a few minutes later “James” called back to say that that the sleeper on SWC No. 4 that we’d been reassigned to had been removed from the train on the date we’d planned to travel, and that Amtrak couldn’t downgrade us because the train was sold out! Needless to say, we had no choice but to cancel our trip. (At least we didn’t have to wait until two weeks before our departure date to learn that Amtrak couldn’t honor the reservations that we’d made and paid for last December!)

So far, we have NOT been contacted by Amtrak to acknowledge that our reservations were cancelled, to apologize for the inconvenience we were caused, or to let us know if and when we can expect to receive a full refund for the cancelled reservations. (But since this is a Sunday, they might not have a full staff on hand, so we probably won’t hear anything until tomorrow.)

Our connecting trains had been paid for using travel points, so we are now trying to get through to the Guest Rewards agent to cancel those reservations, too. We’ll also have to cancel our hotel and rental car reservations.

We’re now looking to reschedule our trip in the Fall, depending upon the availability of SWC bedrooms. In the meantime, we plan to write some letters to make our dissatisfaction known and possibly obtain special consideration for future Amtrak travel.

We’ll provide updates on how we make out.

Eric & Pat

Well, Thank God that you called. I will admit that initially, I thought that you were being a bit paranoid about this but I did not realize just how far downhill things had gone. I wonder when you would have received notice from Amtrak had you not taken the initiative to call them. Perhaps by the time you would have heard from them, some of your other trip reservations would have become non-refundable creating some further problems to untangle.

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Well the SWC train that left Sunday night, the 5th of June from Dodge City to Chicago. Was late of course, left Monday morning due to delays. This train did have a full baggage car, crew dorm, one sleeper, dinner, lounge, two coaches, one baggage coach.

Interestingly the crew dorm was a new rebuild.

I do recall two full sleepers a few weeks back and no baggage car.

So the why the OP lost his bedroom is known.

 

[user 14106]

Well, Thank God that you called. I will admit that initially, I thought that you were being a bit paranoid about this but I did not realize just how far downhill things had gone. I wonder when you would have received notice from Amtrak had you not taken the initiative to call them. Perhaps by the time you would have heard from them, some of your other trip reservations would have become non-refundable creating some further problems to untangle.

The reservations system side of the business definitely needs to be an area of focus for improvement. Obviously the operational decisions to alter the consist are what they are and these type of things have to be expected to a certain point and I suppose they did what they did in order to be able to resume daily service. Having said all that there has to be a better way to notify people and give them opportunities to make other arrangements far earlier than one week. I can understand the desire not to overwhelm the call center by not notifying everyone for the entire summer at the same time immediately when the change is made but perhaps do it in larger waves so people have at least 3-4 weeks notice. And obviously the more experienced riders that notice it in the app are all going to call immediately and address it even if the change is 2 months away. And newer riders who may not know the system as well are put at a major disadvantage in securing an alternate slot that may be open.

 

[hoosierrailfan]

The reservations system side of the business definitely needs to be an area of focus for improvement. Obviously the operational decisions to alter the consist are what they are and these type of things have to be expected to a certain point and I suppose they did what they did in order to be able to resume daily service. Having said all that there has to be a better way to notify people and give them opportunities to make other arrangements far earlier than one week. I can understand the desire not to overwhelm the call center by not notifying everyone for the entire summer at the same time immediately when the change is made but perhaps do it in larger waves so people have at least 3-4 weeks notice. And obviously the more experienced riders that notice it in the app are all going to call immediately and address it even if the change is 2 months away. And newer riders who may not know the system as well are put at a major disadvantage in securing an alternate slot that may be open.

I completely agree. The biggest issue I had with this ordeal was the fact that I was only given a week's notice. Had I been notified earlier, I may have been able to book something on another train to LA a few days earlier or later. Speaking for myself, I don't have the app, but haven't really made a habit of double-checking reservations very much, having never experienced something like this with Amtrak before. I usually just print the e-ticket when I make the reservation and take it with me on the day that I travel. It makes me wonder if anybody will show up at the station on their departure date expecting a room and end up being told that they have been downgraded to a coach seat.

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

I am ready to pull my hair out! I’ve been trying to book a room from the west coast to Galesburg in mid December. We normally travel Fullerton to Gbb and I had a room booked twice this afternoon at $1576 12/15 and 12/13. I got all the way to credit card verification with my Amex card. I typed in the code Amex texted me, the Amtrak site went into the processing mode and came back with “a part of your reservation is no longer available”. Upon re entering all my dates one of the days the fare went up $300 and another time the website wanted me to buy 2 bedrooms at over $5000. I didn’t think to take screen shots.

We‘re flexible so I thought let’s try the Zephyr, we have family in the Bay Area so fly up the day before see them and than take the train through the Rockies home. The exact same thing happened !!!

Dec 18th had an OK fare of $1473 from EMY to GBB. I typed in all 4 of our names and info again for the 4th time and it said “ a part of your reservation is no longer available“ I redid it again and it suggested 2 bedrooms for us at $4643. I took screen shots this time. I’m ticked I’ve spent 2 hours trying to give Amtrak $1500 plus with no luck.

Thinking about it, it seems everything is in order until the actual ticket and room number is about to be issued then system crashes. Maybe these trains will only run with one family room in December. Frustrating I’ve never seen it this bad.

 

[zephyr17]

Probably they do only have one Family room available on each train. There is only one per standard sleeper and none in transdorms. Since the trains are likely only running one standard sleeper, that means just one family bedroom.

 

[user 14106]

Yesterday, a friend told me she was thinking of taking a long-distance Amtrak trip and what did I think. For the first time ever, I said don’t take Amtrak right now except for short distances in the northeast. I told her they’re downgrading or cancelling people's reservations with hardly any notice, and the whole thing seems to be falling apart. I told her not to take Amtrak til it has a new CEO.

I think better times are on the way - but will take a little more time to get there. I think this is largely still getting out of the pandemic hell. Unfortunately I think the reservation system side of the company is not well setup for these types of changes like swapping a regular sleeper to a transition - they need to come up with a better way to deal with this type of thing - or limit the available inventory to begin with until they know what the consist is going to be able to be.

 

[user 14106]

I am ready to pull my hair out! I’ve been trying to book a room from the west coast to Galesburg in mid December. We normally travel Fullerton to Gbb and I had a room booked twice this afternoon at $1576 12/15 and 12/13. I got all the way to credit card verification with my Amex card. I typed in the code Amex texted me, the Amtrak site went into the processing mode and came back with “a part of your reservation is no longer available”. Upon re entering all my dates one of the days the fare went up $300 and another time the website wanted me to buy 2 bedrooms at over $5000. I didn’t think to take screen shots.

We‘re flexible so I thought let’s try the Zephyr, we have family in the Bay Area so fly up the day before see them and than take the train through the Rockies home. The exact same thing happened !!!

Dec 18th had an OK fare of $1473 from EMY to GBB. I typed in all 4 of our names and info again for the 4th time and it said “ a part of your reservation is no longer available“ I redid it again and it suggested 2 bedrooms for us at $4643. I took screen shots this time. I’m ticked I’ve spent 2 hours trying to give Amtrak $1500 plus with no luck.

Thinking about it, it seems everything is in order until the actual ticket and room number is about to be issued then system crashes. Maybe these trains will only run with one family room in December. Frustrating I’ve never seen it this bad.

Yeah the website is a mess - I usually go to my local station when I want to make a reservation that doesn’t involve points. Of course that only works when you have. A station nearby.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I think better times are on the way - but will take a little more time to get there.

Are Amtrak brass saying a full length Chief will return soon? Are they saying repaired rolling stock is about to be released? I hope you are right but everything seems to be getting worse at the moment.

Yeah the website is a mess - I usually go to my local station when I want to make a reservation that doesn’t involve points. Of course that only works when you have. A station nearby.

I have a nearby station but it is only open at night in an area with no parking and no public transportation during the hours of operation. So even for people like me this is not a valid solution.

 

[John Bredin]

Are Amtrak brass saying a full length Chief will return soon? Are they saying repaired rolling stock is about to be released? I hope you are right but everything seems to be getting worse at the moment.

The lengths of most long distance trains can be seen on railcams, including free ones on YouTube. Of late, the Capitol Ltd. has had three coaches (including a baggage car AND a baggage-coach), the combined Lake Shore Limited has had five coaches, and the Southwest Chief has had three coaches. There's cars coming from somewhere.

 

[Rasputin]

Are Amtrak brass saying a full length Chief will return soon? Are they saying repaired rolling stock is about to be released? I hope you are right but everything seems to be getting worse at the moment.

For the most part it seems that Amtrak brass hardly ever says anything. Unless there is some site that I have not found yet, we have to guess what they are thinking and what their intentions are. We end up having to ascribe motives and intentions to them.

 

[jis]

The lengths of most long distance trains can be seen on railcams, including free ones on YouTube. Of late, the Capitol Ltd. has had three coaches (including a baggage car AND a baggage-coach), the combined Lake Shore Limited has had five coaches, and the Southwest Chief has had three coaches. There's cars coming from somewhere.

The Cap should be getting another Sleeper too for a total of two Sleepers, if it has not already got it.

 

[tomfuller]

I am ready to pull my hair out! I’ve been trying to book a room from the west coast to Galesburg in mid December. We normally travel Fullerton to Gbb and I had a room booked twice this afternoon at $1576 12/15 and 12/13. I got all the way to credit card verification with my Amex card. I typed in the code Amex texted me, the Amtrak site went into the processing mode and came back with “a part of your reservation is no longer available”. Upon re entering all my dates one of the days the fare went up $300 and another time the website wanted me to buy 2 bedrooms at over $5000. I didn’t think to take screen shots.

We‘re flexible so I thought let’s try the Zephyr, we have family in the Bay Area so fly up the day before see them and than take the train through the Rockies home. The exact same thing happened !!!

Dec 18th had an OK fare of $1473 from EMY to GBB. I typed in all 4 of our names and info again for the 4th time and it said “ a part of your reservation is no longer available“ I redid it again and it suggested 2 bedrooms for us at $4643. I took screen shots this time. I’m ticked I’ve spent 2 hours trying to give Amtrak $1500 plus with no luck.

Thinking about it, it seems everything is in order until the actual ticket and room number is about to be issued then system crashes. Maybe these trains will only run with one family room in December. Frustrating I’ve never seen it this bad.

One trick that you might try would be to book the sleeper of your choice from EMY to Omaha and then move to coach for the remainder of the trip to GBB.
The eastbound Zephyr is in Omaha about dawn and is in Galesburg about noon.

 

[TheCrescent]

in Amtrak’s defense (as infuriating as downgrades are):

1. Airlines switch planes and downgrade people. And I have been downgraded a few times on airlines from paid first class to coach, with only a pittance of a refund.

2. I took Amtrak on an overnight trip in the 1980s and our sleeping car wasn’t attached to the train, so we were downgraded. We found out when the train arrived at our station.

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

With a 4 and 2 year old we’re trying to get the room all the way, but that’s a great idea. Same thing is happening this morning. Family room shows on website but then I pay for it and system figures out theres no room to assign. 5 different dates on both SWC and the CZ. I even called Amex to see if issue was on their side, they said no card has not been declined.

If Amtrak didn’t have a zero refund policy on sleepers I’d try to buy a bogus ticket tomorrow just to see if anything works at this point then cancel it. I know there’s work arounds and I could voucher it out but what a pain. How much is Amtrak loosing with normal customers who causally will look and move on after dealing with something like this.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

The Cap should be getting another Sleeper too for a total of two Sleepers, if it has not already got it.

...we were downgraded. We found out when the train arrived at our station.

My Capitol Limited sleeper car numbers for my trip in a couple of weeks are 2901 and 3001.

Are they in the consist yet? Or should I just assume Amtrak will try to dump me in coach with a bad leg and a cane overnight?

I have booked an ALX hotel as a backup and would have to give up the trip and just extend a stay in ALX. Not the worst thing—I love ALX—but a bit hot in the summer.

However, if the sleeper is there, I need to cancel the hotel before 24 hours to not lose the deposit.

I am checking my upcoming trips in my AGR account every day, and I did find the well-hidden place where it shows you the accommodation, and so far it still shows I’m in the the sleepers.

But has anyone recently (the post above was talking about in the 1980s, when you’d think they would have been more efficient than now) had them cancel the sleeper that same day?

 

[Devil's Advocate]

1. Airlines switch planes and downgrade people. And I have been downgraded a few times on airlines from paid first class to coach, with only a pittance of a refund.

I've been downgraded on paid first class as well but two or three hours in coach is a lot less annoying than two or three days in coach. If I was downgraded for an intercontinental flight I would be just as annoyed and would expect to be rerouted in the same cabin or put up in a hotel at the absolute minimum.

 

[fillyjonk]

yeah, the website is a mess. I just purchased my Thanksgiving tickets (figured I'd better if I wanted a shot at a roomette, seeing as I travel on the miniEagle that only has one sleeping car). Had to reboot the site after entering my login info because it hung up on the animated "loading" page for 10 minutes.

also finding stuff can be difficult, and it's not always clear "oh you're missing required information" when it just won't let you advance.

at least I got my roommette for literally the only times convenient for me to travel for turkey day

 

[Bob Dylan]

yeah, the website is a mess. I just purchased my Thanksgiving tickets (figured I'd better if I wanted a shot at a roomette, seeing as I travel on the miniEagle that only has one sleeping car). Had to reboot the site after entering my login info because it hung up on the animated "loading" page for 10 minutes.

also finding stuff can be difficult, and it's not always clear "oh you're missing required information" when it just won't let you advance.

at least I got my roommette for literally the only times convenient for me to travel for turkey day

Hope the Eaglete at least has Traditional Dining and it's Sightseer Lounge back by then, but wouldn't bet the House on it!

 

[fillyjonk]

Hope the Eaglete at least has Traditional Dining and it's Sightseer Lounge back by then, but wouldn't bet the House on it!

at this point I don't really care as long as my roomette doesn't get "downgraded" to coach like the OP experienced.

 

[Stremba]

With a 4 and 2 year old we’re trying to get the room all the way, but that’s a great idea. Same thing is happening this morning. Family room shows on website but then I pay for it and system figures out theres no room to assign. 5 different dates on both SWC and the CZ. I even called Amex to see if issue was on their side, they said no card has not been declined.

If Amtrak didn’t have a zero refund policy on sleepers I’d try to buy a bogus ticket tomorrow just to see if anything works at this point then cancel it. I know there’s work arounds and I could voucher it out but what a pain. How much is Amtrak loosing with normal customers who causally will look and move on after dealing with something like this.

While I understand that the family bedroom is the best accommodation for your situation, you might also consider booking two roomettes. Two roomettes actually work pretty well if you have two adults with two small children. Each adult can share a roomette with a child. (Children seem to like the upper bunk much better than adults do as well - at least my son did when he was that age). It may not be that much more costly than the family room would be if you could have booked it. If available the system typically will give you roomettes across the hallway from each other (I have booked two roomettes on several trips and have not gotten ones across from each other only once).

It may be less than ideal, but it would have to be better than coach if you cannot get the family room.

 

[alpha3]

What Amtrak needs is to modernize their res and booking systems, with some GOOD automated functions. Then a lot of this crap will go away - if they do. That, and staff-up. But staffing seems to be the bane of all businesses right now, not just transportation. The airlines are taking it up the keester too, with pilot and ground staff shortages. But I think a bit of THAT problem is due to today's lack of work ethic. I've had two projects at my house, for example, one electrical and one just replacing some guttering and soffits. The roofing/soffit guy told me they had a long lead time, they hired guys but ''these kids don't want to work, they just want to get paid. We pay top dollar, good benefits, but no one wants to put in the time.'' Electrician company also said they kept having to let people go because they wouldn't show up for work on time (or at all) , wanted extra time off, etc.

Crazy world now.

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

Ive been hearing “these kids don’t want to work my entire adult life”. It’s different this time. No leadership or accountability on any level. Amtrak fits into that mold.

Following up on Dec trip. I called reservations, got my call back and explained the situation. After a painful 15 minutes of getting the right train and family room in her computer she said she could book it for $2200+. I told her im looking at it on the Amtrak website for $1473. She said “book it”, online prices are cheaper then calling us. I reminded her thats the reason Im calling, I can’t book it online. She said sorry I cant help but I‘ll transfer you to Guest Relations. Got in the queue there and received a callback 30 mins later. Explained the situation once, the lady said “got it“. Looked it up on the general website and said, yes I see the $1473. I’ll make it work for you. She had everything booked within 10 mins and had me email her screen shots of the error codes I was receiving. I did get the dreaded 32 car so I hope they have 3 sleepers in December. I’m happy though.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

We pay top dollar, good benefits, but no one wants to put in the time.

How much is left from this "top dollar" job after subtracting the cost of paying for a car, gas, food, insurance, retirement, and rent?

Ive been hearing “these kids don’t want to work my entire adult life”. It’s different this time.

I agree that it's different this time. People are done working themselves into a grave for the privilege of keeping a mediocre job.