Sleeper bumped into coach experience

[lsl sleeper]

Recently rode 48 CHI-BOS. Came to CUS trackside to find line of pax with car 4820 tix, some double booked for same room. Trouble was, one sleeper car was bad ordered. The solution was to attach an extra coach car immediately behind the power unit and put a bar in the door to keep coachies from taking seats in the sleeper coach. We were provided pillows and blankets. Our SCA was there and brought meals to the seats and kept juice and water in the luggage rack. We were auto refunded sleeper portion of fare.

As a bonus, a brand new Viewliner II bag 61030 was at the tail.

 

[Ryan]

Sounds like they made the best of a bad situation.

 

[rte train]

Sounds like they made the best of a bad situation.

Agreed. However, things like this and bustitutions make me hesitant to take Amtrak on long trips.
If that happened to me I would have left CHI and gone to O'Hare to catch the last flight to Boston, and be home by the time the train left Indiana.

 

[Shanghai]

I agree with Ryan. About the only other accommodation Amtrak could have

offered was to put you up in a hotel in Chicago and put you in a sleeper for

the next day. Perhaps another option was to bring cots into the new Baggage

Car and you could have spent the night in that car!!

 

[rusty spike]

I was thinking along those lines too. Get that fresh "new car" smell.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I've had this experience several times on various Amtrak LD Trains! Think I agree with the poster who said they would have hopped a plane from CHI- BOS, but this isn't always possible, so making lemonade out of lemons is the best Amtrak can do in these situations!

I would suggest calling Customer Relatiions, even though the Sleeping Car fare was refunded, a nice travel voucher should be in order! I received $500 when it happened on the Empire Builder, $200 on the LSL from BOS and $300 from LAX on the Sunset Ltd/Texas Eagle. No flights were available in those instances.

 

[yarrow]

nice that your sleeper fare was auto refunded instead of the usual "call customer relations at the end of your trip"

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

I might have asked if I could take my pillow and blanket and go sleep in the new Bag

 

[lsl sleeper]

I thought about asking for a voucher, but I'm afraid of doing anything that would make Amtrak against the car 20 ALB-BOS sleeper, and as a several LD trip/year customer, I've been pleased enough with my other trips that I'll give them a pass on a voucher request. Because the sleeper coach was so empty, I could turn two seats into a bed by raising the foot panels. Also the other pax were very quiet and took their phone calls in the vestibule. I normally can't sleep in coach sitting up, so this went surprisingly well.

It made me think about previous threads on slumber coaches and lie flat seats and reinforced that they could be successful someday.

 

[StriderGDM]

Hopefully issues like this become less of an issue once the new sleepers are available, they should be able to keep a protect sleeper in Chicago.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I've had this experience several times on various Amtrak LD Trains! Think I agree with the poster who said they would have hopped a plane from CHI- BOS, but this isn't always possible, so making lemonade out of lemons is the best Amtrak can do in these situations!

I would suggest calling Customer Relatiions, even though the Sleeping Car fare was refunded, a nice travel voucher should be in order! I received $500 when it happened on the Empire Builder, $200 on the LSL from BOS and $300 from LAX on the Sunset Ltd/Texas Eagle. No flights were available in those instances.

For someone who keeps complaining about Amtrak nickel & diming us with the amenty cuts, you sure don't mind suggesting people take more money out of Amtrak's pocket for every little inconvenience. Amtrak provided transportation from point A to point B, provided a "private" coach car and SCA AND refunded the sleeper cost without being asked to (which they should do anyway). Now you want them to fork out more $$ in vouchers?

 

[Ryan]

Agreed - a half full coach and meals included for the price of a low bucket coach ticket? Where do I sign up?

 

[jis]

You couldn't get such a deal even after hypothetically the meal service is unbundled and Coach passengers could buy into the Meal Sefvice bundle!

 

[greatcats]

I agree with Mr Hudson. Unless I was feeling ill, I Would have accepted this arrangement. I realize not everybody can sleep in coach, but last week I was really put like a light, which was fine until the coach attendant did not wake us up until the train stopped in Flagstaff station, my destination. A complaint was made to Amtrak and I have received an apology, but no voucher. That is OK with me, as the coach fare LA-FLG. Is very reasonable.

 

[Palmetto]

Sounds like they made the best of a bad situation.

Agreed. However, things like this and bustitutions make me hesitant to take Amtrak on long trips.
If that happened to me I would have left CHI and gone to O'Hare to catch the last flight to Boston, and be home by the time the train left Indiana.

Don't think you would have made the last flight to Boston. From what I can tell AA has it with a 21:40 departure.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion of course, no problem!

But I am not one who would want to spend two days and nights in a Coach when I had booked a Sleeping car, even if I was fed and given a refund of the Sleeping car fare!

As for the low bucket Coach fare, that is what you is paid anyway when you book a Sleeping Car!

My comments are mostly based on using AGR Points to book trips since AGR no longer refunds points but refers you to Customer Relations for a Voucher!

As for the nickel and dime cuts, they haven't really saved Amtrak any real money (Where's the Beef?), when people spend as much as Several Thousands of Dollars to travel on Amtrak ( Points cost money too, they're not free!) they expect nicer amenities compared to Coach! Amtrak LD is not Greyhound!

Believe it or not, I'm not opposed to doing away with the meals being included in the Sleeping Car fare, it was like that forever till the recent past, but as the Silver Star experiment is starting, I would NOT want to ride on a Long Distance overnight train without the option of having a Diner to eat in, as opposed to a cafe serving high priced junk food! YMMV

As Clint Eastwood said in "Ford Fairlane" : " Get off my lawn!" LOL

 

[Cina]

K, showing my ignorance here. What does "bad ordered" mean? The sleeper was in need of repair? The sleeper was in time out for misbehavior? They booked people in a sleeper that didn't exist?

 

[Ryan]

Broken. Unable to take the trip.

 

[Cina]

Thumbs-up smiley face. (I'm on a phone.)

 

[AlanB]

Hopefully issues like this become less of an issue once the new sleepers are available, they should be able to keep a protect sleeper in Chicago.

They should be able to do that with the new sleepers. Of course the plan has always called for Chicago to have a protect Viewliner sleeper. Sadly, it's been pretty rare that Chicago has ever had a protect Viewliner sleeper; despite the plan.

 

[DryCreek]

I am not entirely sure how I would have reacted to that news. If I had flexible plans, I would have asked for an overnight in a hotel comped by Amtrak. If I had firm plans based on my scheduled arrival date/time (i.e. non-refundable room or other outlay), I would have probably gone with what they were offering, especially if the diner privileges were still included and my sleeper upcharge was refunded.

If at all possible, I would love for someone to compare/contrast a similar experience* with Spirit Airlines for example.

* Similar Experience would be a comparison of how displaced passengers are treated due to an equipment issue.

 

[fillyjonk]

I was on a sleeper that (slightly) derailed in STL coming back from Christmas break one year.

It was, to put it politely, a cluster - they pulled all of us out and put us in the diner (it was after 10 pm, IIRC) for a while while they figured something out.

First we were told there were "spare" rooms in the transdorm, which was OK. Nope....they had been sold en route.

Then they told us Amtrak was "letting" them leave the coach that was to be cut off on, and we could go in there. Okay, fair enough. They helped us carry our luggage in there

I had just nicely gotten sort of asleep, when they came in - nope, Amtrak was telling them to cut off the extra car NOW, here was a seat tag, good luck, don't forget your luggage!

No help at all - going into a full coach car at 2 am to try to find a seat was NOT FUN. I lucked out, a couple had put their small child in the empty 2 seats in front of them and the mom grabbed up the child and told me, "Go, sit there, it's okay"

But it was still miserable. And dealing with Amtrak customer service was frustrating, I kept getting shunted around. Finally I did get the sleeper refunded and a $75 voucher for my trouble (I had gotten a motel room at my destination - I had a 2 1/2 hour drive to get home, and with almost no sleep and it being 7 pm (instead of 10 am, like we were supposed to get in), I had decided there was no way it was safe for me to drive home that night.

I hope this means Amtrak has their stuff together better with bad-ordered sleepers now. I would not have minded NEARLY so much being one of a few passengers in an "extra" coach, but we were just dropped in regular coaches, no one even offered to help us carry our luggage.

 

[William W.]

Were you allowed to use the shower in the other sleeping car? Shower access is essential if I'm going overnight.

 

[AlanB]

I hope this means Amtrak has their stuff together better with bad-ordered sleepers now. I would not have minded NEARLY so much being one of a few passengers in an "extra" coach, but we were just dropped in regular coaches, no one even offered to help us carry our luggage.

There is a big difference to having a problem while enroute vs. having a problem in the yard prior to departure. That's why your experience was far worse than what has been relayed in this topic. It's not that Amtrak has gotten so much better at dealing with bad ordered cars; just a matter of where things happen.

I too saw a similar thing happen about 3 or 4 years ago on the LSL, a sleeper bad ordered in the yard at Chicago. Thankfully it wasn't my sleeper. But the same thing happened, an extra coach was added to the consist in the yard and the displaced passengers along with their attendant were each given one set of seats to themselves, along with blankets & pillows. They got meals in the diner, and they were allowed to use the shower in my sleeper.