Lakeshore Limited, fine ride but rude staff

[Amy]

Took the Lakeshore Limited from Rochester to Chicago and back again. The ride there was a drag, we were assigned seats and not allowed to change them. Our coach was a beehive of activity since they loaded and unloaded passengers through our car at every stop so I was disturbed repeatedly, and they kept the overhead lights on all night, very bright. They even made people move in the middle of the night and reseated them! The staff was quite loud at 3am and quite rude to people getting on and off the train or people they encountered in the aisle.

On the way back we were assigned to a row of cars with passengers going all the way through 'til morning and the car was quiet and dim all night. SOOOOOO much better. Staff was more polite, one car attendant in particular was really nice. But in general I find the staff quite abrupt, and I am not being a problem passenger. It's just a general shortness and total lack of accommodation to anyone in every interaction I witnessed. What's the deal with that?

We were on-time both ways and the ride was smooth enough. But I love the clackity clack of a train.

I won't ride amtrak overnight again if I have to go coach because of staff rudeness. If I can hide in a roomette, maybe, but if I have to deal with the whims and generally crankiness of the staff I would rather drive myself or fly. Too bad, because I love trains.

 

[greatcats]

Sorry you had not such a pleasant trip. I was in the Boston sleeper last year from Boston to Chicago and had very good service all around. I have not recently, and will not if I can help it, travel overnight in coach. On my several Amtrak train segments in the past year, I have only had one sleeper attendant who was rude - he partially redeemed himself during the trip. But, I have met many wonderful Amtrak employees over the years.

 

[thully]

Too bad about the experience - I've gone overnight in coach before and have not had these sorts of issues. Though most the time I've been going all the way, which might make a difference. I've only done the LSL in a roomette (and westbound only - the ugly departure time in TOL EB means Ive looked to take CL+Regional instead of LSL on all eastbound trips). I wouldn't let that turn you off from sleeping in coach - though I will say that having earplugs, a pillow, blanket, and sleeping mask will help. A roomette will also work, but that can get expensive, particularly for a single passenger at higher fare buckets...

 

[Shanghai]

I have taken the LSL from NYP to CHI and return several times but in a sleeper.

I prefer that train over the Capitol Limited and Cardinal. The staff in the sleepers

and diner have always been very accommodating and friendly.

 

[PerRock]

I've done coach on the LSL a couple times between Boston & Toledo. I find the staff (in the coach section at least) to be a bit of a grab bag. I've had bad staff and ok staff; however I don't recall ever having great staff. I think one of the bigger problems with the LSL, is that it is a very popular train & most times when I'm on it, it is full. I think due to that, it's usually run more like a commuter train rather then a long distance train. I find that the staff running east of Toledo (to wherever the next crew change point is, Buffalo?) tend to be better then the staff around Albany.

peter

 

[john6185]

In 1997 we were on a trip on the Empire Builder and at one stop we were allowed off and upon getting back on the train a female attendant was extremely rude to the wife as she arrived in line ahead of me and on my arrival I heard what was going on and defended my wife and had no problems for the remainder of the trip but it left a bitter taste in my mouth. I notified Amtrak and they sent me a $100.00 voucher but we never used the voucher as we had vowed never to get back on Amtrak but we're going to this year and we're looking forward to the trip. I feel if someone isn't happy with their job-especially in the public sector, they can find another job-after all, they were looking for a job when they found Amtrak. I used to work in a hospital and it made me so upset to see employees talk down to patients-they need to find another vocation if they can't treat people courteously. But I guess that goes for all jobs...