Passenger Trains > ABC News: Mom and 5 kids "forced" off Amtrak

Mom says she and 5 kids forced off Amtrak in middle of night
WLS
by Anabel Munoz

> A Glendora mother was devastated after she and her five children
> were kicked off an Amtrak train in the middle of the night.

http://abc7chicago.com/news/mom-says-she-and-5-kids-forced-off-amtrak-in-middle-of-night/1393319/

=========================================================

The headline and the allegation are horsehockey. Maybe the woman
lied and/or ABC News hyped up the story to get an attention-grabbing
headline, but the text itself says that the woman VOLUNTARILY
detrained:

> Copado and her children decided to get off the Amtrak in Palm
> Springs, in the middle of a sand storm, and waited for her husband to
> arrive.

...and even THAT got jacked up by mention of a sand storm.

-GP

Big discussion on the AU blog about it.

I think its a clear mis understanding on what the Condr said ( or intended to get across) was that they could go to the lounge car, until they could work out seats together.

More MEDIA  HIPE, with out knowing or having all the facts.  Makes one wonder, just how much of general news is fact, near fact or just plain worthless.

The ABC article sounds like everybody dug in. The mom had multiple kids in the same seat. The conductor offered her alternative space in the lounge, she refused.

She was placing her children in an unsafe condition.

Posted from Android

"Copado said they then all crammed together in two seats and claimed she was given the option of staying in the lounge cart or having to get off on the next stop."

Pretty bad when they all have to be inside a cart.
 

 First, very bad reporting. What's a "lounge cart?"  Where is the fact/spell checker?  Further, what train was this? Oh wait, we can figure it out from where she was "booted" off but most wouldn't know tht.  This was cleary the mom's fault. She sounds like a real winner (or whiner). "Like we all need to sit together." Nice English. If you are cheap and go coach, there's no guarantee of sitting together.  Next time buy a sleeper. Family bedroom. Problem solved.

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>  First, very bad reporting. What's a "lounge
> cart?"  Where is the fact/spell checker?
>  Further, what train was this? Oh wait, we can
> figure it out from where she was "booted" off but
> most wouldn't know tht.  This was cleary the
> mom's fault. She sounds like a real winner (or
> whiner). "Like we all need to sit together." Nice
> English. If you are cheap and go coach, there's no
> guarantee of sitting together.  Next time buy a
> sleeper. Family bedroom. Problem solved.

Not so fast.  Why is Amtrak so antiquated and consumer-unfriendly that it continues to fail to offer seat-specific seat reservations?  It's simply unciviized.

At a minimum, seat reservations should be available for an extra charge to those who want them.

I, for one, would recommend against travel in coach during peak periods by families when adjacent seating may be more difficult to arrange.

As for the sleeper option, the vast majority of Amtrak passengers are 2nd class coach passengers, and not everyone can opt for a sleeper.

 

No matter what the facts are this should not have happened, and probably plenty of other passengers saw the whole scene.

reindeerflame Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "Copado said they then all crammed together in two
> seats and claimed she was given the option of
> staying in the lounge cart or having to get off on
> the next stop."
>
> Pretty bad when they all have to be inside a
> cart.
>  
Maybe the prospect of her and her 5 kids crammed into a cart scared her enough to get off the train.   Obviously more to this story.  Was there a language barrier?

SWA, full flight, family of (only 3, but with baby).  Family is late at the gate.  SWA is first come, no assigned seats for regular coach.
Attendant takes up position at last three seat row and keeps that row open for them.
Benefit for family and all others.  Family was very thankful.

Bob



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/16 13:46 by robj.

reindeerflame Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> andersonb109 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >  First, very bad reporting. What's a "lounge
> > cart?"  Where is the fact/spell checker?
> >  Further, what train was this? Oh wait, we can
> > figure it out from where she was "booted" off
> but
> > most wouldn't know tht.  This was cleary the
> > mom's fault. She sounds like a real winner (or
> > whiner). "Like we all need to sit together."
> Nice
> > English. If you are cheap and go coach, there's
> no
> > guarantee of sitting together.  Next time buy
> a
> > sleeper. Family bedroom. Problem solved.
>
> Not so fast.  Why is Amtrak so antiquated and
> consumer-unfriendly that it continues to fail to
> offer seat-specific seat reservations?  It's
> simply unciviized.
>
> At a minimum, seat reservations should be
> available for an extra charge to those who want
> them.
>
> I, for one, would recommend against travel in
> coach during peak periods by families when
> adjacent seating may be more difficult to
> arrange.
>
> As for the sleeper option, the vast majority of
> Amtrak passengers are 2nd class coach passengers,
> and not everyone can opt for a sleeper.
>
>  

all corridor trains and the train are non reserved ... use to be all reserved trains running between end points of a corridor were considered non reserved until beyond the corridor end point ... not sure if that's still the case ... 

Given the unprecedented level of coach standardization, there is no excuse why Amtrak can't get off their duffs and have some assigned seating. Actually they do, they order you where to sit at trainside, and are particularly harsh on singles to move when told as though they are interlopers or pass riders. Not acceptable. It seems that all they want to do is to declare a coach "business class" to get around this issue.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/16 15:49 by joemvcnj.

She admitted that she made reservations at different times to save money. Train was basically sold out. She and the kids got on in Pomona. Passengers were already seated and most asleep. Cant be waking them up and moving them around. Conductor offered to let them sit together in the lounge. She refused and so they were voluntarily let out at Palm Springs. No sandstorm just a little wind. Her husband picked them up there. Probably not much over an hour from home. Shes a whiner and probably wants to get something out of this!

If I want to ride the Coast Starlight and select a particular pair of coach seats with one of the best windows on the ocean side, I should be able to reserve that in advance.

The same is true for a family traveling during a busy travel period who wants 4 adjacent seats.

If someone wants to board at an intermediate location on a heavy travel day, such as Burbank or Pomona/Ontario, where most of the seats might be previously occupied due to the proximity of a large station (Los Angeles), they should be able to reserve seats, rather than having to travel to Los Angeles or risk an unsatisfactory seating situation.

It's basic customer service, particularly but not exclusively for parties of more than one person.

It doesn't necessarily have to be the entire train; it could be as little as one coach per train, and there could be an extra charge.

As it is, Amtrak resembles Greyhound, rather than the more upscale airlines.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/16 16:20 by reindeerflame.

The old and worn out Amtrak computer can not handle the assignments of space.

However, a new reservation system is in the works, maybe next year, and assignment of seats is on the long list of improvement's. 

I too would like to see a possible extra charge for choice seats, such as the Ocean View on the Coast Starlight.  Back in my day of SP reservations, I kidded with fellow agents, that we could at least get $5.00 a seat for the ocean side.

It does it for berths. Why not for coach ? They can't even do aisle/window ?

If the woman booked tickets at different times to save money, what makes anyone think she would pay extra to guarantee a certain seating situation??  

She, and many others, would be more likely to book the cheapest seats and hope for the best. 

Where was the car attendant?  I have a hard time
believing there wasn't room in one of the other coaches,
or that they couldn't get some other passengers to move.
That's the car attendants responsibility!
Often at the late night stops, conductors only want to open
the one coach.  Car attendants have been cut down to
such low numbers, that often if falls on the conductor to
handle these situations.  Not all conductors and assistant
conductors are able to deal tactfully with the many people issues encountered.
Unfortunately, the sociological problems of coach passengers,
I feel, has only increased on many long distance trains the last few years.
It may be, that the only solution that would have made this lady happy,
would have been moving them to a couple of roomettes.
 

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
and are particularly harsh on
> singles to move when told as though they are
> interlopers or pass riders.

I never felt any Amtrak employee acted "particularly harsh" towards me because I was traveling single.

 

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
 If you are cheap and go coach, there's no
> guarantee of sitting together.  Next time buy a
> sleeper. Family bedroom. Problem solved.

The cost difference between coach and sleeper for six persons is over $1,000.  That may not be much for you, but it is a lot of money for plenty of other Amtrak patrons.