Thursday morning, the snow started falling in Denver. Again. And for a bunch of people for whom snow is an oddity if not a nuisance, that meant frustration and delay and the real potential of sleeping in the Denver airport.
Everyone, that is, except us, the intrepid three who took The City of New Orleans and the California Zephyr.
That’s not to say we didn’t have our difficulties. The California Zephyr was supposed to leave Denver at 7:00 p.m., and when we arrived at the station, it had already been delayed four and a half hours. But not to worry, the agents said—you have a five+ hour layover in Chicago, and we can usually make up an hour on that leg of the trip. That delay extended another four and a half hours, thanks to a snow slide in Winter Park Colorado, and we didn’t board the Zephyr until 4:00 a.m., far beyond our layover period. We wound up losing two more hours between Denver and Chicago due to weather and traffic congestion, so we spent 21 hours total on the train, plus six in the Denver station.
So what did Amtrak do for us? They put an agent on the train at Omaha who arranged hotels, cab fare, and money for food (generously, too—no skimping) so we knew what was happening even before we got near to Chicago. We stayed at the Swissotel, a very nicely appointed place on East Wacker (although they charge for internet usage, which is why this post is so dated), they held our bags for us the next day while we went sightseeing—the Art Institute of Chicago is beyond incredible—and they basically went to every length to make certain we were comfortable even though we are now a day later getting back than we’d originally planned.
And we didn’t have to beg, plead, or threaten anyone to get this—they were proactive. They even threw in a free meal on the train itself. It wasn’t the greatest food, but free is free. And the porters and conductors, some of whom had been on the entire trip from San Francisco to Chicago, were the best. They took care of us poor folk in the Coach section, making sure we had whatever they could offer.
I’ve never had that level of commitment from an airline. If anything, my experience with airlines in the past has been a polar opposite, and I don’t understand why, since airlines have competitors and should ideally be doing everything they can to please their customers. If anything, you’d figure the Congressionally subsidized Amtrak would be the first to raise the single finger salute of “we don’t give a shit—who else are you going to go with?” to people who don’t like to fly and who have precious few options otherwise.
So Amtrak, thank you. And thanks to Debbie and Antonio and the guy down in the lounge car who kept the railroad coffee hot. Y’all deserve raises.
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What a lovely report. Let's hope that everyone at Amtrak is trying to bring Kummant's dream to fruition.
dilly Member # 1427
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Your report is a mirror image of my experience several months ago, when I traveled from New Orleans to Sacramento (via the City of New Orleans and California Zephyr). On my trip, the City of New Orleans was delayed in mid-route due to flood waters washing out the roadbed beneath the tracks.
Granted, no one from Amtrak boarded the flood-stricken train to sort out my travel arrangements (I called customer service myself, using my cell phone). But everyone aboard the train, including the coach passengers, was given a "complimentary lunch" in the dining car, as well as bottled water and snack packs in the lounge.
When we arrived at Chicago Union Station nine hours late (which meant I'd missed my connection to the California Zephyr), I headed straight for the Passenger Services office. The Amtrak representative I'd spoken with via cell phone was behind the desk, and had already reserved a hotel room for me, booked a new roomette for me aboard the next day's California Zephyr, and filled out a voucher for meal and taxi money.
Needless to say, despite the delay, I was a very satisfied passenger.
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Liberty Limited Member # 4300
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This "minor" amenity shows the drastic difference between Amtrak and the airlines. Last Friday, my buddy flew from Oakland to Baltimore via Atlanta on a major air carrier while the Northeast was getting hit with nasty weather. Depite asking in advance if the Atlanta-Baltimore leg was to be cancelled (as he could stay a while in SF with lodging and fly back Tuesday instead if they would let him), they simply herded him onto the OAK-ATL flight. On his arrival in ATL, THEN he finds that his ATL-BWI flight is cancelled. Instead of any lodging, meals, living allowance whatsovever, he is simply allowed to languish in the Atlanta airport for TWO DAYS before they finally squeeze him onto the last seat of a late flight which finally gets him home. Initially, it looked like he might have had to stay there for FOUR DAYS!
After this one, I told him he BETTER not EVER joke about the 4 hour delays we've encountered on Amtrak. Personally, I'd have been aboard the next Crescent the instant I'd have been told I might be in Atlanta on my own expense for several days.
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