OK, I had a rough experience with Amtrak (not necessaraly the Fault of Amtrak) and I called Customer Service and was told I would get a certificate. We did not discuss the amount at the time.

They ended up giving me a certificate set to the value of the transportation only that I paid. Needless to say my 'out of pocket' expenses due to the mis-aligned trip was way more than that.

I have 'heard' as much as $350 has been offered in the past.

Is there a rule of thumb for the amount given out? Have you had any experiences in this arena?

I am interested in learning about your experiences and/or knowledge here.

Thanks in advance for your insight.

Richard

So what happened - what trains, between which points, how late or what happened, and what was your alternative means of transport?

The issuance of "certificates" used to be standard operating procedure up to a few years ago. That is, until Amtrak discontinued its "Satisfaction Guarantee" policy.

And who can blame Amtrak for discontinuing this policy? When you're riding on somebody elses' rails and they put the needs of freight before that of human cargo, you know that some passengers are gonna get screwed in the end.

Anyway, I would think that you were lucky to have gotten a certificate, all things considered. These days Amtrak takes responsibility for lost connections and not much else. At least that's my understanding.

For this reason, I take nothing for granted these days when traveling by Amtrak. For example, I always assume the train will be a minimum of six hours late (but these days it always seems to get me to my destination an hour earlier).

As railfans I believe we must be very forgiving of Amtrak. These are troubled times we live in and they despirately need our support.

Chuck Reuben www.freewebs.com/chucksville
(stop by and sign my guestbook!)

Dear Geoffm, with all due respect, you are the one that I need to give details to. Where in the world did you get the idea that I 'choose' to get off? Oh so far from the truth.

This was #2 from LAX to ORL (never made it), it was terminated in Sanford as is the case with late Sunset Limited trains. There was literally 3:45 until the turnaround departure from Orlando and that was not enough time for me to do anything except stay on the train. I know that was not going to be the case.

Because of the lack of turnaround time for me I rescheduled my return trip to the next train after this consist, 2 days out.

Now lets talk about the time I had a room - in a car that did not have working toilet facilities. Then lets talk about the 5pm dinner reservation that ended up being served at my seat at 7:30pm WITHOUT salad, bread, butter, drink or desert - AND - they charged full bore for this. Then we can get into the young car attendant who did NOT want to be there in the first place AND totally mis-handled a young couple tream who were only on board to steal passengers things from their luggage. Then there was the conductor who NEVER answered the PA system call 4 times to deal with it.

Not all Amtrak employees are on the negative side of things. The conductors are lucky they only have to deal with the public for max 12 hours.

What I have mentioned here is only part of what was experienced that is under Amtrak control.

I wont even get into the delays caused by host railroads. After all we arrived short two stops, 14 hours late. Not all host RR either. Biggest delay was in Houston where we had to wait over 4 hours for a pilot engineer to take us around a 24 car derailment.

Now, extra meals, extra lodging extra . . . . you get the picture. Is all of that worth only $50. I think not.

Just because I travel using Rail Sale does not make me a second class citizen. Thank heavens that I traveled prepared for 'extra' expenses. Not that I wanted them!

Please remember, I am trying to get a sense of what is customary here. I don't want to be given anything not deserved or trying to get a free ride (sorry about the pun!).

Please continue to let me know your thoughts on this AND please stay with the facts.

Thanks again,
Richard