Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/07/04

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Subject: [Leica] Amtrak not a real alternative to air travel
From: "Mitch Zeissler" <zeissler@directvinternet.com>
Date: Thu, 4 Jul 2002 21:21:30 -0400

Amtrak?  Gimme a break!

My 91 year old grandfather [with hearing aids and confined to a wheelchair
during travel] and his SO recently finished another trip to visit me on
Amtrak from San Jose to DC and back with first class accommodations.  This
trip was a complete disaster, like the last one they took 5 years ago [same
itinerary]:

- - The originating pick up station in CA was *closed* on the day they were to
begin the trip and they were never told or notified.  No wheelchair.  Just
wait for the train to arrive and hope someone will help to get granddad on
board.
- - Amtrak kept running out of food on the train, all the way out to the east
coast.
- - They got stuck in a snow storm in Montana and had to be bused to another
location to continue the trip.
- - After a stop-over in Pennsylvania, they were denied a sleeper car berth
that they had paid for from Pittsburgh to DC and were not allowed into the
first class dining car.  Amtrak grudgingly allowed them to eat in another
dining car, but not without a fight.
- - They arrived 6 hours late into DC because a drunk woman drove her car in
front of the train.
- - The DC departure time on the ticket differed from what it really was, so
they missed the departing train back to Pittsburgh by 4 minutes.  Since my
granddad purchased the entire trip through an Amtrak ticket agent, Amtrak
gave them a flight on US Airways to get them to PA on-time for their
connecting train [with the associated nightmare of getting a handicapped
senior through heavy security at National].
- - More problems with the train running out of food out to the west coast.
- - Their train arrived late [5 hours] in southern CA, so they were bused
again to another station to make the connection that finally took them home.

In my own Amtrak experience and that of other family members, this is not an
isolated incident.

Back to polishing my M6.

/Mitch
_________________________________________
Mitch Zeissler
  E-mail: zeissler@directvinternet.com

> -----Original Message-----
> Sent: Thursday, July 04, 2002 6:58 PM
> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject: Re: [Leica] airport security kinda long. ;-)
>
> Try Amtrak's California Zephyr, Chicago to San
>
> Seth     LaK 9


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