Passenger Trains > Passengers missed #2 due to wrong time printed on tickets

This morning while watching the Benson webcam (0723), the scanner picked up a conversation between the conductor and the engineer.  Apparently people missed the train in Maracopa, Tucson, and Benson due to the wrong time being printed on the tickets.  
 

Arizona time and Daylight Saving Time claim a few more victims?

 

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Arizona time and Daylight Saving Time claim a few
> more victims?

Count me as an almost victim, when I used an Amtrak timetable based on Pacific Standard Time, and miscalculated Amtrak #2's entry into Arizona... and overslept. I should have KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid!) by just looking at the Arizona schedules.

I did catch up and got it between Tucson and Benson:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,5063972,5063983#5063983

So is this typical of all major corporations? I highly doubt it but there again they WANT their  customer's  business. Management at Amtrak is a misnomer 

1976steve Wrote:
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> So is this typical of all major corporations? I
> highly doubt it but there again they WANT their 
> customer's  business. Management at Amtrak is a
> misnomer

Has tickets with the wrong time printed been a problem before? Probably not.

People in management are supposed to be paid for their brains. This may sound off topic, but if they are too lazy and too stupid to get this right, computer will easily outsmart them (so-called A.I.). Our future (not just Amtrak's) is very dim.

The train is operating two hours earlier west of San Antonio because of track work.  The work was supposed to be completed over a month ago but keeps getting pushed back.  People have printed out tickets with the original time on them and then evidently never been notified that the train is operating earlier (And that may or may not be Amtrak's fault)

Wrong time on tickets and no follow thru, typical Amtrak. Garner just got an award for supporting "diversity" but not for running the trains on time...even Mussolini did better.

My own encounter with this sort of situation involved a temporary discontinuance of the thruway bus connection to Williams from Flagstaff. I was made aware of this by Amtrak but 2 other passengers were not notified by Amtrak Vacations, since they booked a vacation package through them. I made a rental car reservation for a before hours pick up at the Flagstaff depot and, upon hearing of their predicament, gave them a ride to the Grand Canyon Railway in Williams- where all 3 of us were headed. I spoke with a gift shop clerk at the G.C. Railway, telling her that they would need a ride back to Flagstaff in 2 days (and I was headed back to Flagstaff the same day otherwise I would have given them a return trip ride also). Fortunately, she was willing to give them a ride back to Flagstaff so I put the couple in touch with her.

I learned the hard way - but just in time - to always check actual departure times.  

During Covid, my sleeper was cancelled on the Southwest Chief. I caught the email (which gmail put in a general folder, not the inbox) and was able to grab a family room on the Texas Eagle/Sunset combination.

But then when I changed trains in Chicago, having arrived on the Lakeshore Limited, I didn't check the departure board and was astonished when they called my train for boarding two hours earlier than the time on my printed ticket due to track work.

Now I always check times the day before and on arrival at the station.

And I alway have a contingency plan.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/23 03:55 by TomPittsfieldMA.

RRBMail Wrote:
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> Wrong time on tickets and no follow thru, typical Amtrak. Garner just got an award for supporting "diversity" but not for running the trains on time...even Mussolini did better.

We had a RFE on the AML nicknamed "Mussolini"...  He liked to step in take over the controls.  One day on NS Chicago West he was running on a Rule 285 (approach) and took off after clearing a slow order.  "The President" (engineer of record for that trip) took the bullet and let him violate.  Conductor reminded him in time so he wouldn't run the red at CP 501 and kill a trainload of passengers.  TM was waiting on train when it arrived at CUS and guess what!?  Mussolini lied!  Mussolini had to mark up and we thanked "The President" over and over..  Fake Amtrak Leadership is nothing new!  OUT

Anyone who travels even a little knows (or should know) to always check travel details in the weeks leading up to the trip. That someone relied on a departure time printed on an eTicket weeks or maybe even months earlier is kind of amazing.  Should Amtrak have advised about the change? Sure.  Does that absolve the passenger of responsibility to know the train times? No.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/23 07:40 by prr60.

Someone screwed up on our ticketing when we were traveling in Germany to see my brother in Trier.  The conductor checked our tickets, but came back later to say in good English, "I looked it up.  On Sundays, there's no connection at Koblenz for Trier."  This was pre-cellphone, so we would have been in Koblenz and my brother waiting at the station in Trier.  We were able to catch him before he left home.

mapboy

prr60 Wrote:
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> Anyone who travels even a little knows (or should
> know) to always check travel details in the weeks
> leading up to the trip. That someone relied on a
> departure time printed on an eTicket weeks or
> maybe even months earlier is kind of amazing. 
> Should Amtrak have advised about the change?
> Sure.  Does that absolve the passenger of
> responsibility to know the train times? No.

No matter how you want to slice and dice this - my conviction is that Amtrak has an obligation to reach out and make contact to correct any misinformation that may be on an active and valid issued ticket. That's ALWAYS been the norm. I can remember going on Amtrak trips in the 80s, 90s and 00's and even up to a week before leaving, I got a revised "book" of tickets for my travelers and me for ALL the legs of travel citing the new times due to changing schedules. If events get canceled the venue reaches out to make the patrons aware of the cancellation and their options.

prr60 Wrote:
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 That someone relied on a
> departure time printed on an eTicket weeks or
> maybe even months earlier is kind of amazing. 
> Should Amtrak have advised about the change?
> Sure.  Does that absolve the passenger of
> responsibility to know the train times? No.

If passenger gave Amtrak their phone number in case of a change in service and Amtrak didn't call them with the change then Amtrak's at fault. Amtrak did not follow thru with its contract with the passenger in my opinion.    

mapboy Wrote:
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> Someone screwed up on our ticketing when we were
> traveling in Germany to see my brother in Trier.
>  The conductor checked our tickets, but came back
> later to say in good English, "I looked it up.
>  On Sundays, there's no connection at Koblenz for
> Trier."  This was pre-cellphone, so we would have
> been in Koblenz and my brother waiting at the
> station in Trier.  We were able to catch him
> before he left home.
>
> mapboy

There we go again comparing World Class rail travel with Amtrak's Third World but "diverse" political system! 

For comparison, Southwest Airlines has sent me several emails about originating flight departure time changes (sometimes by only five minutes) for a flight booked six months ago. Where there is a will, there is a way.

irhoghead Wrote:
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> For comparison, Southwest Airlines has sent me
> several emails about originating flight departure
> time changes (sometimes by only five minutes) for
> a flight booked six months ago. Where there is a
> will, there is a way.
The

JetBlue does likewise.

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Arizona time and Daylight Saving Time claim a few
> more victims?
>
>  

They wouldn't be the first and will not be the last. This happens evey year.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> irhoghead Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > For comparison, Southwest Airlines has sent me
> > several emails about originating flight
> departure
> > time changes (sometimes by only five minutes)
> for
> > a flight booked six months ago. Where there is
> a
> > will, there is a way.
> The
>
> JetBlue does likewise.

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

As does American Airlines.  And Delta.  And United.  But there, you're dealing with travel professionals, instead of a (not very) glorified social welfare program masquerading as transportation.

 

OTG Wrote:
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> The train is operating two hours earlier west of San Antonio because of track work.

So not a time zone issue. I'd expect a "time zone issue" in Arizona in late March when the train runs "an hour earlier" mountain standard time. Not late May / June.

I'm glad we got rid of time zone issues in Indiana - 17 years ago - but there are still people outside of the state who think Indiana doesn't change their clocks. It is getting better every year as the out of state people who had to deal with the non-time change (what time is it in Indiana?) adjust to the new reality. In state people adjusted quickly but there are still people who complain about changing their clocks.