Originally Posted by
fairviewroad
No one likes a bus when they are expecting a train, so your feelings are understandable.
But, I don't understand the time frame here. The Empire Builder is scheduled to leave MSP for Chicago at 7:50 in the morning. How would swapping the train for a bus require you spend an extra night in MSP?
I arrived in MSP from ANC the previous day and would have headed straight to Chicago with my son instead of loitering around MSP waiting for an early morning train.
When they called me at 11pm (!) I was told that I could wait for the train "if I wanted" but that there was no guarantee it would even come that day. My options were the bus or a refund.
Taking the train was part of the planned mini-vacation. Instead, it turned into a waste of an afternoon and a night in MSP plus the expense of a flight to Chicago.