Train was sold out just after the stop at Dallas. Had a lower level Economy sleeper. Attendent was nice, responsive and kept the toilets and car spotless. I was so impressed with her work ethic .....gave her a $30 tip in Chicago. She was really struggling keeping all the kids on a short leash in the sleeper. Really thats the Parents job but these days that is hit or miss. Anyway, again we were ahead of schedule and had a few prolonged stops to burn up the schedule padding. Arrived in St.Louis at 530 am....30 min crawl to station the last 7 or 8 miles. Arrived at station in St. Louis at 6 a.m. Departed at 8 a.m. Iowa Interstate had a business car special at the old St. Louis station.....at least it looked like Iowa Interstate. Arrived in Chicago Union Station 10 min earlier than scheduled. Food and service in Diner for breakfest was also well managed. Only complaint is they closed the Diner to Breakfest on departure from St Louis ....8 am? So they could reopen for an early lunch. They closed the Diner for lunch right after Bloomington- Normal stop. Which I thought was a little ridiculous. Oh well breakfest was enough for me.
CMStPnP Train was sold out just after the stop at Dallas. Had a lower level Economy sleeper. Attendent was nice, responsive and kept the toilets and car spotless. I was so impressed with her work ethic .....gave her a $30 tip in Chicago. She was really struggling keeping all the kids on a short leash in the sleeper. Really thats the Parents job but these days that is hit or miss. Anyway, again we were ahead of schedule and had a few prolonged stops to burn up the schedule padding. Arrived in St.Louis at 530 am....30 min crawl to station the last 7 or 8 miles. Arrived at station in St. Louis at 6 a.m. Departed at 8 a.m. Iowa Interstate had a business car special at the old St. Louis station.....at least it looked like Iowa Interstate. Arrived in Chicago Union Station 10 min earlier than scheduled. Food and service in Diner for breakfest was also well managed. Only complaint is they closed the Diner to Breakfest on departure from St Louis ....8 am? So they could reopen for an early lunch. They closed the Diner for lunch right after Bloomington- Normal stop. Which I thought was a little ridiculous. Oh well breakfest was enough for me.
Kudos to you for giving her a tip for a job well done. The art of tipping is fading.
longhorn1969Kudos to you for giving her a tip for a job well done. The art of tipping is fading. Add Quote to your Post
What I have observed is most Amtrak sleeping car passengers do not tip unless someone at the same table does. Same deal with the car attendant, not always tipped.......though some folks tip the car attendant in their compartment when they come to make the beds I have seen. So harder for me to see which is the greater shortfall.....dining car service tipping or sleeping car attendent tipping.
Additionally, it seems that Amtrak is emphasizing service more with it's employees onboard now. At the same time, equipment cleanliness and appearance is degrading due to age and either lack of time, care or money by Amtraks maintenence forces. One of the restrooms on the return trip back on the first level had a thin layer of sludge on the floor from when the toilet overflowed, it was that way in Chicago prior to boarding. Pretty sure that is a health violation.
When i learned what Amtrak dining car servers make, I stopped tipping unless the service is really good. Same with sleeping car attendents. I had one recently on the LSL that was outstanding and warranted a good tip which he received. On the return trip I saw the attendent on the platform in Chicago and again in Albany (with his hand out) when i detrained. He didn't even bother to make the bed down. Zero tip for him.
JPS1The Customer Satisfaction Index for the Texas Eagle declined from 77.1 in FY17 to 71.4 in FY18. For the long-distance trains as a group it declined from 73.9 to 70.0. The average load factor on the Eagle dropped from 54% in FY17 to 53% in FY18. For the long-distance trains the change was from 58% to 57%. Statistically, the change was not significant. The end-point on-time percentage for the Eagle declined from 60.7% in FY17 to 46.4% in FY18. For the long-distance trains it declined from 52% to 48.6% Numerous factors probably influence the CSI. In any case, apparently most of the long-distance passengers, as well as those on the Texas Eagle, as shown by the CSI scores, did not come away from their ride indicating that the service(s) they received have improved. Rather, the scores indicate just the opposite. They declined.
Well that all is rather interesting about the past....but I rode the train well into into FY19 and that was the trip report above that was posted. I did not mention load factor but the train was sold out in both directions due to the Holiday as announced by the crew over the PA. In fact my roomette was sold South of Dallas so even though I detrained in Dallas it was occupied from Chicago to San Antonio which I found interesting that Amtrak is able to do this kind of back to back setup now with sleeping car rooms.
The Hiawatha train Southbound was standing room only past the Mitchell Field airport. Most of the time I ride the Hiawatha Service they are either nearly full or standing room only and granted I am riding at peak times most of the time. The return departure from Milwaukee was 11:00 a.m. on a Saturday though. The departture Northbound to Milwaukee was 3:15 p.m. on a Sunday and had some seats available but not much. The train from Chicago to Milwaukee that turned into our 11:00 a.m. departure from Milwaukee was nearly empty. Since it arrived around 10:00 a.m. I am going to guess roughly it departs Chicago at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning...........apparently not a popular departure time. Hiawatha Service had six cars. 1 Amfleet and the other 5 Bombardier. The Amfleet car had the redone interior in grey material and looked nice inside, though I have to admit with others cloth material would have been more comfortable than whatever they used. Fold down tray table operation on the newly redone Amfleet car was pretty lose and crappy so it looks like the redo was just in the carpeting and seats material vs. seat / tray operation.
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