Last Train Forever
Latest: Bottom line I had to book a trip that had to be canceled and take a loss. Voucher now expires in 2023 Just kicked down the road again.
Amtrak is about to steal money from me as well as from many other passengers. And, as you might guess they do not care. The following is my story.
There is no question that we have seen travelers complain for decades about poor treatment from the major airlines. The recent “situation” seems to have exacerbated this. With certain restrictions and/or requirements in place the industry has been affected negatively, and, in my opinion rightly so.
I, however, have not had to deal with this as because of an issue with my eustachian tubes I am unable to fly. Okay, I take that back. I CAN fly. What I am actually unable to do is take off or land. Therefore, my main mode of long distance transportation has been train, Amtrak, to be more specific.
I actually always loved train travel. It was relaxing and I could view the country. This being the case, when, in 2019 I had the opportunity to have a table at the Hollywood Autograph Show in Los Angeles, I jumped at the chance… and jumped on board the Southwest Chief.
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Without going into all the long, drawn out details, for the sake of brevity and this article, I will just say that I did not receive all the services for which I’d paid. Customer service offered a partial refund, however, they would only give me said refund on a voucher to be used for future travel. At the time I was not bothered by this as I was already scheduled to participate in the same show in the summer of 2020. (short note to those who have joked that I can see the future; this debunks your conjecture completely.} At the very beginning of January I had even used the voucher to pay for my summer travel, so, no problem.
Except we all know what happened. The event, as well as just about every other event was cancelled. I had even gotten an email from Amtrak saying that during this time if we needed to cancel we would not incur a fee. Indeed, I had to cancel. At the time I begged, pleaded, implored to get all the money back to my credit card and not take another voucher. I was told rather unsympathetically that they could not do that. Good news though, the vouchers would have their expiration extended to December 31, 2021. I suppose I wasn’t too upset as it seemed far enough away that there was a chance the event would take place and Amtrak’s travel restrictions would be lifted. So much for that psychic ability.
Amtrak’s restrictions were/are just as bad as the airlines.. if not worse. When you fly and are forced into a suffocation device it might be only a couple of hours. Amtrak expects its passengers to keep this thing glued to their faces 24/7 on trips that could last up to 48 hours. I, personally, have a medical exemption to having anything over my mouth and nose and they callously let me know that they do not “have to honor medical exemptions.” This requirement goes for the vaccinated and/or anyone testing negative.
Bottom line Amtrak has made it impossible for me to travel with them and they are refusing to extend the life of the voucher or just refund the money. They have told me “too bad about the exemption and too bad you will lose the money represented by the voucher.”
Hence this article, told in my usual sarcastic way. Please help me in calling out this theft and, while Amtrak is trying to encourage more people to travel by train let them know that we will not be using their service.
*Note: I am looking to be interviewed about this to help raise awareness of Amtrak’s money grab. Please contact irrepressibleproductions@aol.com
