Allen Uni
map-marker Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Amtrak never again

In summary taking Amtrak was a terrible experience. Arrogant unfriendly personnel, dirty bathrooms, cold temperatures because A.C. is turned up too high, dirty windows, too uncomfortable to get any sleep, trains don't run on time, for what they charge for a sleeper you may as well fly. I would never take Amtrak again, I would drive first. We took the Southwest Chief from Chicago to L.A. , CA, 2 Reserved Coach Seats, departed 09-JUN-10; 3:15 pm - arrival 11-JUN-10; 8:15 am . This is what we experienced on the trip to L.A. We were assigned seats by an Amtrak employee before boarding the train. Our seats were #3 and #4 on the last car of the train. We had all of bags in place and were all settled in. Then about 20 min. after the train pulled out of the station, the attendant for our car who's name is Francis told us that we could not sit in those seats, they were for her and that we had to move. I told her that we were assigned those seats at the station, she said that they didn't know what they were doing and we had to move. We were some what embarrassed in front of the other passengers, since Francis made us feel like we were trying to get away with something. So took our luggage and moved to the new seats. Shortly there after we decided to go to the observation car, we spent maybe an hour and a half in the observation car and returned to our seats. When we returned to our car there were 2 people sitting in the seats that Francis removed us from. When I asked Francis why there were people sitting in those seats she said they over booked the train so she had to seat them there. Well the train was not over booked. The rest of the evening and next day Francis sat in the seats across from this couple and spent a lot of time talking to them, I suspect they were her friends and she wanted them to sit in the back across from her and that's why she moved us. Francis was arrogant and not very friendly, she seemed to be bothered if you asked her a question. She spent a lot of her time texting on her cell phone. Sometime during the second day she moved up to the car in front of us along with her friends. Some other people then sat in the seats she removed us from. All of the windows on the train were dirty, the windows on the observation car were very dirty, we could hardly see out of some of the windows, very disappointing since that's one of the reasons for riding the train. The bathrooms were always dirty but by the second day the sinks were clogged up, water was to the top. Some were out of paper towels. I saw a passenger put paper towels in one of the bathrooms, I don't know where she got them from. I guess Francis was too busy texting. During the second evening my wife came back from the restroom and told me that when she passed the baggage area she didn't see one of my suit cases. I went down to the baggage area and could not find one of my suit cases. I was now almost frantic thinking of the things I had in my bag that would be lost. I informed one of the conductors that my bag was missing, he went down to the baggage area with me, asked me to describe my bag, I did, he then took me to another car, showed me a bag that was stored above a seat that had a passenger in it and asked me if that was my bag, and it was. He told me that sometimes they move people's bags from the baggage area so that can have room for larger suit cases. How can they move people's bags with out telling them. If my wife hadn't noticed that my bag was missing what would I have done when we got to our destination. Amtrak has no consideration for it's passengers. Forget about trying to sleep in coach. The seats are very uncomfortable, they give you a very small pillow about 12" by 8" and don't even think of asking for two. The temperature was freezing at night, they wouldn't turn off the air, grown men were bundle led up in blankets and wore hoodies. Also the aisle lights are so bright they keep you awake, I was lucky if I got an hour of sleep each night. No A.C. outlets by the passenger seats. The only electrical A.C. outlets were 2 of them on the observation car, of course everyone and their brother wanted to plug in. We were almost an hour late leaving Albuquerque, N.M., the morning of our arrival the conductor told me we would be a good 45 min.late arriving in L.A. So I called my son who was picking us up that we would be about an hour late. I don't know how the engineer did it but we ended up getting to L.A. around 45 min earlier than what our original scheduled time was. So of course we had a long wait at the L.A. station for my son to pick us up. The return trip, Southwest Chief, from Los Angeles to Chicago 19-JUN-10; 6:55 pm โ€“ arrival 21-JUN-10; 3:10 pm. The return trip was slightly better than the train going out. But again we had a rude, arrogant attendant named Antonio. Again the air was turned way up and it was freezing at night. Earlier in the day an elderly man asked Antonio if he could turn the air down since it was cold on the car, Antonio was almost rude to him and told him that he couldn't and wouldn't turn it down. That evening I asked Antonio to turn down the air, it was too cold to try and sleep, again grown men were bundled in blankets wearing hoodies. Antonio told me that if tried to turn down the air he might break it and then we wouldn't have air conditioning the next day, what kind of *** is that. Again about an hour's sleep all night. The other thing on this car was the guy running the snack bar would come on the P.A. system about every half an hour trying to sell his snacks, drinks and food, Very Annoying. All the windows were again dirty. The bathrooms were kept a little better. This time we kept all of our bags with us. An attendant named Nina did try and keep things cleaner than the first train, she was often going around with a vacuum. The train arrived about an hour and a half late to Chicago.
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4 comments
Guest

I have been taking Amtrak for 6 years now on the same route (Chicago to Syracuse NY) & it has NEVER once been on time for me. I'm still shocked by this since their quoted arrival time is down to the minute, 9:38, EIGHT! Give me a break! IT IS ALWAYS 2 hours late at the least, to and from. Flights have way more to manage up there in the skies & I've never been as consistently late with them.

People who claim you are a whiner due to the cold air probably haven't experienced it. You absolutely Cannot sleep it is so fridged. I wear 3 layers and carry a wool blanket & still wake due to the cold. It is insane! According to this one guy (hitting on me) who worked on the train, there is basically just an "on" & "off" switch to this air. I had told him how some paasengers requested to turn the air off then later that night after it had warmed, it was back on again, and fridged. The "on/off" switch explains that. He also explained that, yes, it is to keep the smell of humans at bay. Gross.

Speaking of which, yeah, I agree on the bathrooms. Aqlways dirty, always *** soaked, clogged discust. I can't go on enough.

And the staff, aside from usually being very rude in many ways, some don't even seem all there and are rude. I found no grey areas. You get exceptionally possitive one (who may not necessarily be helpful but annoyingly "cutesy" in responses when you just want answers) to completely crude, harsh, rude!

As for smokers, I was out with some once by the dining cart. The man closed the door we all needed to return on and when we all looked up w/ open palms like,"what are you doing?" He pointed down to the next cart. We had to run to it as the train was starting to move. Why would he do that when he let us out!? Wth!? And many still had books, meals, etc. Open and out in the dining car waiting for them. So we now had to "catch" the train & back track several cars. Why would he do that? Crazy!!

I really cannot complaim enough about Amtrak. If you're always going to be late due to freight, or whatever, I don't care, just change the effin times to reflect what is always in store, clean you quarters you dirtbags, and human kindness (especially after paying for this trip) isn't so much to ask for!

BTW, come to find out the worker hitting on me & trying to get me to go to a concert with him, was married! No wonder he didn't like thee idea of facebooking him! Haha! Hopefully I can get off this train in the next hour seeing as how it's already 6 late & sitting on the tracks is getting old. I love freezing food to make it across state (which normally I do and it just makes the trip); to waste it, & go fig, I bought extra this time... >:( so pissed!

Guest

For "Paul"

Just because they rode coach is not reason for substandard treatment and service you drooling ***

Guest

Amtrak personnel is notoriously rude. The freight carrier I work for "deadheads" us on Amtrak frequently, and I pity anyone who pays to ride on Amtrak. Remember, Amtrak is run by the federal government, so the employees act accordingly. If you are a smoker (which I'm not), prepare to be treated like a hobo. I have witnessed conductors and brakemen scream at people over stepping off for a cigarette. What a way to treat your customers. They will also scream at you for other reasons.

The equipment Amtrak operates on these trains (#3 and #4) is the oldest and most deteriorated of the fleet, or else the entire fleet is in disrepair. The toilets are disgusting and the floors are disgusting. They almost always the AC at full blast, I think to keep the smell of humanity (3 days no shower) down. I ride these trains frequently (for free), and it's always like this.

Finally, for the record, there was not just one engineer; the conductors and engineers operate their portion of the route then change crews, only the attendants and dining car staff stay with the train the entire way....and the engine crew cannot "make up" any time, the schedule has a lot of cushioning built into it so that every train makes up some time. If they get ahead en route, they dwell at a station until the scheduled time of departure. It is against railroad rules to leave early.

Guest

It is a big mistake riding coach for any longer than about eight hours. No sympathy for not doing some homework on that part of it.

The guy making announcements from the snack bar... he must have been using a blow horn to bother you that much. Windows getting dirty... remember how your car windows would get dirty after driving on a long trip!!?

Cold temperatures, dirty bathrooms, can't get a good night sleep in coach... good grief how did you survive such an ordeal!!? Do me a favor...

stay off of Amtrak and take a cruise instead. :cry

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