Silver Service - Seat assignment question

[tlm1]

Greetings,

I am hoping someone may be able to provide some advice for an upcoming journey. I should preface by saying that I am not not new to Amtrak at all. I am a long time rider with lots of Amtrak miles racked up on both the Palmetto and the Auto Train. My question though is about the Silver Service, which I have taken two times in the past.

To me, Silver Service has been a different kind of experience from the Palmetto and the Auto Train. I don't mean this in any offensive way, but almost like a lower level of service. The first time we traveled the Silver route it was great no issues, and we have an enjoyable trip. We travel between Orlando, FL and Alexandria, VA. The second time was somewhat of an unpleasant experience. We had two unrelated problems that I believed warranted asking for a seating change. First, there was water literally leaking in from the window, enough that the side of my daughter's body (who was nearest the window) was getting wet, along with our laptop power adapter. The second problem (and far more serious to me) was that each time the train would stop at a station that was designated as a "smoke" break all the passengers who were deboarding to smoke ended up forming a line right to next my family, sometimes for up to 5 minutes waiting for the train to stop. This ordinarily would be no big deal, except that my 6 year old daughter has pretty severe asthma and each time this happened it really did affect her. I would think nothing of this and take the attitude that "this is just the way it is" except that on our first silver service trip this never occurred, not once. We were obviously sitting in a part of the train where people were not lining up in preparation for the smoke break. I quietly approached the seat attendant and explained what was happening and asked if there was anyway we could be moved. I was polite, quiet, and respectful. He responded by being loud, mean, and disrespectful. He advised me that its the real world and people smoke and also that its a very rainy night so everybody was getting wet. This floored me, as I have never experienced this kind of an attitude on Amtrak before. So now I find myself taking the Silver Service again with my family next week and I am having sort of a panic attack about how best to prevent this from happening again.

I know there is somewhere on the train where the people waiting to smoke do not line up because I sat there both ways on my first trip on the Silver route. This was also the case for the first leg our second trip on the Silver route. I don't want to offend anyone who smokes (and this may have been the case with the seating attendant) because I could care less what other people do. Its none of my business. However, I am trying to avoid as much as possible subjecting my 6 year old daughter to the smoke that always has the potential to trigger an attack. Its the real world and we have to live in it, I am just wondering if there is anything I can do to try and avoid this happening.

Is it best to address this as the seat attendant is assigning seats prior to getting on the train? Is it better to wait and ask after I am in my seat and we are underway? I just don't want to seem difficult because I am not, and we LOVE the train. But that last experience has kind of traumatized us. I really don't want to offend the seat attendant and even more do not want to be yelled at again. My husband says we should give the seat attendant 20 bucks as we are boarding and ask for the least crowded passenger car. Is he on to something? lol Just wondering if anyone can offer advice about how best to handle this. We are a family of 4 by the way. Mom and Dad plus an 11 year old daughter and a 6 year old daughter. Taking the Star from Orlando to Alexandria and the Meteor from Alexandria to Orlando. Thanks so much in advance for any advise or insight anyone can provide. I appreciate it very much.

All the best,

A concerned Mom whose family really LOVES the train!

 

[Steve4031]

Seat assignments on Amtrak are done by destination. More than likely your car will be filled with people goiing to the same destination.

The manner in which seats are assigned depends on the attendant. They usually try to sit families together. They will set aside groups of seats for this purpose. Usually at one end of the car.

You will probably riding on amfleet II cars. The doors for getting on and off ate at one end of the car. Your goal for avoiding the smokers line up is to sit as far away from the end of the car with the exit doors with steps to the platform. IMHO if you are seated near the middle of the car you will most likely be ok.

The best way to accomplish this is to get to the station early.And then try to be some of the first to get to the door to get on the train. This is hard to do at Alexandria. If you can board in washington's union station, all silver trains stop there for an extended time. Then you can pre-board using a red cap. This improves your chance of getting seats in the middle of the car.

Unfortunately rude Amtrak employees are not uncommon. If you encounter one call Amtrak customer service with the date and train number and they can track down the name of the emplyoee. If the car attendant is unhelpful, appeal to the conductor for different seats. If the train is full they may be reluctant/unable to move you. Even though a different car is empty, it may fill up down the line.

If possible, check into taking a sleeper. Meals are included. And you are in a more controlled environment.

 

[RampWidget]

I have found that a quiet word to the coach attendant (please wait after everyone is aboard and settled in) that you would appreciate being moved usually works. This worked for me on 92 a couple months ago, and I tipped the coach attendant $5.

I generally don't tip the attendant beforehand, but if you wanted to do so, $10 ought to help if there's more than one in your party.

If the attendant doesn't move you (and the coaches aren't full) then you should find the on-board service chief or lead attendant and explain what you need and why.

Good luck!

 

[benjibear]

Sit in the middle of the car. You often have people lining up at the ends of the cars to deboard, not necessarilly all of them to go and smoke.

 

[PaulM]

I recently made 4 trips on the SM, 2 in sleeper and 2 in coach. I saw none of that patented Amtrak bossy-ness. I was especially impressed with the cordial way the coach attendant handled the hoards of local passenger getting on and off in central Florida, including us with two folding bikes. Sort of like you would expect from most service industry employees. I wondered what's going on? Has Amtrak been sending their train employees (OBS & conductors) to charm school?

Sounds like your attendant played hooky that day.

In your situation I would speak to the conductor. Failing that, I would go to the cafe (aka lounge car).

If the attendant said "everyone was getting wet" and wasn't lying, a complaint to customer relations for that alone is called for. Note: the rain part of the story rings true. In August 2008 I got rained on from a leak in the ceiling of an AFII on the LSL. Fortunately, I had a sleeper and was just visiting. The next morning I got rained on in the dining car. I had hoped this problem had been solved by now.