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Another example of Amtrak waiting until 1 month out to notify customers about broken connections. They announced the severed 14/28 connection around March 26th, yet waited until now to contact this traveler. Not too cool.
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Because the new EB schedule isn't 100 percent Amtrak's fault, I can understand how Corporate would be frustrated with having to re-accommodate passengers. But they should have gotten on the job immediately to minimize problems. If riders have plenty of notice about the change, they might be able to modify their plans. Unfortunately, if chocolates in the sleepers and flowers in the diner are too expensive, an overnight accommodation for a broken connection is very unlikely. My past experience is that when Amtrak drops the ball, they really drop the ball. Beware.
Posts: 831 | From: Seattle | Registered: Jan 2011
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Reference Mr. Snow's immediate; unless Mr. Hobo 13 is a member here or another rail passenger discussion site, I woder where he came up with the CS, EB, kind of stuff?
Use of those alphabet soup terms around an Amtrak employee for whom 'it's just a job', will surely get you blank stares and maybe a 'huh'.
Posts: 9977 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Thanks to those who have given me 'suggestions' on how to dispose of my transportation points for which, quite honestly, 'I can't be bothered' (hotel points; diff story, as I'll be using 'em in Madison tomorrow nite).
But when my friend Carol tells me about that little sojourn (BTW, where is UNOHOO?) on puddle jumpers KORD-KDEN no less (she has 'issues' with flying anyway, but 'grits it out' as the only reasonable and practical means to an end), I just say (even to her) 'can't be bothered'. Besides, I don't fly enough to make a difference.
But I know many do; the stories of 'point chasers' abound with jumping through hoops to get those things. But I guess some actually put them to use.
At a School reunion last month in town, one of my classmates whom I hadn't seen in fifty years, made the scene. On leaving school, Roy certainly appeared to be on a Princeton/Harvard MBA/Goldman Partner track, but somewhere he fell off, and showed up looking like a hippie (I didn't recognize him, but he did me thanks to my badge). He nevertheless settled (married three times along the way) in a 'Bohemian' community around these parts (Oak Park) and owns several laundromats. He said he pays for everything, business and personal, with a United Airlines affinity card, and further said he earns enough points so that he and his current edition 'squeeze' can go overseas every year. When I told him I was going overseas this July - and paying for it, he said 'Gil, just get yourself one of these cards and you'll never pay for an airplane ride again'.
If one is still with me on this point-chasing mania rant, this could have been nipped in the bud back during 1981 when these rewards plans were first conceived by the newly deregulated airlines - and at which time 60% was considered a break even load factor. Right from Day One, any party that ultimately paid for the travel, e.g. company reimbursed, should have had claim to those points, but as things evolved, the airlines decreed that those points belonged to the traveler - and since they set the rules for the programs, they prevailed.
Finally, I once learned that a 'Fortune 100' solved that immediate problem by prohibiting any employee traveling on their dime from claiming points for any flight or hotel. To what extent, they have been successful in enforcing such, or if the policy still remains in force, I know not.
Posts: 9977 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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