posted
First off, thanks to everyone here who convinced me earlier this summer to take the Coast Starlight from Portland to LA instead of flying. I very much appreciate all of the advice I received then, as well as the tips and knowledge I gleaned from perusing a few of the other threads here in the meantime.
Before I offer up my TR, I should explain a few things that are going to make it slightly different from other Coast Starlight TR's.
1. While I've always enjoyed riding trains, I don't travel on them often and I don't know all of the jargon and details that so many other folks here do. So please forgive me in advance for sounding like the newbie and amateur that I am.
2. I work at Disneyland in operations as a Guest Service Manager in the Park. That's going to taint my perspective just a bit, as I can't help but take my 10 years of work experience at Disneyland with me when I experience other customer service environments. Instead of trying to turn off my inner Disneylander with this TR, I've decided to just go for it and use it as a perspective that might shed a new light on the Amtrak experience for some folks here.
3. I thought I also might do a brief recap of the overall trip, and then offer my thoughts on the experience in a The Good, The Bad & The Ugly format. I've seen it done in other TR's on Disneyland websites that we monitor as management, and I like that format.
So here goes....
I flew from Orange County up to Portland on Alaska Airlines, which was a very nice experience. Only about fifty bucks extra for a First Class seat meant my wine glass was never empty and there was plenty of room to relax in a big leather seat. A few days later after visiting family in Portland I was at Portland Union Station awaiting the southbound Coast Starlight. Union Station is wonderfully renovated, and Portland deserves kudos for keeping the surrounding area clean and scrubbed. The new MAX light rail line opens just a block beyond the station in '09, so that will be a bonus for travelers arriving there for sure.
I was on the Coast Starlight train #11 leaving Portland on July 31st and arriving in LAX on August 1st. Although I didn't get to Anaheim until the early morning of August 2nd, but more on that later.
I knew from reading here that I could check in at the Metropolitan Lounge, and I headed straight for it after taking a few moments to enjoy the gleaming marble of the Portland station lobby. The ticket agent/lounge hostess sitting at the desk inside the door greeted me with a smile and asked where I was headed. I gave her my ticket, she saw that I was on the Starlight to LA in a Sleeper, and she crossed my name off a list. She wrote out my car number and room number on a plain index card and gave it to me, with a few brief instructions on boarding time, luggage storage in the lounge, etc. She never did ask for my ID, so I really could have been anybody with that ticket. There was half of me that was thankful for a more innocent pre-9/11 environment in the lounge, but then there was half of me that thought "I bet Homeland Security would be horrified to see how easy it is to get on a big cross country train these days".
The Starlight arrived on time and the 15 or so other passengers waiting in the lounge headed out onto the tracks to find our cars. My Coast Starlight consisted of two engines, a single level baggage car, a dorm car for crew, four coaches, a Sightseer Lounge car, a dining car, a Pacific Parlor Car, and three Sleeper Cars bringing up the rear. There was another Superliner train sitting there near the Starlight, as well as a Cascades Talgo that had arrived a few minutes earlier from the south. While my airport travel experience a few days earlier was a series of x-rays and multiple ID checks and thinly veiled suspicion the entire way from the airport curb to my airline seat, the train station experience was a complete 180 from that. Anyone could wander out to the train and climb aboard any of the multiple open doors, and no one had ever asked to see my ID. All I showed the polite attendant at car 1131 was an index card with a room number written on it in black sharpie pen. I found that fascinating! Apparently terrorists aren't interested in long distance train travel?
After reading about car differences here, I discerned from the fake wood paneling and blue upholstery that my Sleeper car was a Superliner I car that had been refurbished. My roomette was made up with two pillows and it looked clean and tidy. I left my big bag downstairs on the luggage rack, and took my small garment bag up with me to the room. After hanging up a shirt and slacks, and putting my toiletry bag on the shelf in the closet, my garment bag fit perfectly in the narrow closet. That roomette is perfect for one person, and I prefer it to the bigger bedrooms I saw later in the trip.
The train departed a few minutes behind schedule, and once we passed OMSI and into the industrial area south of town I left my room to head to the Parlor Car. I thought maybe a conductor or someone would come by my room to check my ticket and ID, but after waiting 15 minutes with no Amtrak staff in sight, I left the roomette to explore the train. No one ever questioned me again about tickets or ID for the rest of the trip.
The rest of the trip was rather uneventful, but overall pleasant. We did arrive in LAX about 4 hours and 15 minutes late, getting in at 1:20AM instead of the scheduled 9:00PM arrival. That meant we were bussed down to Orange County instead of taking the 10:00PM Surfliner, and it got a bit ugly the last couple of hours or so, but that was really the only hiccup of the trip. The rest of my thoughts will be in The Good, The Bad & The Ugly that follows:
THE GOOD -
My sleeping car attendant, Angela, was very nice. She was relaxed and laid back, but attentive at the same time. There are fewer and fewer people these days that have a knack for customer service, but Angela had it. She always seemed chipper and upbeat, and always was ready with a smile whenever I saw her interact with the other passengers. I never asked her for any sort of special service or request, but I have no doubt she would have fulfilled it happily. She did stay rather busy with an eldery couple downstairs in the handicapped room, delivering them meals and checking in on them, etc. She always made happy small talk with us when we would stop for extended station breaks in Oakland, etc., and on one occasion she asked me how I was enjoying the book I was reading and how the subject matter had always sounded interesting to her. She struck the perfect balance of attentive service and relaxed hospitality. Bravo Angela!
The uniforms the train staff wore were very impressive. In this day and age when any service staff seems to get more and more casual, it was very nice to see the Amtrak staff outfitted in profesional business attire. It would be cheaper and easier for Amtrak to put everyone in polo shirts like Southwest Airlines does, but instead I was impressed to see the conductors and Sleeping Car attendants in suits and ties, and Angela in a smart slacks/blouse/vest/scarf uniform for the entire trip. There was also a "Customer Service Manager" of some sort on the train, and he wore a grey suit and nice tie for the trip.
At Disneyland we still have a strict dress code for salaried management that many companies ditched in the 1990's, as well as the often elaborate "costumes" the Park hosts/hostesses wear while operating rides or serving food, etc. You don't see those types of uniforms on customer service employees much these days, but Amtrak still kept up a modern but formal appearance with their entire staff. It made the Amtrak employees look sharp and profesional instead of too-casual and sloppy like so many customer service employees look nowadays. Bravo Amtrak for keeping up the old appearance standards!
The Dining Car was great. I had several meals in the dining car, and the food was always good with good service to match. I was worried after reading on here about the new food service techniques Amtrak is using, but my meals on the Starlight were overall very good. Did it rival a good restaurant? No. But did it satisfy and surpass anything you could find on a domestic plane flight? Yes, by a mile. I did notice the synthetic tablecloths and the upscale plastic plates, but the napkins were linen and the silverware and glassware were real. I had a half bottle of wine with each dinner, and I enjoyed that they uncorked it and poured it right there at the table. The real flowers at each table was also a nice touch. It may not be like dining on the train 40 years ago, but it's still much better than anything you'll get on a domestic plane flight today.
The other nice thing about the dining car was being seated with random people at each meal. I was always seated with folks riding in the coaches, but they were just as polite and fun to talk with as anyone in the sleepers. I met a hilarious 72 year old lady from Mississippi at lunch on the second day, and she was a hoot and a real delight to talk with. I noticed nearly every other table was chatting away with their tablemates at each meal. Where else but a train can four random strangers be seated together and almost be forced to make conversation with each other? It's a very egalitarian way to get to know your fellow Americans, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Pacific Parlor Car was fun. It's a great spot to get away from your room for a bit, and offers the chance to socialize with other passengers and to take in the view from both sides of the train. I loved the 20 inch LCD-TV screen that showed the trains current location on a map and the current speed of the train. The concept of a separate lounge car for sleeper passengers has a lot of merit, as you could only accomplish something like the wine tasting with a separate car like that. The dome car roof is just too cool, even in the 21st century!
The refurbished Superliner I sleeping car. The other two sleeping cars weren't as nice as mine, and I guess they were unrefurbished Superliner II cars. The bathroom was small but clean and modern and easy to maneuver through, and I was actually able to shave and everything in the morning in one of them. I liked the fake wood paneling and the blue upholstery and carpet. Although there was a bit too much linoleum on the floors, and I think they should have only used it on the stairs and around the luggage rack and downstairs bathroom. Carpet may be harder to maintain, but it makes for a nicer appearance in a train car. Overall though, they should remodel all of the sleeper cars to look like the Superliner I car that I rode in.
I did like that a Sacramento Bee newspaper was slid under my door in the morning just as I was waking up. Thanks Angela!
THE BAD -
Drawing on my Disneyland perspective, there was a lack of showmanship that was painfully obvious in spots. For instance, in the dining car one evening I was seated across the aisle from a booth that was being used for storage of utensils, condiments and table accesories. Instead of storing these items in a closet or downstairs somewhere, they were piled up and stored on the table and seats of a booth designed for dining. After 25+ years of using Superliner equipment, surely Amtrak would have captured the operational nuances needed to serve dinner effectively and needn't store that stuff right next to paying customers? Something tells me that a dining car booth piled high with supplies during dinner is a combination of bad design overall AND a simple lack of effort from the dining car staff on that trip. There has to be a better way. And if there simply isn't with the equipment they currently have, then fix it. They've been running that train for decades, they should know how to design an effective dining car.
I went to the Sightseer Lounge Car to buy a drink, and one of the few booths downstairs in the Cafe' area was also being used to store piles of snack bar supplies. Seriously, is there not somewhere else on the entire train where that junk could be kept? Seats are for passengers, not supplies.
Also falling into the poor showmanship category were the few times I saw some of the train staff snacking, drinking or using their personal cell phones while in the presence of customers in the lounge car or sleeper cars. At Disneyland it's strictly off limits for anyone to eat or drink or smoke or chew gum or use your cell phone while you are "On Stage" in the Park, especially if you are wearing a costume and working. The train attendants work hard and are human, but their cell phones should be kept hidden until they get back to their dorm car and are away from the passengers. During wine tasting, there was a male attendant who kept snacking on the crackers and cheese set out inbetween pouring wine for passengers. Why not wait for your break to have a snack, instead of in front of the passengers you are serving?
The Pacific Parlor Car has so much potential, and yet I could tell it was an operational afterthought on my trip. Aside from the 45 minutes of wine tasting, it was entirely unstaffed for the rest of the trip. Passengers naturally congregated there, but there was no real service offered. The bar/kitchen area I could tell had been refurbished at some point in the last 10 years, but it was abandoned.
Also abandoned was the downstairs theater, which was never used and never mentioned by the Amtrak staff. The DigEPlayer thing has probably put that out of business, but why not put in some more easy chairs or card tables for people to use? At the front of the car was a cabinet that housed a single ratty looking board game and a half dozen very tired paperback books that weren't at all worth reading.
Why not set up an area with useable board games and several newspapers? A few current USA Todays, Wall Street Journals and the latest daily newspapers from along the route would be much more useful than some trashy beach novels no one wants to read. Also, how about staffing the bar with an actual bartender, particularly during the Cocktail Hour and in the evening? They could also sell some Amtrak or Starlight souvenirs there too. (I would have bought a souvenir of the trip if one had been available for purchase.) The upholstery was getting a bit worn, and the curtains and amenities had all seen better days. Overall the Parlor Car was a nice addition, but it clearly wasn't being used to its full potential and was just sort of this extra car stuck into the middle of the train without much energy or resources given to it. They could do so much with that car if they wanted to!
Which brings me to my other thought in THE BAD category, the overall condition of the train. It was clean and kept tidy by the onboard staff, but once you started really looking at it you realized that the equipment probably all needs to be retired, and soon. The cars are showing their age and creaks and groans and duct tape were common throughout. I never felt unsafe or uncomfortable, but the Amtrak Superliner fleet is obviously from a 20th century era since passed.
And finally, there's the pesky but important issue of some of the details that were missing or not properly attended to. This plays to the issue of showmanship, but there were some aspects of the trains operation and its design that needed help. The cardboard boxes with plastic bags that served as trash cans were very tacky. They placed these about randomly in the lounge car, the downstairs of the Sleeper, etc. They need to find a more permanent and classier solution to a trash receptacle. There was also things that were missing, like a tablecloth for my table in my rommette. The Amtrak brochure shows a tablecloth and flower vase on that table, but it was missing. A table cloth, flowers, a little basket of soaps and toiletries, a mint on my pillow when Angela made up by bed, etc. should have all greeted me in my roomette. It would probably only cost four or five dollars per passenger to add that stuff to the Sleeping Car experience in bulk, but it would add immeasurably to the atmosphere of the train.
THE UGLY -
My Sleeping Car made this horrible sqeaking/groaning noise when the train moved at a slow to moderate speed. It seemed to be coming from below the window frame in my room, and at first I thought it was just my window. But later in the trip I overheard a man complaining about it to Angela in his room too, and she said there wasn't much she could do but have it written up. She explained that the car was "very old" and it just does that in spots. Luckily I brought ear plugs to sleep with, and by the second day I almost could ignore it. Still, it was annoying.
By the time we got to Oakland we were running five hours late. No big deal, after reading here and checking out Amtrakdelays.com, I was prepared to arrive in LA very late at some godawful hour of the morning. Sure enough, we pulled into LA Union Station at 1:20AM, over four hours behind schedule. I obviously missed the connecting Surfliner to Orange County, and wasn't upset or worried. But what transpired in the last 120 minutes of the 36 hour trip was rather ugly.
The attendant making train announcements as we approached LA was a woman who had absolutely no enthusiasm and rather poor diction. Instead of the crisp and polite train announcements we'd had from Portland to Santa Barbara, this gal was making announcements like a bored subway driver slurring into the PA system. As we neared LA Union Station, she began making vague allusions to buses that would take us to points south and that we should "just go into the terminal and turn right to get to the buses". Uh, okay, if you say so.
Sure enough, after we wandered through the lobby we found a door leading to buses. The profesionalism of the Coast Starlight melted away, and I found a small fleet of buses driven by men in jeans and casual shirts with absolutely no identification or nametags on them. The buses were a ragtag bunch of tourist coaches, and I was eventually directed to one headed to Anaheim. After sitting for 30 minutes, the bus driver finally climbed aboard at 2:00AM and simply shut the door and drove away without any announcement or anything. He never said a word.
After a stop at Fullerton, at 3:00AM we were dropped off at the Anaheim station by the mute bus driver, and as we stepped off an Amtrak station agent was standing on the curb. She had a dour look on her face and couldn't be more grumpy if she tried. She started barking orders about getting your bag claims out for her inspection, and since I had never been given a bag claim in Portland or heard one word about bag claims previously I simply ignored her and reached into the cargo hold and got my own luggage out myself.
The bus drives away, and about a dozen of us are left there on the curb in the middle of the night. A woman asks the Amtrak agent where the taxicabs are, and the agent points at the pay phone and says "I'm not in charge of getting you home. You can call whoever you want". That set the lady off and she asked to see a manager, and the Amtrak attendant glared at the lady and said "Call the 1-800 number in the morning if you want to complain about me!". Uh... WELCOME TO ANAHEIM FOLKS!
With that, the agent was off, and she hustled into the closed station and locked the door behind her. To top it off, she quickly turned off the remaining lights in the station, and so now we are all just standing there in the darkened parking lot at 3:00AM without a taxi in sight. I was amazed at how rude the Amtrak agent was after being relatively spoiled by the Starlight staff.
Out come the cell phones and some folks try to find an ad for a taxi service somewhere on the station wall, without any luck. I thought to call the Disneyland Hotel as I happen to know the direct line there. I quickly explained who I was and what was going on, and I asked the night desk clerk to call Yellow Cab's hotel hotline and rustle up a half dozen cabs ASAP. The Disneyland Hotel desk clerk jumped into action without hesitation, I'm proud to say. 10 minutes later the first cab shows up and we all let the family with some infant children have it. A minute later two more cabs show up and us locals gave them to the tourists going to a convention in Anaheim, as it seemed like the Chamber of Commerce thing to do even at 3:30AM. And then another cab shows up and I shared it with an elderly couple who lived very close to me. By 3:45AM I was home, but the last two hours of the trip left a bad taste in my mouth.
How would I have done it differently if I was in Amtrak management? Obviously one look at www.amtrakdelays.com can tell you that the Starlight is consistently at least three or four hours late and all connecting passengers to OC and SD counties miss the last Surfliner. This is not an unplanned emergency for them, this is basically how they operate almost every night. They should have this bus routine down pat by now, even while they put on a little show for the passengers and let them think they are going the extra mile to get them home at that late hour. (Anyone who has worked in customer service knows what I mean with that one!)
Once you get people on the right Surfliner bus, take a tally on the passenger manifest of who will need a cab at which station. As the buses depart, call the local cab companies at the OC and SD stations and inform them that a certain number of taxicabs will be needed at Fullerton at 2:45AM, Anaheim at 3:00AM, Irvine at 3:30AM, etc. Call the agent at each station with the passenger names and numbers who will be arriving, and let each agent know of any special help they might need.
That grumpy agent in Anaheim could have scored huge points by simply saying "Hello folks! We're so sorry for the late hour, but we've got the cabs waiting for you right over here, and Mrs. Smith let me help you with that baby seat." That type of thing wouldn't be rocket science to pull off correctly, as even I thought a way out of it all in about 20 seconds.
No one was blaming Amtrak for the late arrival, as the Starlight staff did a great job of explaining how the freight trains get priority and there's not much Amtrak can do. But with just a few quick phone calls and a different tone the sloppy bus situation in LA and the final arrival in Anaheim could have been a dramatically better way to end the trip. Just a few nice words from the Anaheim agent would have helped. Something tells me this is the rule, not the exception, and the same thing played out in Fullerton, Irvine, Solana Beach, etc.
Overall, I'm glad I took the Coast Starlight back from Portland. Would I do it again? Sure, as long as I didn't have anywhere important to be the next day after I arrived. Would I do it again if they got rid of the Parlor Car, or noticeably decreased their service levels? No, I wouldn't. The scenery was fantastic and the overall experience was lots of fun, but in its current state the Coast Starlight is balancing a little too close to the edge when it comes to overall service and amenities. If the Coast Starlight changes too much for the worse, I couldn't justify it when a First Class airline ticket on Alaska is priced just a bit LESS than my Roomette from PDX to LAX.
The service, or lack thereof, I received from the local Amtrak staff in LA and Anaheim ranged from poor to horrible. The Amtrak agent in Anaheim could have been the star of an employee training video on how NOT to treat your customers at 3:00AM! It was embarassing for me as an OC local to see our arriving tourists and conventioneers treated so shabbily by the Anaheim agent, which was why I jumped into fix-it mode and got the Disneyland Hotel on top of the taxicab situation.
On the flip side, would I pay an additional 50 or 100 dollars for the Coast Starlight if they beefed up amenities and overall service for Sleeping Car passengers? You bet! But Amtrak better make sure that very grumpy gal that met us in Anaheim at 3:00AM finds a different line of work.
Posts: 56 | From: Orange County, CA | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
Thank you for that interesting perspective. I'm glad you had a good train trip, but certainly am disappointed that Amtrak had such a surly agent in Anaheim. After every trip I always write to Amtrak and give them names of both good and bad employees.
I have a few comments on your comments:
quote: Bravo Angela!
I'll second that! Angela took great care of my wife and I a couple years ago, and she was in the adjacent car on my last trip as well. She is a sweetheart.
quote: I did notice the synthetic tablecloths and the upscale plastic plates, but the napkins were linen and the silverware and glassware were real.
Glad to see they're back to real glassware. Last fall it was plastic "glasses" with rough edges.
quote:I loved the 20 inch LCD-TV screen that showed the trains current location on a map and the current speed of the train.
This may be a new feature, or it may be the work of one of the sleeper attendants. Roger, who was my attendant last fall, had a GPS setup in one of the roomettes. (There was no parlour car on that particular trip). If Roger was on board, perhaps this was his doing.
quote: I was seated across the aisle from a booth that was being used for storage of utensils, condiments and table accesories. Instead of storing these items in a closet or downstairs somewhere, they were piled up and stored on the table and seats of a booth designed for dining. After 25+ years of using Superliner equipment, surely Amtrak would have captured the operational nuances needed to serve dinner effectively and needn't store that stuff right next to paying customers?
I think this is more a design fault of Superliners in general. Superliners are a product of 1970s engineering. Those were the days when "efficiency" took precedence over everything else. Service and aesthetics were considered as unnecessary frills in those days. In the dining car, the goal was to cram as many booths as possible into the upper level, to feed as many people as possible, so storage was not adequately considered. The kitchen and food storage takes up the whole downstairs, so that doesn't leave any space for storing those frivolous linens.
Superliner rest rooms are also a product of that level of thinking. Pre-superliner rest rooms had two to three times as much space. Some even had a full smoking lounge with a sofa!
quote: The Pacific Parlor Car has so much potential, and yet I could tell it was an operational afterthought on my trip. Aside from the 45 minutes of wine tasting, it was entirely unstaffed for the rest of the trip.
You rode the train during a period between the glory days and a scheduled "re-launch" planned later this month. Since November 1st, the Parlour Car has been unstaffed. The car was almost eliminated entirely, but was spared by the new president of Amtrak, who was very impressed with it. The Starlight is scheduled to be upgraded to a higher service level later this month and I presume that will include restoration of staffing for the parlour car.
quote: Also abandoned was the downstairs theater, which was never used and never mentioned by the Amtrak staff.
The theater has been abandoned since Amtrak stopped showing movies a year or so ago as a cost saving measure. The cost of playing movies for a "non-theatrical public exhibition" (the legal technical term for what airlines and trains do) is considerably higher than renting from the local video store for private viewing. I've heard rumor that the lower level of the parlour car is being considered for use as a wireless internet cafe.
quote: Which brings me to my other thought in THE BAD category, the overall condition of the train. It was clean and kept tidy by the onboard staff, but once you started really looking at it you realized that the equipment probably all needs to be retired, and soon.
Amtrak's Beech Grove shops are doing wonders with rebuilds and overhauls. But they can only do so much with the paltry funding provided by our Congresscritters. Amtrak's president recently testified before Congress that the fleet is aging and there is no capital for replacement cars.
quote:The cardboard boxes with plastic bags that served as trash cans were very tacky.
Again, I think these are there as a work-around to a Superliner design flaw, namely the lack of adequate built-in garbage receptacles.
quote: There was also things that were missing, like a tablecloth for my table in my rommette. The Amtrak brochure shows a tablecloth and flower vase on that table, but it was missing.
I haven't seen the roomette picture you mention. I think Amtrak did at one time provide flowers in the rooms, but since the table folds away, where would the tablecloth and flowers go when the beds are made up, or you just want the table out of the way?
quote:A table cloth, flowers, a little basket of soaps and toiletries, a mint on my pillow when Angela made up by bed, etc. should have all greeted me in my roomette.
They used to provide a little basket of soap and shampoo, but congressionally mandated budget cuts put an end to that. You must remember, Amtrak is dependent on Congress for $$$, and when Congress says cut, Amtrak jumps and says "how much?"
One final note, if I may. I appreciate the i importance of customer service, but I'm a little hesitant to want Amtrak to get into too much "showmanship." Amtrak is, after all, a public transportation provider, not an entertainment medium like Grandluxe Railtours. Yes, clean cars and and friendly crews are important, but I'd hate to see Amtrak become regimented into service formulas like Disneyland. I've always liked the fact that Amtrak lets their employees be more folksy and casual. That helps me relax and feel at home aboard a train. Too much formality often comes across as artificial and forced rather than friendly. Just my $.02.
posted
I am glad you enjoyed your Amtrak experience. I was particularly interested in your comments on the facilities on the Coast Starlight as my wife and I are travelling with it 29th August. Does anybody know if the refurbished Parlour Cars will be operating by then? I was half expecting there to be no Parlour Car in view of recent comments I have read. I should imagine security on trains, even busses, is problematic. Can every passenger really be subjected to effective security screening? The dangers lie not just with long-distance travel, as the explosions in Madrid and London 2005 shewed. If someone is fanatical enough to kill themselves while killing others, they will do it. We rode the Zephyr in July 2005 and the regular security checks took place in Chicago.Our tickets and passports were examined when we checked in our luggage and once on the train the conductor again checked our tickets. I am pretty sure that Gwendoline, our sleeper attendant, kept a pretty close watch on those disembarking and boarding at intermediate stations. She also knew who should be in her car at any given point of the two and a half day journey. We certainly had no qualms about lack of security on Amtrak. I know people have dufferent views on the matter but do we really, in the UK and the US, want to isolate all bus and railway stations, prevent access to enthusiasts and phpotographers? Even airport perimeter fences have their clusters of photgraphers. How far do you go to stop terrorism on transport systems? An article in our paper today commented on airline pilots having to remove belts and shoes before going on duty, when a few hours later they would be in charge of a highlt flammable bomb! We are certainly looking forward to over 4,000 miles, New York to Oakland via Seattle, travel with Amtrak and to comparing different standards on different trains, and recording changes from last time.
Posts: 168 | From: uk. northumberland | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
I think your trip report was one of the best I've seen on this board. Very professional and objective with important insights from someone who is riding a train because he is looking for an alternative to air travel.
I have travelled the Coast Starlight many times, and will again come this December. As Mr. Toy has pointed out, the many first-class amenities I remember from just a few years ago are now gone. Amtrak used to have a vase of carnations on a white cloth in the bedrooms so what you saw in that photograph really did exist until very recently. In addition, the traveller was provided with a small wicker basket of soaps and shampoo as well as extra large and fluffy towels. Customers received a special Coast Starlight route guide and little gifts such as various trinkets, a stationery package with pens, postcards and even telephone cards worth about ten minutes of free calls. I do remember the staffed Pacific Parlour car and the downstairs theatre. It is alleged that Amtrak is going to once again upgrade the Parlour Car, so perhaps some of these amenities will be restored.
Your dining car review sounded like the simplified dining car service has been somewhat improved from my rather dismal experience of recent times. The plastic plates and pre-heated foods seem very downmarket given how much the first-class passenger has paid for the meals. But I received the impression that you thought it was better than your first-class airline meal. How first-class air travel has been degraded. I recall ten to 15 years ago one really had fairly good meals on airlines such as Canadian Pacific, Air Canada and British Airways. Of course I also remember the times when one could board an airliner with zero security, the same as Amtrak or Via. Of course being a person who usually flies, I guess you found it rather surprising that no one was checking ID’s or tickets either before or during your trip. That has generally been my experience as well. In fact on one trip on # 11 no one even lifted my ticket, I still have it today as a souvenir. The only time I was ever asked to show ID anywhere on the Amtrak system was in Buffalo’s Depew station. I have never been asked anywhere else or on board the train. In fact in almost all the stations you can pretty much wander about without anyone challenging you. Very different from an airport, and yet I have never felt threatened or uncomfortable with this no-security environment. It is the same in Canada where almost never does one detect a security presence. A few times the press is critical of this state of affairs especially when someone once bought a ticket from a machine with the name Osama bin Laden; they had a field day with that one.
As for the noise on the train, I wonder if you had a roomette on the downstairs level. I always take bedrooms which are upstairs and it is usually fairly quiet. Of course I always demand a bedroom near the centre of the car where it tends to be quieter than at the ends. You mentioned that you preferred the roomette over the bedroom. I cannot agree with you on this point. The bedroom being larger is more comfortable, and of course you have your own sink, toilet and shower. Having to go down the hall to use a public facility brings back too many horrible reminders of boarding school. The downside of the bedroom is its cost, but if you can afford it I would definitely recommend a bedroom.
As for the ugly part of your journey, I have also witnessed the terrible “service” that you described from that agent in Anaheim. I had similar experiences in Dallas and Orlando when the trains arrived in the wee hours of the morning. I think the only consistent thing about Amtrak is its inconsistency. Sometimes you have some really good people striving to go all out to provide excellent customer service, and other times the staff look and sound as if they were hired from a third-world bus terminal.
Tradionally railways that ran a first-class operation went all out to provide the very best to their customers who were paying a premium for this service. The Pullman Company and Canadian Pacific certainly come to mind. You mentioned the professionalism of some of the Amtrak staff and they way they were dressed. I agree that this is an important part of any organizations’ customer service programme. You will usually find that this is the case with Via Rail, and that it does not take much money or resources to provide such a service. I can’t agree with Mr. Toy’s comments that he prefers Amtrak’s more folksy ways. Professional standards really mean that a certainly degree of formality between crew and customer will usually result in a superior quality of service.
Notwithstanding your bad experiences, I’m glad to hear that you basically enjoyed your trip, and that you intend to ride Amtrak again.
Posts: 524 | From: Toronto Ont. Canada | Registered: Mar 2001
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Thanks for an impressive and interesting report. You're to be commended also for saving the day (wee hours) in Anaheim by marshalling the resources at your disposal for the benefit of others. Amtrak can really muck things up sometimes and that's not the fault of Union Pacific.
(Once I sat not moving for two hours aboard the Sunset Limited while freight trains swirled past. It was almost as if the dispatcher were shocked that a passenger train muddled into his yard at all. THAT was Union Pacific's fault.....but that's another story...)
The Good, Bad, and Ugly format was great too. In answer to one of the questions you posed - Perhaps terrorists need better odds of arriving on time when they travel.
More likely though, they recognize that Amtrak is such a low priority in Washington that they likely feel their cause would not get much attention blowing up Amtrak trains.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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The last time we rode the CS was 10 years ago. We did have a wicker basket which I still have. Also we were given gold plated (or colored whatever) key rings that I still use and are quite nice. We detrained in Oakland as we were renting a car in SF. Our car attendant told me to take the beautiful red and white carnations that were on the table. He said they would out others out later. The Parlor car was set up with danish and coffee when we left LA but there was no attendant there. The downstairs room was set up as a play room for the children. We had a similar experience with an agent in NY. I called customer relations. The woman I talked to was really horrified. She read back to me what she had written and a few weeks later we received a travel voucher as an apology for such crude behavior. It seems to me that when one travels one will always find an occasional rotten apple. Unless you are on a luxury American Orient Express ( I know the name has changed) you expect gliches from time to time and just "go with the flow". I did enjoy reading your report.
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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Excellent report and I too liked your format. I am also jealous as the Pacific Parlour Car has yet to appear on my CS trips. Perhaps I will find one on my upcoming trip in October. I think your comparisons of two customer service enterprises is very valid and it was good to see that Amtrak on the train did pretty well in that comparison. You should most definitely report the Anaheim experience to Amtrak - just cut and paste what you wrote above, it is very well written. Glad to see we have another rail fan and your opinions, expressed to Amtrak, should have some weight as they are presented factually and clearly.
-------------------- Vicki in usually sunny Southern California Posts: 951 | From: Redondo Beach, CA | Registered: Aug 2006
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What a great report.....you covered almost every aspect of the trip. I wish I could say that your experiences are "unique", but unfortunately, they are not. For those folks who take an Amtrak trip once or twice a year and have great experiences, well, that's fantastic. But you are only seeing a small piece of the pie. For those of us who take numerous Amtrak trips on many routes throughout the USA, we know that these experiences are way too common. The experience in Anaheim is something that probably happens every day, and that person will not change. Does her boss care? Nope---not a bit. If her boss DID care, this would not happen. There are MANY, MANY reasons behind things like this. At Disneyland, the employees are held accountable for their actions. At Amtrak, it's hit and miss (mostly miss). It could be because an employee is in a "protected" category (they are a minority, they are in the union, they've been there for a long time and are just counting down the days until retirement, and so forth).
It's been 23 years since I worked at a theme park (Great America in Santa Clara, CA), but many of our policies and practices were modeled after Disneyland. So I understand your perspective. My sister-in-law is a Disney executive (theatrical), so I also understand the Disney philosophy through her. Your observations and comments are right on-target. Amtrak has SO MUCH potential, and they can accomplish a lot of great things by making little changes here and there. But trying to make positive changes at that corporation is extremely difficult. Lots of resistence to change, because of the "it's not in my job description" mentality.
I don't want to sound entirely negative about Amtrak. I enjoy riding trains and prefer rail over air travel (and I'm a licensed pilot). But as I said, your comments are right on-target but I don't expect anything to change at Amtrak. The bad employees will continue to be bad, and they'll continue to receive paychecks. The one thing that I might suggest to you is that you send your trip report to Amtrak Customer Relations (60 Massachusetts Ave, Washington, DC, 20002). As long as they have your reservation number, the dates traveled, and the train numbers, they will figure out which employees you are specifically talking about. If we, as paying customers, remain silent about these HORRENDOUS Amtrak employees, then nothing will ever happen---100% guaranteed. But if we let their bosses know what's going on, then they will soon see a pattern of bad behavior being reported by customers, and THEN they can do something about it.
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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By the way, the next day the Coast Starlight #11(1) arrived at LAX at 6:18 am, over 9 hours late. An extra night of sleep and an early morning connection to the Pacific Surfliner. Who could ask for anything more?
-------------------- Vicki in usually sunny Southern California Posts: 951 | From: Redondo Beach, CA | Registered: Aug 2006
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Yes! By all means take the advice given and formally inform Amtrak about all 3 elements (good,bad,ugly). Also it was very commendable of you to think of your fellow travelers by using your resources to avail them of transport at 3a.m. I agree with your issues on presentation with 1st class service. Decades ago it was the rule for railroads running passenger trains. Unfortunately things go awry when Congress cuts the budget. But with Amtrak sometimes I wonder if that excuse is overused. Smitty said it all when he mentions the "it's not my job description" mentality. I'm all for protecting workers rights, but the worker also has to step up to the plate to enjoy that right.
Posts: 498 | From: New Hope, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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It occurs to me Mighty, why don't you send a copy of this report to the president of Amtrak. I would imagine he would be happy to hear from " the horses mouth". Sorry guys I do think ponies are really too small to handle this.This is well written and certainly not one sided or mean spirited.
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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quote:Originally posted by CoastStarlight99: Great report...Where was a 20 inch flat screen TV?
It was in the Parlor Car. It was set up in a niche in the wall adjacent to the door that leads to the sleepers. I didn't even notice it until the second day, but it was set up in what looked like an area that was originally built to house an old-fashioned tube TV set. The screen was there with a GPS system set to track the train on a map that had a roughly 100 mile scale. There was also a little panel on the map that showed the current speed and direction the train was making.
It was interesting to look at. I could easily imagine a video system in Sleeper Cars where a small 10 inch screen was built into each room that offered movies and TV programming, along with the GPS screen. JetBlue and many other airlines now offer such a thing in every seatback video screen, so it would be easy to do in Sleeper Cars as well. Coach seats on medium and long distance trains could have them too.
I can see that the DigEPlayer is a stopgap measure to provide more thorough video entertainment to passengers. But if Amtrak really were to invest some dough and replace their fleet, each coach car seatback and every Sleeper bedroom would have a video screen for passenger entertainment.
Posts: 56 | From: Orange County, CA | Registered: Jun 2007
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quote:Originally posted by royaltrain: I think your trip report was one of the best I've seen on this board. Very professional and objective with important insights from someone who is riding a train because he is looking for an alternative to air travel.
As for the noise on the train, I wonder if you had a roomette on the downstairs level. I always take bedrooms which are upstairs and it is usually fairly quiet.
Thanks for the nice words!
I had Roomette #7, upstairs. The noise appeared to be coming from the superstructure of the car itself. Something down in the exterior paneling was squeaking and groaning whenever the train would go 5MPH to about 40MPH. At higher speeds the noise stopped.
Believe me, I tried to adjust everything in the room that might be scraping or squeaking; the upper bunk, the closet, the seatback, etc. trying to cure the noise. But then I finally got down on my hands and knees and listened and realized it was coming from below the window frame and within the structure of the car skeleton itself. I heard it a few other times in other areas of the same car, and then overheard another man in a downstairs Roomette complaining of the same loud noise.
Posts: 56 | From: Orange County, CA | Registered: Jun 2007
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quote:Originally posted by 20th Century: Yes! By all means take the advice given and formally inform Amtrak about all 3 elements (good,bad,ugly). Also it was very commendable of you to think of your fellow travelers by using your resources to avail them of transport at 3a.m.
Yes, I will send this on to Amtrak. I've got to edit it down for brevity though, as I didn't realize how long it was until I posted it.
Lest you all think I'm some sort of perfect angel (Which I'm not, believe me! ), I really just got the Disneyland Hotel on the taxicab situation because somehow I switched into "Disneyland manager" role there at 3:00AM in the empty parking lot. I think it was the Amtrak agent that purposely turned all the lights off on us after she slammed and locked the door in our face. She got me steamed.
Then the lady trying to call Yellow Cab on her cell phone kept getting a recording and didn't know how to get through to a human to explain we needed multiple taxis.
I was on vacation and hadn't really been thinking of work, but when you arrive in Anaheim and see a family with small children obviously heading to Disneyland, and some conventioneers going to the Anaheim Convention Center (and possibly over to Disneyland as well), suddenly I changed gears into work mode and took ownership of the ragtag group. I just felt bad that this was their first impression of Anaheim, which is a city that owes a great deal to the tourism industry that brings a huge amount of wealth into the local economy. Plus, I wanted to get home myself!
Luckily I knew who to call and got a fellow Disneylander to work some quick magic for all of us. I'll be sure to thank her manager at the Disneyland Hotel when I go back to work next week.
Posts: 56 | From: Orange County, CA | Registered: Jun 2007
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"Also falling into the poor showmanship category were the few times I saw some of the train staff... ...using their personal cell phones while in the presence of customers in the lounge car or sleeper cars."
Jack replies:
Are you sure they were making private calls on cell phones and not using their radio to communicate with other train personnel? Some modern radio sets are pretty small. In addition to the Road Channel for the RR, one channel is usually reserved for on-board passenger services.
Jack
-------------------- Jack Posts: 13 | From: Anaheim, CA Orange | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote:Originally posted by MightyAlweg: Luckily I knew who to call and got a fellow Disneylander to work some quick magic for all of us. I'll be sure to thank her manager at the Disneyland Hotel when I go back to work next week.
It seems, at least to someone who does a little customer support(internal and external(when they get the wrong number) of the company I work for), that it takes less time to TRY and help than it does to be rude and lose or downgrade the opinion held by a client/owner(Mutual Life Insurance company).
And it probably took less time for the Disneyland staffer to make the call than it took the Amtrak station attendant to B&M about working late, not make a phone call to Yellow Cab telling them that if they have at least two or three cabs in the area in x minutes they would probably have some fares, and leaving the lights on for the passengers.
-------------------- Paul E Larson Posts: 34 | From: Camillus NY USA | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Jack_S: MightyAlweg wrote:
Are you sure they were making private calls on cell phones and not using their radio to communicate with other train personnel? Some modern radio sets are pretty small. In addition to the Road Channel for the RR, one channel is usually reserved for on-board passenger services.
Jack
He works at Disneyland, so I'm fairly confident that he knows the difference between a cell phone conversation and a two-way radio. Just my 2 cents...
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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A little late, but wanted to chime in with my praise. This was a great trip report and I hope you have sent a copy to Amtrak. I've encountered some fine people working for Amtrak but there also seem to be a very large number of people who are just putting in their time and/or don't have a clue about passenger/customer service.
The restoration of the supervisor (the guy in the grey suit) on the Starlight is a step in the right direction although I'm not sure if they have any actual power. When we returned to a "sauna" in our bedroom after dinner last Spring he did agree that it was unbearable but only suggested that I call the 800 # and mention his name. The letter I wrote and a subsequent phone conversation resulted in a credit for the accomodation portion of the ticket. It would have been nice if he could have started the process on board.
Frank in dark but balmy SBA
Posts: 2160 | From: Santa Barbara, CA, USA | Registered: Oct 2003
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Unfortunately, this supervisors program is being overhauled and thus very few if any are still on the road. Most are now working in the office on special projects and other nonsense. IMHO the restoration of the program was an excellent move to reintroduce accountability to the on board service experience.
Posts: 332 | From: Long Island, NY USA | Registered: Jan 2004
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[/QUOTE]He works at Disneyland, so I'm fairly confident that he knows the difference between a cell phone conversation and a two-way radio. Just my 2 cents... [/QB][/QUOTE]
You are correct. It wasn't a two-way radio like we use constantly at Disneyland, or a Nextel communicator. It was a personal cell phone. A pink Razr in fact, and the attendant in question was saying something along the lines of "Honey, I know I left a gallon of milk in the fridge. And there's chips and stuff for sandwiches too."
Clearly this was a personal conversation with a spouse, and not someone on the train. Unless Amtrak attendants use pink Razr phones to talk about the contents of their home refrigerator with attendants working in other cars. ;-)
I just thought it was an inappropriate place to have that type of personal conversation, and was something that should have been saved for a break and an area on the train away from customers.
Posts: 56 | From: Orange County, CA | Registered: Jun 2007
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), I really just got the Disneyland Hotel on the taxicab situation because somehow I switched into "Disneyland manager" role there at 3:00AM in the empty parking lot. I think it was the Amtrak agent that purposely turned all the lights off on us after she slammed and locked the door in our face. She got me steamed.
