Amtrak
Reviews and Complaints

We took Amtrak from Dc to Charleston, Sc.

In the past we have had a bike car going to the gap or a dedicated luggage space on the car for our bikes.

A. We booked our return on Monday morning with a Monday evening return.

1 week later we were contacted that there was no space for our bikes and our return trip was pushed off to Monday night with a Tuesday morning return. (Less than optimal as we now have an overnight train without sleeping quarters.

B. My bike was put into the luggage car and when we arrived to Charleston the wheel was not riding straight with evidence of something crashing into it and dented. We had to now replace the wheel before we could ride anywhere. Also had expensive Ubers… so the $400 estimate to repair the wheel plus $75 worth of Ubers were added insult to injury with the current situation. We paid an additional fee to place our bikes under Amtrak for the duration of our trip. This does not appear to be the case, whether through accident or design, 1 of our bikes sustained damage.

We currently have a trip on Amtrak later in the season and we are rethinking if this is a viable option for bike travel. Because we are trying to travel Carless a bike box is not an option as we have nowhere to put it.

On 5/26/23 my family took the train from Lynchburg Va to Roanoke Va for the day to celebrate my fathers 81st birthday. It was a lovely day and a smooth trip. Unfortunately when we were pulling back into the Lynchburg station at the end of the day the conductor came by and told us we were close to the station, that we needed to start moving to the car where we would get off. My father has considerable balance deficits and it took two of us to prevent him from falling while negotiating the 3 cars he had to walk through. I work with elderly patients with balance problems in a physical therapy office, and know asking them to ambulate on a moving surface is a huge liability. I tried to speak to the conductor as we were leaving the train about this but he was very dismissive and just kept motioning us off the train. I do not know if there are huge time constraints for the staff, but passenger safety should come first. My suggestion would be to let the passengers know what car they will be exiting from so someone will not risk falling in the future.

My husband and I rode Cresent 19 from Washington DC on May 19, 2023. The sleeper car service was horrible. The dining tables were nasty and limited. There were three attendants lounging in the second dining car. They told us we were not allowed to eat in the dining car, it was part of the kitchen. We had purchased meals from amtrak. There are signs in each dining car that the tables are for passengers who purchased meals. Those dining attendants, two hefty white men and a semi hefty asain man were rude and unprofessional. On Cresent 20 we ate in the same car with no problem, of course the crew was different. We were attended to properly. We enjoyed our trip on Cresent 20 and we were treated very well. I will say this, everyone in every train station, from red cap to customer service went beyond our expectations to make sure we were comfortable. That was not the experience on-board Cresent 19 - 05/19-20/23!

I visited the Atlanta station on Wed. May 17th at 11pm. where I fell down a small set of hazardous steps. The steps had several cracks in it which caused me to twist my ankle and fall hard on the steps and the ground. A male passenger who saw me fall from the inside of the station and my nephew, who was standing at the bottom of the steps, rushed to help me to my feet and into the station where I explained and showed the desk clerks what had happened to me. I asked for and completed a passenger/guest injury/illness check list form, returned it to one of the desk clerks and again explained what happened. I was very disappointed that no one showed any empathy. I am a 58 year old female with some disabilities and I was not offered any assistance with walking to board the train, nor was I asked if I needed medical attention. They didn't even offer me first-aid for the bleeding gash in my knee.

After a long painful night and ride of moaning and tossing and turning to Greensboro, I was lifted on a stretcher and taken by ambulance to Wesley Lyons Hospital, where my blood pressure was elevated due to the pain endured through the night, I received harmful narcotics through painful injections and by mouth due to the level of pain in my left foot, left ankle, left knee, bruises on both hands and back spasms. I was then exposed to harmful radiation from more than 10 x-rays.

I have made several calls to the numbers listed on the checklist for Amtrak Central Reporting and Passenger Claims Unit as well as Georgia State OSHA office, American Disability Act, filed a complaint for those hazardous steps and up-loaded pictures. No one from Amtrak has returned my calls thus far. After a fun-filled vacation with family and friends celebrating graduations, birthdays and a lovely Mother's Day in the state of Georgia, I am now having to ware a boot, walk with crutches, clean and bandage a knee gash, soak both bruised hands, take pain meds often and take muscle relaxers for back spasms.

On February 28th I had knee replacement surgery. When I made my reservation, I indicated that I would require redcap service and a wheelchair. When train 80 arrived in DC on April 2nd, 2023, I waited for over 45 minutes before an employee noticed me on the platform. The male employee picked up my bag, walked me to the elevator as I used my cane. Then the gentleman placed my bag on a cart as he slowly accompanied to gate G where I met my party. The experience was excruciating;both mentally and physically. I am 78 years old;I almost collapsed.

I traveled on the Crescent train # 19 on April 9th. The toilets were filthy, needed supplies and only one was left open from Tuscaloosa to New Orleans. We were told by the car attendant, who was quite rude, to “...just deal with it.” Several of the customers would go in there and stay for some time and they smelled like they were smoking in there. Nothing was done and since at least 40 of us were packed in one car, it made for a very uncomfortable trip. I was afraid to drink anything because I never knew when the toilet would be available. As a type 1diabetic, I was also unable to take my insulin as I needed to use the bathroom to do this.

I placed an order for a Amtrak Gift card for $5.95 on March 2nd, 2023. The Order number is [protected].

I have sent them another email on March 17th, 2023 in regards to the fact that I have yet to receive this gift card - they have not responded at all. And, I have not received the Amtrak Gift Card either.

I think that this may be a scam card and would like to get my money back.

Thank you,

Acquanetta Aviles

On return trip from Sanford, I had 1st seating for dinner at 5pm and there was no dining that night and food arrived in my room at 9:10pm and with no utensils which took and addition 10 minutes. When I got my car, the driver had made adjustments to steering wheel, mirrors, seat, A/C radio, and even heads up display and there was a plastic container in my car with approximately $20 I keep for change and it was stolen.

February 14, 2023 , train #49, car 4911 -bedroom B, the sink was clogged and i could not use water, shower did not work as well. During the layover in the lounge in Chicago for my next train to Dallas, there was no food or water in the lounge, and also the rep. forgot to announce the boarding for my train # 21 to Dallas so the customers were almost late since the train was closing their doors. In this train #21, Texas Eagle, car 2131- bedroom D, the water pipes broke, and I had no water at all during almost the whole trip to Dallas. i purchase very expensive ticket and supposed to have a comfort, instead this was a complete disappointment. i expect to be compensated since the conveniences my ticket was supposed to include, were not provided.

RE: Reservation #s ED4758 and ED4801

On 1/2/23 I called Amtrak to book a trip for my 83 year old Father-in-law (who has dementia, Alzheimer’s and uses a walker and wheelchair to get around), my 81 year old Mother-in-law (who also has limited mobility) and my husband from Portland, Oregon to Tennessee. We have recently moved to Tennessee and were moving my FIL from his memory care nursing facility in Oregon to a new one in Tennessee.

I called Amtrak to accomplish this task because I was afraid that if I attempted to do it online, I would mess it up. I have never travelled by train before and had no idea what I was looking for and needed assistance. When I spoke to the Amtrak agent, I explained the situation above. I was very clear that my in-laws needed a sleeper car and that it could not be bunk beds, due to mobility and age issues. I also explained that my husband was needing to be very close by so that he could assist my MIL with the transferring of my FIL from chairs, toileting, etc. I would also like to add that my FIL sometimes can be a little unmanageable because of his medical issues and that’s another reason my husband needed to be close by.

Firstly, the Amtrak agent told me that she could get them to Chicago but then they would be transferred onto a bus to get to Tennessee. I did not understand that because I know that there are train stations in Tennessee. I again asked her if I had heard her correctly and she reiterated that the train would only go as far as Chicago. So I asked her to get them booked to Chicago. She then reserved a sleeper car for my in-laws (clearly stated on the ticket “reduced mobility fare”) and a “Handicap Accessible” seat for my husband, which was going to put him very close to them so that my MIL could get his help when she needed it.

I asked the agent again, if the room had bunk beds because my MIL has mobility issues (and she’s 81 years old) and would not be able to safely get into and out of a top bunk. The agent told me that it was not a bunk bed room. Again, not knowing anything about train travel, I took her at her word because I had been very clear about their needs.

Once they checked in for their trip, they were advised that my in-laws would be riding in coach for the first leg of their trip to Spokane because the car was having plumbing issues. No one attempted to contact us and give us an option of re-booking or rescheduling to another day/time before their arrival at the train station. This caused an undue hardship on my in-laws, because as I stated previously, my FIL can become unmanageable. Once they reached Spokane, they were given a room at 1:00 in the morning.

This then separated my in-laws from my husband by 2 train cars. He was nowhere close to the car that they were in and on part of the trip had no cell reception for is mother to contact him for help. My husband was repeatedly harassed by staff as he would walk through the dining car to get to his parents. He was told that since he was coach, he was not allowed to be in the dining car (which he was required to walk through to get to where they were). As I stated before, there were areas of no cell reception, so he hadn’t been able to call or text his mom to see if they were okay. When I made the reservations, I was not told that my husband would be forced to eat separately from his parents. He wasn’t allowed to eat with them in the dining car and there was no room for him to eat or assist his mother in the actual sleeper car.

Imagine how we felt when we learned that the room that my in-laws were given had bunk beds. The “steps” to get to the top bunk were literally the size of a tissue box and had no safety hand rail. This was completely unsafe for my MIL to climb into and out of. The room was so cramped that there was barely room for my FIL’s chair, walker and their 2 small pieces of luggage. They were forced to navigate around these things and usually without the help of my husband. My MIL is 5’2” and weighs 120 pounds. My FIL is 5’8 and weighs 220 pounds.

Then the main engine broke down in the middle of nowhere Montana. So the passengers on the train literally sat for almost 3 hours with no heat (in the Montana cold) waiting for it to be decided to go ahead and get a replacement engine sent to their location. Once they were underway, they were again delayed for almost another hour and a half because the crew was over on their hours and they had to get a replacement crew. They finally arrived in Chicago four and a half hours later than the original time.

I also learned that my husband was speaking with another passenger on the trip and found out that she was holding a ticket to Dyersburg, TN. What? I was told emphatically that there was no train to Tennessee and there was. I learned that there is in fact a daily train to Dyersburg. This caused the following sequence of events: They had to reserve a hotel room in Chicago for the night, then rented a car to Tennessee because there is no way my FIL could be on a bus. He is incontinent and with his mobility and mental issues, it was not even something that we could consider. This required them having to stay in a second hotel, because if they had driven straight through, his new nursing care facility wouldn’t have been able to accept him because it would have been very late.

I understand that things happen and trains break down, but for me to be blatantly mislead when I needed very specific things is inexcusable. This was the trip from you-know-where. I am very thankful that nothing happened to my in-laws on this trip. My MIL could have fallen and there would have been no one there to help her. My FIL could have fallen and how long would it have taken for her to get help for him? To be told that they could not take the train for their entire trip (when this was definitely not the case), thereby causing more stress, anxiety and issues to take care of my FIL, again inexcusable. Every single concern that I had and addressed with the agent came true. Every thing that she assured me would not happen, did.

Why would your representative take such ambiguous care? These people are actually disabled and need constant assistance and Amtrak negligently ignored their needs. I would like to know what Amtrak plans to do to rectify this absolute horror of a trip?

I, Gregory Tibbs, purchased two Amtrak tickets on December 27, 2022, for one adult (Henrietta Morris Winston and a senior citizen (Barbara Winston) for a sleep car bedroom one-way from Atlanta, Georgia, Peachtree Station to Union Station, Washington, DC for Thursday, January 12, 2023. The train 20 was scheduled to depart at 11:29 pm which runs once a day. The two passengers I purchased tickets for waited an hour to have a freight car removed off the tracks causing an hour delay. Once they boarded the train Johnathan, the Porter failed to ask a simple question, "Is this your first-time riding with us?" Also, he failed to show any function of their bedroom sleep car along with notifying them to turn on the call light for meals or advising them if the call light was off, they would miss breakfast. Unfortunately, they missed breakfast and continued to use the call button until a female answered coming to their aid and getting them something to eat while explaining Johnathan was walking up and down the train all night. My wife doesn't sleep in new/strange places and never seen or heard the Porter who failed to check on them until the next day a few hours prior to lunch and failed to help with their bags when they reached their destination.

My name is George Johns. The reservation number was D584D2. Travel date December 02/22. Guest Rewards #[protected]

My email address is [protected]@gmail.com. My phone number is [protected]

They put me off the train in the rain in Van Nuys. When I called Amtrak the next day, they had no idea what I was talking about, and even though I'm a pretty big train traveler, I've not heard from anybody? George Johns

On 12/20/2022 my train was delayed over 20 hours. The dining car was closed so no dinners, they train kept loosing power. So no bathroom or running water. My train car was missing weather stripping so it was extremely cold.Because of the delay I missed my flight home. Now I’m stranded because the train also is not running home and plane seats are over $600 on top of the $277 I paid for my other flight.

On December 11 we took train 54 the Vermonter from Penn station New York to Springfield at 11:30am.

I am unsettled that me and my passenger had to pay full price for a business class ticket, while your conducted allowed a coach paying customer to sit in the business class section. The conductor said to the coach passenger, “why should you have to pay more?”

Case number 6209954

Our checked luggage was taken off the train in Topeka. We were told we had to go to Kansas City to pick it up. Ticket agent called Wednesday, November 16, 2022 letting us know at 1:30 am our luggage was in his office. He also stated if we didn't pick it up by Monday November 21, 2022 it would've went to Chicago and destroyed.

We talked to customer relations Marion #4067 who let us know to fi!e a claim report.

We picked up the luggage Friday the 18th.

We traveled 300 miles from Sheridan MO. We feel we should be reimbursed for milage and food.

Thank you for your help.

Bruce Ferguson

[protected]

#1 train#21/421 is in desperate need of cleaning. The rest rooms are disgusting. You can tell this is government run establishment because it care nothing for its customers. On a 58hr trip I checked each bathroom (4) in my coach every 4-6hrs and piss was all over the toilets and floor. These bathrooms are never cleaned and I feel the cabins aren’t either. My last trip was in the family bedroom and it was just as disgusting. The rooms are not cleaned.

#2 I called to ensure that I could make dinner/breakfast reservations and I was told the covid restrictions were lifted and people in coach could make eating reservation. So against my husbands advise I didn’t not bring my own food because “I called and checked and amtrak has trained honest customer service representatives…I can believe the answers they give! So I get on and i’m told it’s only junk food from the cafe car.. No i’d like to order food at a table with a a napkin.. Im so very disappointed. I will rethink our next travel.

On the Auto-Train, the required points to reserve a full bedroom are increasing beyond belief. I may consider simply shipping my car back and forth between New Jersey and Florida for the future. This means I will not require the Amtrak (not) reward card. Additionally, the new card servicer (Bank of Omaha) lol,

Is terrible. Representatives are clueless of how to handle Amtrak customer reward applications. Bank of America was excellent, never a problem.

That's what happens when a corporation pick a third tier bank to handle it's consumer affairs.

This is regarding rsv#b63b24

Asked for cofffee to my room was totally ignored

Asked for my bed to be lowered ,attendent didnt show up until late so i slept on the seat for half the trip.I was treated with disrespect and sarcasm my a restaurant employee named William.who was treating all passengers with constant sarcasm,and disrespect.making fun of their choices of food.,then he was repremending a lady employee loud yelling at her and embarasing her in public for letting me sit in a sepperate table.on my way back was not any better.as a passenger was let to occupy a seat that was not hers and end up sitting uncomfortable and unable to stretch for 16 hours.this was a horrible experience on Amtrak.

My trip is from Washington state going to Jefferson city Missouri & I have a layover in Chicago,, well instead over letting me stay inside the station they kick me out at midnight on the street. So I'm outside the station in a place I don't know with no money freezing waiting till they open again in the morning. I will never use amtak again!

Thank you

On car 5900 room 2 was desperately in need of repair and deep cleaning. But oh, wait someone had repaired some of the walls especially where the hooks used to be.

So, when you have traveled in a roomette before you come to expect things in your room to help you stow your carryon bags. We were permitted to move to room 4. Still with no stow away hooks. But at least the rust on the inside of the roof was not as bad. But everything, walls, floor and all carpet was filthy.

Coffee pot not working, and the food service is a disaster. Rubberized microwaved food! REALLY? No dinning car? Our porter was very nice and helpful.

I took a shower. Another disaster. It took a while to keep the water flowing but the shower head was broken and during the shower water was flying all over and leaking out into the changing room. I clean up as best I could with extra towels that were pilled all over the room. Cleaning up the water now you can see all the filthy floor because the dirt is now on the wet towels. I had to let the water keep flying inside and out of the shower as there is no one around late at night.

Return trip Car 5800 roomette 5

Much newer car but still Filthy dirty everywhere.

Coffee pot working. Poorte very nice and helpful. Food, Rubberized. BAD!