My experiences in the flying vs. taking Amtrak have been the opposite of Shortline's. One time I've had a train been cancelled, that the CZ from Chicago to Sacramento, but in that case, I and my traveling companions were rerouted on the SWC to Los Angeles, albeit by coach, then up to Sacramento and eventually Seattle on the CS, by bedroom. The experience of having a bedroom for the entire length of the CS northbound from LA almost but not quite balanced out the negatives* of traveling Chicago-LA in coach. The only time I was ever really late was a couple of years ago on the EB when traveling to Seattle from Spokane, on the next-to-last train that was able to get through from Chicago before being shut down for the six or seven weeks, whatever it was. In that instance we left Spokane 5 1/2 hrs. late and got into Seattle about 5 1/4 hours late. It was actually an advantage for me, as the only connection I had to make was with the pillow in my hotel room, and getting there that late solved the problem of what to do with my luggage at the hotel, as I would have gotten there before check-in time. This way I was able to get checked in right away.
On the other hand while flying, I have had three different flights canceled, all while flying back to Spokane from Champaign-Urbana. Two were weather-related (the trains ran in both instances
and the other due to mechanical issues. It didn't matter much except for one instance, when I was a couple of days late reporting to my second quarter of college, and I missed a mandatory class for those two days. Ordinarily I would have been booted from that class and would have had to take it the next quarter but the powers-that-be-granted an exception for exceptional circumstances. And one time, while flying from Bloomington to Spokane, I missed a connection in Minneapolis due to 1) a tight connection to begin with 2) the flight leaving Bloomington almost 45 minutes late 3) the flight losing more time at a stopover at the Quad-Cities airport and 4) having to fly way out around a thunderstorm near Minneapolis. We (my mom, nephew and I) just did miss being able to board the Spokane-bound plane at Minneapolis, and we had to settle for a flight to Seattle, then to Spokane. Problem was the flight to Seattle got in too late to catch a connecting flight to Spokane so we had to spend the night sleeping in Sea-Tac, a process rendered nearly impossible by a guy sleeping near us who was grinding his teeth in his sleep.
To top it all off, once I finally got back to Spokane the next morning, I found my car in the airport parking lot had a flat tire. :angry:
And a couple of times I didn't get luggage when I was supposed to, though in both cases it showed up the next day. One time involved making a two-hour round trip to the Spokane airport, and the second time it was delivered right to my mom's front porch from the airport overnight., Unfortunately, it poured down rain that night and we found our luggage soaked, but at least we got it.
And I've never had one bit of problem with luggage on Amtrak, simply because I've never checked luggage on it.
Having rambled on and on about my airliner woes :lol: I will say that if I have to be somewhere, I will fly. I have only X amount of vacation time available and I simply don't have time to take the train whenever I want to go someplace. I much prefer Amtak but for me it simply isn't practical or realistic in many cases. And I don't give a raw rat's rectum whether non-flyers like it or not.
h34r: 'Tis no one's business but my own when, whether, or where I fly.
*
Disclaimer: the negatives had to do with the COMFORT of traveling coach that distance and NOT with the coach passengers themselves.