Re: [Leica] Amtrak - long rebuttal

[SthRosner@aol.com]

Mitch, there are so many inaccuracies it is hard to know where to start.

In a message dated 7/4/02 9:23:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
zeissler@directvinternet.com writes:

>  My 91 year old grandfather .....recently finished another trip to visit me 
on
>  Amtrak from San Jose to DC and back with first class accommodations. 

What train does Amtrak run from San Jose through a Montana snow storm to get 
to DC?
  
>  - The originating pick up station in CA was *closed* 

San Jose Amtrak station was closed? Please, Mitch.

>  - Amtrak kept running out of food on the train, all the way out to the 
east coast.

There is no train that runs from San Jose to the east coast. Grandpa would 
have ridden on at least three Amtrak trains. They all ran out of food?  

In the past five years I have ridden in Amtrak sleeping cars on the Lake 
Shore Limited between Chicago and either New York City or Albany ten times, 
between Chicago and either San Francisco or Los Angeles six times and this 
April between San Antonio and Chicago. I also ride Amtrak between Albany and 
New York City on average six times a month and between New York City and 
Washington D.C. on average six times a year.

No Amtrak train I've ever ridden has ever run out of food nor have I ever 
heard of an Amtrak train "running out of food." Running out of a particular 
item, yes. That even happens in some of the nation's finest restaurants.

>  - They got stuck in a snow storm in Montana

What a San Jose to DC train was doing wandering around the north country, 
I'll never know. Neither will Amtrak. Must have been a different trip. Maybe 
by different people.

> and had to be bused to another location to continue the trip. 

Amtrak takes care of its own. Yes, Amtrak does experience delays caused by 
weather. And a blizzard can obstruct tracks. 

Your right, Mitch, I've never heard of a plane trip being delayed by a 
blizzard or a weather front coming in. Oh shoot, I just remembered Buffalo 
airport being completely shut down for four days a few winters ago.
 
> After a stop-over in Pennsylvania, they were denied a sleeper car berth 
that they > 
> had paid for from Pittsburgh to DC 

Amtrak does sell out space. If they stopped over in Pennsylvania and hadn't 
booked in advance a bedroom for the intended day of departure, that's not 
Amtrak's fault, it the fault of Grandpa's SO.

>  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.

If they had first class tickets, I simply don't believe this. Given your very 
clear errors and your obvous zeal for Amtrak, I have the very powerful 
mistrust of the rest of your *facts*.

> - They arrived 6 hours late into DC because a drunk woman drove her car in
>  front of the train.

.....obviously Amtrak's fault.

>  - 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.  

I don't believe this either. Tickets are computer-generated. 

> 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].

.......obviously Amtrak's fault again.

Mitch, your animus against Amtrak reeks. Does Amtrak make mistakes? Of 
course. But give us a break, pal.

Seth          
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