AmtrakReviews 88

Amtrak defrauded my money during a failed ticket purchase. They are taking no responsibility for their error. I have wasted 15+ hours xhasing to get my own stolen money back from amtrak. Have decided to boycott them for at least a year due to this.

Their standard of service is way down, employees are rude, toilets dirty etc

DO NOT GET AMTRAK TRAVEL INSURANCE
We paid 1076 for Amtrak vacation Travel Insurance, NOT BECAUSE WE WANTED TO. We, in fact, expressly declined the travel insurance; but when a change was made to travel details Amtrak automatically added it back in then told us they could not remove the charge after we were invoiced. Make sure you decline the travel insurance each time you talk to them and verify travel totals do not include the cost. That should be easy, for a trip total of 4903, 1076 was travel insurance - my son learned a booking lesson the hard way on that one.

Additionally it was a COMPLETE RIP OFF. Amtrak was responsible for over 24 hour delay in reaching Salt Lake City, causing us to completely miss 1 night hotel stay and 24 hours of car rental and additional costs in changing the pick time for the car. The travel insurance reimbursed 132, less than half the missed hotel reservations and none of the rental car costs.

Besides, most credit cards offer travel insurance as benefit, go on line and check and use the card with the best deal. Even if it doesnt cover everything you will still be far better off than with Amtrak insurance.

I dislike every trip I make with them. As a minor I didn't think I would be bothered much but sadly I was wrong. Last trip I had I come in with the paper they gave me (which I'm supposed to keep the whole ride) of my information. There goes one of the workers asking for it. I casually give it to them. The guy ends up letting me know that he leaving in Orlando when I'm going to Tampa I never received my paper back. I arrived in Tampa and they ask for the paper THAT I DONT HAVE. Also during the trip the guy that works at the food store is so rude for no reason huffing and puffing about doing his own job! I'm 15 I work and I don't even come close to complain about doing my job. I past through it and get another trip on the train and the circuit wasn't working on one side. I had to charge my phone so I ask about it. Again on this trip they take my paper. They move me to the other side to charge my phone. I fall asleep and I get woken up to move AGAIN. " because that's how he does it". I can't even sleep on the 6 hour train ride. I would rather not take another trip.

I wouldn't advise anyone to ride Amtrak trains. Their employees are very unprofessional; lacking ethical skills and very rude and disrespectful to customers.
I've just recently rode a Amtrak train to Louisiana for my grandmother's funeral. The Amtrak station in Chicago, Illinois is another example. They kick you out of the station at midnight. Even though you have a boarding ticket to ride the train. They don't care if you live or die out in them streets. New Orleans, Louisiana Amtrak station is no different. They have gang members hanging around the train station.
Their supervisors are criminals dressed up in a uniform. They gave me a price amount for a boarding ticket. Next, when it was time to collect payment; and said that I didn't tell you that. There is some funny business going on in that organization.

A kind woman name Shadaa from Penn in Newark helped three women aged 30 to 73 with our train departures.
All of us on different trains.
She comforted my nervousness.
She deserves some recognition for her helpful service.
A very kind employee of Amtrack, Newark
Sunday 6 48 Jan 21
Lois Arthur Boston

Dirty Bathrooms. I don't think they are ever cleaned. I booked round trip from Illinois to Las Vegas Trip costs over $650. I think a plane trip would have been Quicker and About the same price. I don't think I will take another train ride unless it is a Quick trip. Not good for long Trips. Can't wait to get back home.

I'm being using Amtrak multiple times, can see the quality drooping abruptly. Not clean, poor service, minimum staff, old cover, dusty. Smells pee, tables dirty, old gums on room...my attendance is excellent, nice but not support, a lot. And that is the remaining gums. Traveling long, paid a lot, not right.

It can be Fun traveling on a train to a destination. It was for me when during the holiday rush I took a train to relatives. A plane would have brought me there in an hour but the train with one layover took 9 hours. So relaxing! It gave me the opportunity to transit into the family reality. Red caps in Seattle and Portland Oregon were very attentive. Security at both places was excellent. Best to travel during lower use times as the train bathrooms were less than
Perfect. So I used the bathrooms in the stations and they were clean.

In my experience the trains on this route are unreliable 20% of the time. That really is not acceptable when Amtrak could simply cancel the trains in advance so you are not left standing in the night, cold, and rain while constantly checking the "status" only to see it inching farther and farther out. Restaurants and stores closed. Do they not care? The trains that are not cancelled on the schedule are an hour or more late - they might as well have been canceled too. This is why many people in the area refuse to take the train. More reliability would result in more riders.

Horrible -train 4 hours late-food TERRIBLE! Roomette laughable so small and uncomfortable. Outrageously expensive. Train so old and rickety felt unsafe for us older people to walk around for fear of falling. Thought romantic to ride train in a roomette-scenery from Illinois to New Orleans poverty stricken areas other than crossing Lake Pontchartrain. The so called special access to priority lounge area at depots consisted of water, packaged muffins and potato chips only - with stained old furniture. Train antiquated, dirty. Could have flown cheaper and a few hour flight opposed to 15 hour ride. Looking forward to booking my next train ride.

I have traveled for so many years on Amtrak. But today I can say in all my 20 years traveling. Amtrak finally gave us the BEST train attendant I ever seen. So friendly, polite, caring, and kept the train clean at all times. His name is Chris Charles. They should have more like him on all trains. From the moment I got on board he capture my attention when I asked help to place the luggage in overhead. They usually give bad attitude but just said "that is what I am here for to help you " big applaud

I am traveling with my handsome special needs adult son; we are on our third train of this epic Amtrak journey over the Thanksgiving holiday and what a difference staff makes. The trains have all been quite similar in set-up and layout, but the staff is what made the difference for us. The sleeper car attendants have been a mixed batch, and I must say that I am thankful that Erika was our first, on the westbound Empire Builder out of Chicago. Women do have a nurturing and caring attitude, no way around it. It's like flight attendants, some good, some meh, and some bad. The male attendants on the California Starlight and currently the California Zephyr have been disappointing to say the least. The current attendant on the Zephyr (Gregory) has been the worst. I couldn't believe that he has the nerve to request tips, ahead of the journey on embarkation! He doesn't even answer his call bell! This is our second day on board, and he is consistently MIA! Why would I give him a tip for service when I get off?
He even had the nerve to say he was busy on our first day, when I heard him attend to the car next to me and NOT come in to address our call button that had been lit up for 20 minutes already! He showed up 40 minutes later, after blatantly ignoring us. So, I have decided to just ignore him, pilfer what I need from "open" sleepers, like extra bottled water, washcloths, soap, and be done with him, except…. I need him to get our food from the dining car! Got a repeat performance this morning after he delivered breakfast, without water? He refused to answer our call button for 30 minutes this time.
His style is his own, that was obvious to us, unlike the other attendants. He acts as if he is so busy, when it appears there are lots of empties here? Everyone had the same number of 23 "rooms" to attend to. Do your job man! He was of the mind-set that we ate when HE was ready to feed us. This included a rude knocking on our door at 7:15 A.M. the first morning out. We were not even out of our births nor were we ready to order and eat breakfast!
Erika on the other hand was attentive, responsive, and timely in providing services. Amtrak will be losing her, unfortunately, probably to more care-less men. On the Starlight, while dining for lunch in the dining car, we had the pleasure of hearing the attendant (his name escapes me) dissing "us sleeper car passengers" for expecting our food in a timely fashion, was arrogant about it, really? Isn't that your job? This Amtrak package is not cheap! The rooms are dated, the amenities are none, the food is nothing to write home about, so what else is there for us to expect if not good, did not say great, just plain simple polite, good service? Please tell me what kind of training the men got, because the female attendants appeared to have been heads and shoulders above them?
The views from our stateroom are lovely from both sides, there are no cabins on the other side of us, which is great for privacy and viewing. You can hear conversations in adjoining cabins, but it is not bad considering the proximity. Having your own toilet is wonderful. I cannot imagine with all the transient activity that the public restroom or shower is a great deal for those who cannot afford privacy. Amtrak did provide good hotel accommodations in both cities (Seattle and San Francisco) and the tour packages were perfect in both locations as well. We thoroughly enjoyed staying right at the base of the Space Needle, visiting the impressive Chihuly glass museum, and having time to do the Aquarium and shop!
Visiting Muir Woods in San Francisco was fabulous, great tour guide, interesting attractions, and a wonderful city to explore on your own. We will remember this trip for years to come and I am so thankful that we did it over this holiday. The weather in both cities was absolutely postcard perfect and getting from the train station was relatively simple in both places. Amtrak did provide luxury bus service into San Francisco since there is no train station in the city proper and it was an easy Uber ride in Seattle. I was told they have new trains on order, thanks to President Biden's infrastructure bill. That may be the next time I try this journey again, on a different route, and hopefully with better attendants and food.

P.S. I started the above review on the second day of our journey home. It only got worse, we did not make it with Gregory on the Zephyr, he truly showed his worse side on our second evening. He refused to answer my call button after 20 minutes AGAIN, so I asked the neighboring riders to push their call button. He came in 5 minutes to their cabin, totally by-passing mine, and when they told him that they only called him because he was ignoring MY CALL, it was absolutely the last straw. He had the audacity to YELL at me and tell me that I expected too much! Where is customer service? I paid for his services, I was not allowed to go get my own food or WATER, so what the hell? Unfortunately, it did not end there, he then had the thought to just ignore me the next morning in passing thru the corridors? Who does this? Why? I reported it to the conductor, but AMTRAK, you have a problem. I did not use my call button for the duration of the trip, all day, for 12 hours! There was obviously a problem here and I don't do drama or stress. This was a let down to an otherwise lovely week-long trip.

For the Santa Clara to Sacramento Amtrak today, 3:10 PM, Nov 28th I helped my handicapped and elderly friend with her bags. We took them to the platform and set them -- and her -- inside the blue-colored Handicap sign on the platform But when the train arrived, they refused to open any door in front of that ADA space. Instead, we had to hurriedly walk, shuffle, etc -- with bags -- about 80 feet away to the closest open door. The engineer even called out for us to get away from closed doors and refused to open the one in front of the ADA Handicap space. Let's request a policy change so that the ADA space door is always one that gets opened.

I spent an hour trying to buy tickets on the Amtrak website. It just kept freezing. I hit "Continue" and... nothing, nothing, nothing. My computer otherwise worked fine. Other websites worked fine. Enormously frustrating. Finally, I called the 1-800 number and waited a very long time to speak with a representative, who was helpful. There has to be a better way to do this!

My experience was horrible. There is NO place to wait inside and NO restroom available... I gave it one star becuz it was only 15 minutes late and arrival to Ottuma was was actually Early. Don't get on at Hastings, NE Ever. Plus it's dark and barriers are set up to get to the train.

Booked an auto train trip and asked to use points, which would pay for half of the trip. Agent forgot to add and charged my card for the full fare. Called to fix, but they said they couldn't refund the money. Bait and Switch at its best...

Amtrak.She dismissed me as a black woman while she catered to white people. After she suggested I struggle with my extra large baggage and I then I watched her escort a disabled white couple where I needed help. MR. TAYLOR in customer service
( while on break… THANK YOU) was great.
Black Jamaican women … don't respect African American women even when they're treated with respect. It scares them to hear good morning, yes ma'me, and thank you. As a veteran of this beautiful racist country I never disrespected this angry female. I tried uploading video but video was too short. I'm still a proud US Army veteran. THANK YOU RED CAPS FOR YOUR SERVICE! Approximately 12:30-12:45 pm watch the video at Amtrak check in.

So these people are telling me my train gets a 3 hour delay but they can't wait for me for 1 minute? Fix your train of thought because it's bumpier than how you guys drive