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I just recieved an email from Guest Rewards giving me a choice of gifts. I chose 2 complimentry companion vouchers. I have no idea how to use them. I have already booked a round trip in February EUG-PDX-CHI-BOS and a friend said he wanted to go with me. I was going to have him put on the tickets when I picked them up but now I wondering if these vouchers will help. I had a roomette booked for every leg so I figured I would just have to pay a coach fare for my friend. Does anyone know??
Posts: 139 | From: myrtle creek oregon | Registered: Jul 2006
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I registered two of them, and I got an email confirmation on both. Give it a shot---it might work for you too.
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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Vicki---Yup, I will continue to ride the Capitol Corridor since they have their act together. I will use the free companion ticket offer on that train, and I will use the upgrade coupon on Acela next time I'm back east (if I get back east before the coupons expire), or on a Surfliner. But Amtrak long-distance---no way Jose!
BTW, I'm in the planning stages for taking my first trip on VIA's Canadian. It's something I've always wanted to do, and my recent disgust with Amtrak has prompted me to finally go up yonder and give it a try.
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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I think (hope) you will love the Canadian. My particular problem with Amtrak, as you probably have noticed, is the food. And I know that is on your list of problems. The VIA food is superb.
We slept in a section which I can't even compare to a roomette. The beds are much bigger and the mattresses thicker, the shared bathrooms (men's and women's!) have room to dress and only handle the six people in the sections. I must admit though, I did not examine the mattress itself under the sheet.
And of course the observation domes that allow you to see over the top of the single level cars in front of you are grand.
-------------------- Vicki in usually sunny Southern California Posts: 951 | From: Redondo Beach, CA | Registered: Aug 2006
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I've heard really great things about The Canadian. I can't wait to ride it! Filet Mignon---now that beats the Amtrak "special" any day. I'm looking forward to the first class domes also. Heck, I'm looking forward to ALL of it.
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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Thank you for the link to the Canadian's menu. WOW!!!! Now I have to ask myself....how can VIA do things so nicely, and Amtrak is such a mess?
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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the food sounds great but I wonder how much is the fare for a section? There is nothing like that on Amtrak. As I understand it there is no privacy during the day as in a roomette. Perhaps our Canadian posters can answer this..does Via have the same problems with the Canadian Gov't as Amtrak has with ours/ If not that would explain a lot. You know Smitty I can understand your frustration but could it be that that is coloring your thinking. I just don't see Amtrk as the same mess you do.
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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I've taken a "virtual" tour of VIA's sleeping cars, and I also spoke with a friend who has taken the Canadian twice. The room layouts are similar, although not identical, to Amtrak. VIA offers a "berth" which does not offer much privacy, and only has a curtain that you pull closed when you go to sleep. But they also offer traditional rooms called a single, double, and triple. I will probably be reserving a single bedroom if I'm understanding all of the nomenclature and terms correctly.
I'd like to hear from our Canadian neighbors also as to how VIA is funded, and if they have the same types of funding frustrations that we go through with Congress. I honestly don't know how VIA is setup financially. Although I do know this much---VIA has older equipment that is in much better shape that Amtrak's equipment that is more than twice as new. Amtrak is already talking about replacing "old" equipment, which doesn't make much sense to me when I see a railroad like VIA handling things with excellence.
My frustration towards Amtrak is something that I probably can't describe adequately in the manner that I'm feeling it. I have been VERY loyal to Amtrak over the years (28 years of long-distance train travel, as well as being an AGR Select Plus customer), and my frustration and mostly disappointment I suppose has finally reached it's boiling point. I constantly see Amtrak trying to reinvent the wheel, waste money, tolerate mediocrity, and so many other things that I find ridiculous. The only thing that Amtrak is consistent with is inconsistency. It is very troubling to me that their OBS employees are RARELY held accountable. I suppose I have a lot of "inside baseball" knowledge, so without me sharing some of these things, I am probably not expressing things the best way that I could. If people take an Amtrak trip for a vacation once or twice a year and enjoy it, that's great---I definitely have no problem with that at all. But there are people who do this who are not railfans and know nothing about Amtrak or train travel, and the incidents that they encounter are ridiculous.
Just a small example of what I term, "typical Amtrak" is something my mom called me about this morning. My mom knows nothing about Amtrak, and hasn't stepped foot on an Amtrak train in at least 10 years. She tried asking Amtrak some questions this morning about taking her grand-daughter on a train trip from San Jose (California) to Sacramento (California). She wanted to leave San Jose sometime around mid-morning or early afternoon. The Amtrak agent told her that her ONLY option was to take a bus to Oakland, and then take the train to Sacramento, and this was at 8PM. My mom thought this didn't sound right, so she called me. Of course I knew this was wrong, and she had been "Amtrak'ed" (to copy someone else's term). So I booked the reservations online for her. And if you want to see another "typical Amtrak" thing, try this for yourself:
Go to Amtrak's home page, and try to book a trip for ONE adult and ONE child, one-way, from San Jose to Sacramento. Continue as far as you can with making your reservation, and watch what happens. Amtrak will book you on THREE coach seats---not two. I found that the only way to work around this was to book a total of ONE passenger (on the home page), and then select ONE adult and ONE child. When you do this, it will still give your reservation as ONE adult, ONE child, and ONE infant, for a total of TWO coach seats. When the web page asked for the name of the infant, I just put "Gomer Pyle". I could not find any other way to book an adult and a child without getting it to either give 3 coach seats, or 2 coach seats with an infant.
I have lots and lots of Amtrak stories, and I've overlooked almost all of them over the years. I think what finally pushed my buttons were the disastrous re-launch of the Coast Starlight (and the flubs continue even today), and the trip over Tehacahpi (which was great, by the way) where both trains---11 and 14---experienced locomotive and HEP failures. On my train, the trailing locomotive was written up again and again for a mechanical problem, but the lazy mechanics just signed it off because it "looks good to me".
Sorry for my rant, but I really do have a basis in my opinions.
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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