vman1969

We rode the Lake Shore Limited Amtrak train from Buffalo, NY to Pittsfield, MA on 12/30/13. When we boarded the sleeper car 4280, Jackie the attendant offered to place our 3 suitcases bags in another car to allow us more room. She took our 3 suitcases. 30 minutes before we got off in Pittsfield, she alerted us that one of the bags was now suddenly missing. It had all my wife's personal products and most of her clothing. Three different train employees took our phone number and said someone would call, that they were looking for it. We asked for their phone numbers or a number to call, and none of them would offer. After 15 hours of no calls from anyone at Amtrak, she started calling everyone. One employee said that maybe the bag got removed in Albany where the train splits and sent on to Penn Station. We have called them and left a message, still no reply. After she did speak with one woman at Customer Relations, Amtrak put an APB out for the bag at each station along the way and nothing.

The thing that concerns us the most is that it has no Amtrak bag tag, since we were getting off in Pittsfield we weren't allowed to check bags. That is why we appreciated Jackie's attempts to help us, but they failed miserably. We have now returned home to Santa Monica, CA with one missing suitcase and the contents.

Very maddening when you trust someone to do something and they failed and now it seems lost forever. The bag had a personal tag on it with her name and phone number. It's a 24" Gray Hard Shelled Samsonite Spinner bag, with a "cassette tape" tag.

Not one person from the train or from Amtrak have made any attempts to reach out to us. All the calls have been from us to various train stations, baggage claim areas and voicemail boxes.

It seems as if the employees of the train basically stole our suitcase and contents and no one is reacting to this.

Would greatly appreciate any thoughts, or help. Thanks!

fairviewroad

Sorry to hear of your frustrating situation, but this particular conclusion is a huge leap to make without additional facts. When the attendant says she put the bags "in another car", did she specify which car that was? I suspect she simply put them into another revenue car where they could be accessed by anyone, including other passengers.

I assume you've reviewed Amtrak's webpage for lost items. Unfortunately for you, Amtrak specifically "disclaims all liability for carry-on baggage...even if Amtrak personnel have handled or assisted in loading or unloading the baggage."

Good luck! Hopefully it turns out well.

vman1969

Thanks, it turns out it was a baggage car, that supposedly was locked, so the assumption is that an employee pulled it off at a stop, for some reason, with no Amtrak bag tag. Yes, we became aware of this policy yesterday, a bit too late. Hopefully, it will turn up at some station, and wasn't stolen by an employee or passenger. It is weird that they only took one, albeit, the heaviest of the three.

vman1969

an update, the bag was found at Penn Station. now, to figure out how to get it back and get it to us in California.

jimhudson

Don't give up Hope! Amtrak does a Really First Rate Job with Baggage Overall, this is a Rare Happening! Hopefully youll get a Notification that Amtrak Found your Bag and will be Shipping it to your Location! (You Do Have Your Phone/Address/Text/e-mail etc. on File with Amtrak Right?) Happy New Year, keep us Posted!

fairviewroad

^

Awesome. It would seem as though this was an honest (but unfortunate) mistake. Keep us posted on whether part 2 of this saga turns out well. Most likely they will "ship" it via regularly scheduled Amtrak service, so even in the best case scenario it will take about 3 days to get to you.

amamba

I am thrilled that your bag was found, and I hope it makes it back to you in California.

Flying Machine

Welcome to Flyertalk vman1969:Nice to hear that Amtrak located your lost bag! Please let us know Amtraks plan in routing it back to you? Just curious, did they mention how it ended up in NY Penn? and whom located it for you? Remember it was New Years and perhaps their lack in replying was due to the same.. Safe Travels and Happy New Year..

Often1

Glad Amtrak located your bag. Your thread title was based on a completely untrue and very unfair assumption both at the time and now. The least you should do is change it.

vman1969

Well, I did place a question mark making it rhetorical. Nonetheless, if I can figure out how to change the thread title, I will be happy to.

Thanks to all for taking the time to drop a note. Three days sounds about right before we will have it.

We still are not certain why it was removed and the other two weren't, most likely happened in Albany when the train splits between NY and Boston.

ByeByeDelta

Updated the thread title to better reflect the conversation.

ByeByeDelta
AGR Moderator

AlanB

An untaged bag that doesn't even belong in the baggage car on a train that splits in half, with half going to Boston and half going to NY, is rather easily misdirected.

vman1969

Thanks.

Armani

My daughter had a similar experience on the SW Chief last year. When she boarded in Naperville, the lower level baggage area was full so the car steward offered to store her large suitcase for her because the train was full.

I met her at the Kansas City station and she couldn't find her bag (or that steward) anywhere. Luckily, the train has a layover in KC so I helped her go from car to car to look for her suitcase. As we were about to give up, a person in a lower level bedroom in the adjacent car saw us and mentioned he had seen the steward put several suitcases in the lower level changing room. Luckily, we found it just prior to the train leaving the station. I suggest checking the restrooms and changing rooms if anyone can't find your bag in the future, especially on a crowded superliner.

vman1969

The bag is en route to us from NY via Amtrak. It is scheduled to arrive in LA Grand Central on Monday a.m. which means Monday p.m.

Once my wife is reunited with her items, she will be ecstatic. Another travel story for the future!

Thanks all!