I made a reservation in April, with AmTrack to go from Dallas to Vancouver, BC and back again. From the moment we departed in Dallas until we finally returned to Dallas was one huge nightmare.
I had planned the trip for my Mother who is 79 years old. I thought a train trip would help her overcome the recent loss of her 30 year old son to lymphomic cancer. I wanted to share some quality time with my Mom on a unique trip together. I thought a train trip would be a nice way to 'get away' from our normal routines and to put a little distance between the pain we felt because of our loss and to explore something neither of us had explored before. Because my Mom has to have oxygen I scrutinized your schedules so that she could spend all of her time in a sleeper, and if she felt better she could go to the diner in the train.
We made reservations for first class deluxe sleeper cars for the entire journey. When I talked with Amtrak representatives I always mentioned that my Mom required oxygen to get around but that she would provide the oxygen. Unfortunately, during our trip no one gave my Mom any consideration due to her medical problems during the entire trip.
Our trip started in Dallas on May 7. From the start we didn't get any help for our luggage. When we asked the Amtrak representative at the station desk in Dallas if they had any carts to move our luggage she said no "because people push them onto the tracks". (This was odd because at other stations along our itinerary most did have carts. I suppose that there is a phenomenom in Dallas where people there must be different than all the other people in the country.)
After boarding we went to our sleeper cabin. No one was there to help us with our luggage or to help us lower to upper bed. There were no 'red caps' as advertised by Amtrak. And the conductor didn't help us either. I had to carry all of my Mom's bags, as well as my own. Amtrak advertising specifically said that there would be employees to assist passengers. Amtrak not only failed to live up to its advertised claims on this issue, but on countless others as well.
Once on the train we never received any newspapers, we didn't have coffee or juice delivered to us, and there were long waits for any meals. We definitely didn't receive "special seating in the dining car" as claimed by Amtrak advertisements. All of these were promised in advertisements but not one was fulfilled. This is another example of false advertising. It is another example that we did not receive first class treatment, but rather no service at all.
When we arrived in San Antonio we encountered an eight hour delay. No one told us why we were forced to just sit in the train station. I had to find out what was happening from talking with another passenger who was able to find an Amtrak employee. This passenger told me that to get breakfast we would have to walk a long way to the station to get it. After a tiring walk to the station we were handed two styrofoam packages from a large cardboard box.
There was a Denny's emblem on the box. We returned to our cabin and discovered the food was ice cold. Neither of us could even eat the meals. Why couldn't an Amtrak employee deliver the box breakfasts to our room while they were still hot? After all, we paid for FIRST CLASS treatment but we never received such treatment. First class doesn't mean getting ice cold eggs for breakfast. And if that is 'first class' I hate to consider what lower classes are subjected to.
Soon after we boarded the train our coach was being thrown all over the tracks. My Mom became extremely anxious. We signaled an Amtrak attendant and told him of our concerns. He just laughed and called the last coach on the train the "Whip". From my Mother's experience with Canadian trains, sleeper cars were not put on the end of the train but rather toward to front to minimize movement. Why doesn't Amtrak put sleepers toward the front of the trains? After all, people paying for FIRST CLASS accommodations should have the best ride.
Also, during most of our ill-fated trip our sleeper coach was five to eight coaches away from the diner. This posed a great inconvenience to my Mother who requires oxygen when she walks. This, as well as the extreme shaking of the coaches, prevented her from going to the diner many times.
The bus trip
The rest of our trip was filled with one delay and great inconvenience after another. When we arrived in California we were told that the train was twelve hours late and that we would have to get off the train and get on a bus. This was in Palm Springs, California. My Mom, who needs oxygen to walk, and I had to get all of our baggage and take it to the bus. Again, we received zero help from any Amtrak employee or anyone else. There were no 'red caps' or carts as promised in Amtrak's advertisements. My Mom and I were also unsure whether we were even supposed to be on the bus because there were no Amtrak employees on board to tell us where we were supposed to go.
We paid to stay on the train all the way to Los Angeles so Amtrak again failed to live up to its advertised claims. When I made our reservations I specifically asked the Amtrak representative if we would have plenty of time to go from one train to another at the Las Angeles station. I asked him this because my Mom is on oxygen and she would needs oxygen to walk around. This would necessitate extra time, and extra oxygen, to go from place to place.
We were told by the Amtrak reservationist that the Dallas to Los Angeles train number 421 arrives in Los Angeles on May 9th at 6:40 in the morning. We were told that the schedule dictated that we would have to detrain from the 421 and go to board a northbound train from Los Angeles to Seattle on May 9th at 10:15 in the morning. The reservationist name was 'Sam'. He said "Yes, you would have three hours wait at the Los Angeles station and there would be plenty of time to get to the next train north to Seattle." That Amtrak representative deliberately lied to us.
Later we were told by one Amtrak employee that the train from Dallas to Los Angeles is usually only on-time ONCE in an entire year. If my Mom and I had known the truth about Amtrak's extremely long delays we would never have made a reservation with Amtrak. We were never told that Amtrak routinely has extremely long delays all around the country, as an Amtrak representative told us.By not including warnings of long delays in all of Amtrak's advertising it is a deliberate omission designed to deceive consumers.
It is obvious that Amtrak deliberately failed to offer such pertinent information to deceive consumers. Amtrak is guilty of malicious false and misleading advertisements as defined by the Federal Trade Commission and pertinent state laws.
The commuter train trip
After a very uncomfortable three and a half drive on a bus we were told we had to go to an Amtrak commuter train #703 on May 9, in Bakersville. We were also not offered any meals on the bus. When we were getting off the bus we were offered zero help. Again, my Mom and I received ZERO help getting our luggage and bringing it to the commuter train. There also were no 'red caps' or even carts to help us with our luggage as advertised by Amtrak literature. We had also been reassured by Amtrak employee Mike Jackson and a conductor from the Texas Eagle train earlier in the day that we would have help waiting for us in Bakersville but we received zero help carrying our baggage.
As we approached the commuter train we were told we had to walk an additional 40 yards to another coach. We struggled that forty yards to the coach and my Mom asked the brakeman, Mr. T. Gibb (or Gibbings), who was standing by the door, for help. He openly laughed at my 79 year old Mother's request for help, which caused her to cry. My Mom leaned down to pick up a bag and she fell over, but Mr. Gibb, the brakeman, did nothing to help. The brakeman saw that my Mom was on oxygen but he displayed zero empathy and he offered zero help. The brakeman (from his badge on his shirt) didn't help one bit. He also said that no bags could be checked and they would have to be brought on board. No Amtrak employee offered any help with our baggage. The brakeman blurted out to everyone "you only have six minutes to get the baggage on the ramp right now!"
We had to carry all of our luggage onto the train ourselves as the brakeman just stood there chuckling. I have never experienced such a callous, unfriendly, and unhelpful person in my life as I have with that brakeman. Once aboard the commuter train we had no place to put our baggage. When that same brakeman came by I complained to him that we never received any help and he joked again.
When I said something about his uncaring and arrogant responses to my Mother he then threatened to have me thrown off the train, leaving my 79 year old Mother, who was on oxygen, on the train to fend for herself. His exact words were "I could have the train stopped and have you put out in a field!" He said this immediately after I mentioned my displeasure with him laughing at my Mom while on the loading dock earlier.
Everytime my Mom tried to talk, the brakeman very rudely talked over her drowning out what she was trying to say. This caused my Mom to be frustrated and she cried again our of frustration and for failing to be heard. This was certainly not FIRST CLASS treatment. It was more like being treated as a prisoner. No one in any class should have been treated so inhumanly as we were by the brakeman. Under no circumstances should that brakeman be allowed to be among the public. His arrogant, bullying attacks on us were deplorable. An Amtrak cook came by and told us that we deserved a dinner but the brakeman said "We don't get a dinner!"
On this commuter train from Palm Springs to Sacramento we weren't offered, or given, any meals. We were told by one of the conductors that we would have to pay for any food or drinks. Because we were both very hungry we ended up buying snacks and drinks at a cost of $12.50. This is another incidence where Amtrak refused to live up to its advertised claims. We were promised meals but Amtrak failed to honor its advertised claims. We not only received anything to eat but we were NEVER treated like FIRST CLASS passengers even once. We were treated like cattle being pushed aboard a train on the way to slaughter. We have never been treated in such a atrotious and extremely rude manner in our lives.
I had planned the trip from Dallas to Seattle with my Mom and it was imperative that we be in a cabin the entire way. My Mom has to do breathing treatments twice a day with a plug in machine that makes a lot of noise. Because of being ripped off of a train and put on buses and commuter trains my Mom missed several breathing treatments. This made her even more fatigued and the trip one of misery and fatigue, rather than enjoyable.
Return trip
Before departure from Seattle we were offered no breakfast meals by Amtrak. Because my Mother was very hungry and thirsty I walked all around the downtown area of Seattle for a place to buy food. I finally found a place and paid $14.78 for two breakfasts with coffees for my Mom and I. On May 15th we departed from Seattle on Train Number 11 at 10 in the morning. Amtrak advertised that we were to arrive in Los Angeles on May 16th at 9 in the evening. That also proved to be false advertising.
After many hours on the southbound train we pulled over on a side track and stopped for a long time. We weren't told why were were stopping for quite awhile. Then we were told that the current crew on our train had exceeded 12 hours and they could work no longer. So we waited in the woods for a substitute crew to show up at great inconvenience to Amtrak passengers. We had no idea how long it would take before the new crew arrived and no one with Amtrak had the courtesy of informing us how long we would have to wait.
I saw nothing outside of our window except brush and trees so I really anticipated a replacement Amtrak crew hacking their way through the brush with machettes to get to the train. It is inconceivable that Amtrak couldn't have a replacement crew already at the rendexvous point so they wouldn't inconvenience the passengers by further delaying the trip. It was obvious that Amtrak couldn't care less about making passengers wait long periods of time.
I suppose it is a good thing that Amtrak is not in charge of our airlines. Given Amtrak's procedures I suppose on a trip to Hawaii that after a crew had put in their maximum 12 hours that they would just stop working and land the airplane in the Pacific Ocean to wait for a replacement crew to be flown in and replace the current workers. Ludicrous yes, but so is the way that Amtrak runs its business. It is apparent from each of Amtrak's actions that they couldn't care less about consumers.
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