BackshopI've never had Delta charge me to select a seat. The only people they do are those that buy Basic Economy, which they just started last year in response to other airlines.
Just because they haven't charged you yet, doesn't mean they won't set something up to charge you in the future! Airlines are becoming greedyier by the day.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Precisely.
Along with his partner in crime, Checky.
I've never had Delta charge me to select a seat. The only people they do are those that buy Basic Economy, which they just started last year in response to other airlines.
PJS1 BaltACD And now airlines want passengers to pay for seat selection! So I guess Amtrak passengers will have that fee to look forward to in the future. BTW, Southwest Airlines, does not charge for seats and, as far as I know, does not have any plans to do so.
BaltACD And now airlines want passengers to pay for seat selection! So I guess Amtrak passengers will have that fee to look forward to in the future.
BTW, Southwest Airlines, does not charge for seats and, as far as I know, does not have any plans to do so.
Delta is one of the carriers that is doing it - I am certain Anderson is contemplating how to do it on Amtrak.
Any flying I do - Southwest is my first choice.
Anderson certainly has not said anything about imposing a seat charge for Amtrak's passengers. Doing so would be a challenge since it does not assign seats, but of course that could change.
Rio Grande Valley, CFI,CFII
PJS1 Rio Grande Robert So why not make it more appealing and user friendly? Why not keep all options on the table .........our complaints reach managements eyes. Amtrak has a Customer Advisory Committee. It consists of 20 to 30 volunteers that focus on one of Amtrak’s service lines: NEC, state supported trains and long-distance trains. The members gather information from customers regarding various aspect of Amtrak’s service and feed the it to Amtrak’s management. If you have any specific comments that you would like to share with Amtrak, you should email Amtrak directly or call 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245) and ask to speak with a Customer Relations representative. Amtrak management is required to pay attention to another information stream. The company’s financials. And when management looks at the results of the long-distance trains, the picture is not pretty. In FY17 the long-distance trains lost $500 million on total revenues or $531 million on ticket revenues. Moreover, assuming that they wear 15 percent of Amtrak’s depreciation expense, on a fully allocated cost basis they lost $620 million. This is the primary reason why passengers on the Lake Shore Limited and Capitol Limited were given scaled down meals. Most of them won’t pay for the full service that they believe is important for the passenger rail travel experience in the United States.
Rio Grande Robert So why not make it more appealing and user friendly? Why not keep all options on the table .........our complaints reach managements eyes.
And now airlines want passengers to pay for seat selection! So I guess Amtrak passengers will have that fee to look forward to in the future.
Anderson is not in place to improve Amtrak. He is in place to kill it.
Robert, I am sorry that you had the misunderstanding about Emeryville.
I do not remember just when it was, but when Amtrak was in the business of carrying more than passengers, the cars for that traffic would blocked at least one street in Oakland as passengers boarded and detrained from the California Zephyr for entirely too much time, so Emeryville became the western terminus for that train. Your car attendant should have questioned you about your getting off in Oakland and not going the rest of the way to Emeryville. But, what's done is done.
Johnny
In November my wife and I took a trip from Denver east on the California Zephyr to Chicago, IL. The goal was to ride the Southwest Chief all the way from Chicago, IL to Los Angeles CA.. For the most part, no complaints other than the age of the equipment and sense of the boiling controversies underneath concerning the future of long distance trains under present management. We heard plenty of complaints from the passengers to which we engaged in conversation on the topic of meals that were served to first class passengers tha rode the Capital Limited and the Lakeshore Limited. We are not ones to ride Amtrak all the time, but, we have been on quite a few trains in the last 15 years. I know that the National Passenger Corporation was not expected to last more than a few years since its inception in 1971. That said, and knowing most people prefer to travel via airplane, I would still say the future is in rail travel. So why not make it more appealing and user friendly? Why not keep all options on the table as far as transportation in our vast country?
Then my wife and I took the Coast Starlight after arriving on the Southwest Chief from Los Angeles, CA. to Emoryville by coach. The car attendant seemed to be very attentive at first, but I observed her giving another attendent a back rub in the coach ahead of ours. A bit unprofessional we thought, but for the sake of comraderie amongst employees we were willing to overlook it. But upon our arrival at what we thought was our point of disembarkment, which was Emoryville and not the station(Oakland). The two stations are close together and only eight minutes apart, our attendant should have adivised us of this fact and let us get off in Oakland. Our destination is printed on our boarding passes above our seats. This led to series of misunderstandings and inconveninces for us. We thought Oakland and Emoryville were one and the same station, and because we were departing for Sacremento, CA. the next morning on the California Zephyr the next morning from Emoryvile. We did overcome all this and did not let it discourage our love of rail travel, but, to a lot of people its just one of many reasons not to travel by rail. My wife and I sincerely would like to keep rail as nice alternative to flying. We think it is more personable and more friendly. Just adding to the chorus from passengers on Amtrak. Hope all of our complaints reach managements eyes.
Thought this might be of interest.
CMStPnP PJS1 It does not appear that any member of the committee acts as a point person for customer complaints. As noted in the last sentence of the linked Amtrak document Have you used them before or are you just trolling me again? I have used them in the past.
Have you used them before or are you just trolling me again? I have used them in the past.
The document, which is published by Amtrak and presumably contains accurate information, says Amtrak's customers should contact a customer relations representative regarding a service issue.
The instructions don't recommending contacting a Customer Advisory Committee member. The names of the committee members are not given on the webpage.
Just trying to get the correct information out!
PJS1It does not appear that any member of the committee acts as a point person for customer complaints. As noted in the last sentence of the linked Amtrak document
charlie hebdoCorrect spelling and grammar may increase the probability of any letter being taken seriously.
I am sure it would. This is an informal opinion forum though. It's not a means to contact Amtrak nor is the material here to be submitted for publication.
CMStPnP Amtrak has what they call a "passenger advocate" that you can Email. She meets with some mid to high level Amtrak executives monthly to give input to them.
This link provides a more complete description of Amtrak's Customer Advisory Committee:
https://www.amtrak.com/about-amtrak/amtrak-culture-and-careers/amtrak-customer-advisory-committee.html
The committee consists of 20 to 30 volunteers that focus on Amtrak's service lines. "The group provides direct input to Amtrak about their perceptions of service and also makes service enhancing, revenue generating and cost saving recommendations.
It appears the committe gathers information from a variety of sources for their discussions with Amtrak.
It does not appear that any member of the committee acts as a point person for customer complaints. As noted in the last sentence of the linked Amtrak document, "Passengers with comments about Amtrak service, policies or other matters should email Amtrak directly or call 1-800 USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245) and ask to speak with a Customer Relations representative."
CMStPnP Frank Kenny Hopefully everyone here has sent their comments to Amtrak in the hope that someone reads them vs just venting on here. Venting here won't inspire changes. Amtrak has what they call a "passenger advocate" that you can Email. She meets with some mid to high level Amtrak executives monthly to give input to them. Passenger Advocate is a voluntary position that is filled via ordinary Amtrak riders. To qualify you have to travel so many segments on a specific market line like Corridor or Long Distance measured on an annual basis.........I think that is how they prequalify you. Note though what the UP RR CEO stated about their Steam Program that it's value is more to railfans than potential clients of UP RR. Moral of that quip.... Senior Executives know where the comments are comming from just by reading some of them you can read between the lines and tell sometimes.
Frank Kenny Hopefully everyone here has sent their comments to Amtrak in the hope that someone reads them vs just venting on here. Venting here won't inspire changes.
Hopefully everyone here has sent their comments to Amtrak in the hope that someone reads them vs just venting on here. Venting here won't inspire changes.
Amtrak has what they call a "passenger advocate" that you can Email. She meets with some mid to high level Amtrak executives monthly to give input to them. Passenger Advocate is a voluntary position that is filled via ordinary Amtrak riders. To qualify you have to travel so many segments on a specific market line like Corridor or Long Distance measured on an annual basis.........I think that is how they prequalify you.
Note though what the UP RR CEO stated about their Steam Program that it's value is more to railfans than potential clients of UP RR. Moral of that quip.... Senior Executives know where the comments are comming from just by reading some of them you can read between the lines and tell sometimes.
Correct spelling and grammar may increase the probability of any letter being taken seriously.
I would be surprised if any decision maker pays attention to what we say on Trains' blogs and forums.
I have shared my views on Amtrak with the President of the company as well as my Congress persons. In doing so I have followed the advice of a former member of the Texas Legislature that I got to know in a University of Texas continuing education program.
Her advice is to express your views in a hard copy letter vs. email. The decision makers get so many emails that they and their staffs don't have the time to read them. She said, however, that her office usually paid attention to a well written letter, which was one that stated the issue and the writer's views without political rancor.
I have gotten a reply to all of the letters that I have sent to Amtrak and my Congress persons. Not so much with respect to the emails.
Good clarification CSS&SB. But isn't VIA trying out that concept on the Canadian right now?
CMStPnP Backshop Too many here want the passenger trains of 50 years ago. There's a reason they aren't around any more. It's because they were money pits. Yet, today we have a major world airline in the passenger business that just bought into the HSR market in the United States (Virgin).
Backshop Too many here want the passenger trains of 50 years ago. There's a reason they aren't around any more. It's because they were money pits.
Yet, today we have a major world airline in the passenger business that just bought into the HSR market in the United States (Virgin).
The Rocky Mountaineer is not transportation, it is a high-end scenery excursion into the Canadian Rockies. An economy-class coach wouldn't bring much to the operation. Also note that the Rocky Mountaineer consist does not include sleeping cars, overnight layovers are at various resort hotels.
Sure, and there are reasons why the streetcars and interurbans of 80 years ago are not around today. But new streetcar lines and interurbans are being built, some called light rail, despite Cato, O' Toole, and the Koch Brothers.
So maybe today or tomorrow there will be a profitable market for a Pullman-Fred Harvey grade of passenger service above Amtrak or whatever basic transportation.
Why cannot the Rocky Mountain operation have a coach for low-fare riders? And the California Zephyr and Empire Builder have a Rocky Mountain class pair of cars attached for those willing to pay the extra price?
I saw the old streetcar tracks on Howard Street in Baltimore in 1947, then the new ones being installed in the 1980s, and then rode on them.
BackshopToo many here want the passenger trains of 50 years ago. There's a reason they aren't around any more. It's because they were money pits.
I think it speaks volumes on Anderson's leadership ability that the Delta-Northwest merger went many times smoother than the American-US Air or United-Continental ones. Employee groups were merged much faster and with much less strife. Delta employees have pride in their company.
Too many here want the passenger trains of 50 years ago. There's a reason they aren't around any more. It's because they were money pits.
PJS1 BaltACD So when you come into such a situation you have three options, you can try to improve relations, you can maintain the relations at the same bad level, or you can work to make the bad level worse. Which did Anderson choose? Unless you were part of Northwest Airlines or have verifiable data to determine whether Anderson helped improve the relations or made them worse, you don't know. Without access to the company, an outsider does not know the extent of ill feelings. Were they wide spread or just the rantings of a few vocal employees?
BaltACD So when you come into such a situation you have three options, you can try to improve relations, you can maintain the relations at the same bad level, or you can work to make the bad level worse. Which did Anderson choose?
Unless you were part of Northwest Airlines or have verifiable data to determine whether Anderson helped improve the relations or made them worse, you don't know.
Without access to the company, an outsider does not know the extent of ill feelings. Were they wide spread or just the rantings of a few vocal employees?
Which is why I asked the question. Personal perceptions of a company's labor relations depends on if 'you' are being disadvantaged by the labor relations activities or not.
I worked decades for a Fortune 200 Corporation that was unionized at some locations but not all. Overall, employee relations were pretty good. At most locations the opinions of the bargaining unit employees, as measured by an annual employee opinion survey, did not differ significantly from those of non-union employees performing similar work.
One group of bargaining unit employees, however, had decided management was rotten to the core, and there was nothing anyone, including the CEO, could have done to change their opinions.
The company that I worked for was not perfect. Management made mistakes. But it gave me numerous opportunities for job enrichment and compensated me well for my contributions. I would never critize the company, especially in a public forum.
PJS1 Backshop They ALWAYS had them. My brother is a Delta captain (ex-NW) and says Delta is better (for the pilots). So, my take away is Anderson inherited bad labor relations at Northwest and, therefore, was not the cause of them.
Backshop They ALWAYS had them. My brother is a Delta captain (ex-NW) and says Delta is better (for the pilots).
So, my take away is Anderson inherited bad labor relations at Northwest and, therefore, was not the cause of them.
So when you come into such a situation you have three options, you can try to improve relations, you can maintain the relations at the same bad level, or you can work to make the bad level worse. Which did Anderson choose?
243129Your dream could come true if Amtrak ceased running 'LD' trains in the winter and ran them in the summer months as tour trains with golden age equipment and amenities of yore.
Nice idea, except take the responsibility from Amtrak and let some private operators bid to do it if they think it would be popular and worth their while. I doubt the latter so it will never happen.
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