The last time I took the Coast Starlight, I recall talking to a couple whose entire round-trip Deluxe sleeper fare was comped for by Amtrak (they still had to pay the basic coach fare). He had complained after his last trip, in which the Zephyr arrived into OAK about 10 hrs late (mostly due to snow in the Rockies and Sierra).

Another couple I was talking to mentioned how Amtrak always ensured they made their connections between trains. In one case they were connecting between the Zeph and the Coast Starlight, and they pulled the passengers off at Sacramento and chased the CS through most of N. California in a motorcoach.

At any rate, I got the impression that Amtrak was really serious about customer satisfaction.