COX Newspapers Washington Bureau

Home > Rafi on the Rails > Archives > 2007 > November > 14 > Entry

Dennis the Amtrak Menace

By Rafi Guroian | Wednesday, November 14, 2007, 12:07 AM

If there was one disappointment in my recent trip to Montreal, it was on my connecting train back to Baltimore from New York’s Penn Station. Because the Adirondack (Montreal to New York) lacks a business class car, I booked coach for the entire trip home, figuring that I’d upgrade to business in New York if seats were available on the connecting regional train.

Now for those of you who may not know, the train’s conductor can always upgrade your class of seat on an Amtrak train if the accommodations are available and if you’re willing to pay the upgrade fee. For example, I’ve always been a fan of paying a small surcharge onboard a long distance train to upgrade to a deluxe sleeper room from a standard “roommette” when there’s a room available. On Acela Express trains, it’s possible to upgrade from Business Class to First Class, and on regional trains, it’s possible to upgrade from Coach to Business.

In fact, Amtrak’s timetable reads,
“Business class, Acela Express First class and Sleeping Car Service accommodations may be purchased on board trains if unsold space is still available. Contact the Conductor to purchase an upgrade.”

Seems pretty straightforward, huh? Not to Dennis, the conductor on train 177 on November 14, 2007. And not only that, Dennis is a good example of how Amtrak still has a lot of work to do when it comes to Customer Service training.

As I took my seat in the coach car, I asked one of the assistant conductors where the head conductor of the train was. She pointed him out and I approached him, tickets in hand.

“Hi, I’d like to upgrade to Business Class,” I said politely, offering him my ticket.
“I don’t do that. You have to do that thirty minutes before the train leaves at the ticket office.” Dennis turns away.
“Are you sure? I’ve upgraded on board before,” I ask inquisitively.
“You’re asking me if I’m sure? I’m the conductor. This is my train.”
“Let me go grab my timetable. I’ll be right back.” I turn away without letting him respond and go grab my timetable from my bag. I return to Dennis and he reads the upgrading accommodations rule out loud.
“It says here that you have to contact the Conductor to purchase an upgrade. I’m the conductor, and I’m saying that I won’t do it. I’m out of [ticket] stock anyway, so you can either keep arguing with me or leave me alone.”
At this point, I’m in disbelief, because this guy is just being blatantly rude to a passenger who’s being very polite. It’s one thing to let a customer know that you’re not going to help them. It’s another to blatantly and rudely dismiss them as an annoyance. So I put it on the line.
“So you’re telling me that this is a rule that’s printed in the timetable, and you’re not going to honor it?”
“That’s what I’m telling you.”
“And there’s available room in the car?”
“Yeah, probably.”
“And I’m willing to pay more money for a seat that you’d otherwise deadhead and you’re not going to allow it?”
“Yes. And if you continue to argue this point, you can take the next train, because I do have the authority to kick you off of this one.” Which, coincidently, was at 3:00 AM the next morning.

And so, an Amtrak conductor threatened to kick me off of a train if I didn’t stop asking him to take my money. As I walked away, I took a hard look at his badge, letting him know that I was upset, and he responded, “go ahead buddy. Dennis is all you need to know. D-E-N-N-I-S.”

Wow.

When I got back to my seat, I called reservations to make sure I wasn’t missing something, and sure enough, I wasn’t—by all rights, I should have been able to upgrade to the business class section of the train, but I ended up getting one hard case of a conductor; no wonder he’s working the 10:05 PM train out of New York.

Now, compare this with my recent trip on the Downeaster where I met Tom the Conductor, who the regular passengers know simply as “Zeb.” Tom couldn’t have been nicer, and he told me that his goal when it came to passengers was to make sure everyone was accommodated. Now, in the context of that trip on the Downeaster, that meant that he wanted everyone to be relaxed in a heat restriction scenario where the train was going to be 30-40 minutes late into its final station. He made frequent announcements, stopped to chat with people about whatever they wanted to talk about, and made himself freely available to every individual on the train.

Dennis, on the other hand, sat in the cafe car and read a magazine. Seriously—I caught him when I went to pick up some snacks.

Dennis, if you’re reading this, please take some advice: Go mentor with Tom on the Downeaster for a few days, take some Customer Service Classes and absorb the Amtrak Rule Book.

Permalink | | Categories: Northeast Corridor Regional