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California Zephyr 13 hours late......compensation?

California Zephyr 13 hours late......compensation?

Old Aug 12, 2015, 10:12 am
  #1  
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Join Date: Apr 2008
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California Zephyr 13 hours late......compensation?

My wife and I paid for the California Zephyr Roomette with 20K GR Points. Traveled 7-15-15 and were 3 hours late departing CHI.

Awoke next morning on EAST side of Nebraska. Arrived DEN late in the day and only had about 2 hours of daylight to see the Rockies.....bummer. On 2nd day the toilets in our car broke. Numerous stops to repair train. Onece stopped for 1hr 20min because engineer timed out and replacement engineer was late. Surly diner staff......arrived EMY 4:45am, 13 hours late. Had to cancel my hotel in EMY area.

Waited in EMY station from 4:45am until 8:20am for Coast Starlight to LAX. It was 1 hr 15min late. Bummer! Paid $213 for this segment.

After an overnight in LA, we took Amtrak 572 LAX to San Diego. It was 32min late departing. Paid $63 for this segment.

Trip was a mess with almost no view of Rockies and terrible experience onboard. I asked Amtrak for full refund of 20,000 points and $276.

What compensation should I expect?
Policypeddler is offline  
Old Aug 12, 2015, 8:05 pm
  #2  
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 80
Our family of 8 had almost the exact same thing happened to us. 13 hours late on the Zephyr from Chicago to Denver.

We ended up with $1100 in vouchers.

http://www.pointswithacrew.com/amtra...amtrak-delays/


You're not going to get any points back and the voucher amount depends on how the guy you talk to on the phone is feeling...
regoarrarr is offline  
Old Aug 13, 2015, 6:03 am
  #3  
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
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Originally Posted by Policypeddler
My wife and I paid for the California Zephyr Roomette with 20K GR Points. Traveled 7-15-15 and were 3 hours late departing CHI.

Awoke next morning on EAST side of Nebraska. Arrived DEN late in the day and only had about 2 hours of daylight to see the Rockies.....bummer. On 2nd day the toilets in our car broke. Numerous stops to repair train. Onece stopped for 1hr 20min because engineer timed out and replacement engineer was late. Surly diner staff......arrived EMY 4:45am, 13 hours late. Had to cancel my hotel in EMY area.

Waited in EMY station from 4:45am until 8:20am for Coast Starlight to LAX. It was 1 hr 15min late. Bummer! Paid $213 for this segment.

After an overnight in LA, we took Amtrak 572 LAX to San Diego. It was 32min late departing. Paid $63 for this segment.

Trip was a mess with almost no view of Rockies and terrible experience onboard. I asked Amtrak for full refund of 20,000 points and $276.

What compensation should I expect?
Seeking a full refund for the trip is probably unrealistic, and may in fact be considered to be overkill, by the individual who reviews your request.
SCEflyer is offline  
Old Aug 13, 2015, 9:10 pm
  #4  
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Thirteen hours late, and toilets being out of commission for a lengthy period - those are worthy of acknowledgment and compensation. 75 mins late and 32 mins late - that's par for the course - Amtrak on a good day. Adding them, IMHO, actually diminishes the case for compensation.
3Cforme is offline  
Old Aug 14, 2015, 9:40 am
  #5  
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: CT/NYC Tri-state
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Originally Posted by regoarrarr
Our family of 8 had almost the exact same thing happened to us. 13 hours late on the Zephyr from Chicago to Denver.

You're not going to get any points back and the voucher amount depends on how the guy you talk to on the phone is feeling...
Sadly that I feel is true
94 1 hour late I got a $90 voucher
94 2 hours late I got a $30 voucher...
Hmm...
OZ Man is offline  
Old Sep 25, 2015, 6:30 pm
  #6  
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After several weeks, I received a letter from Amtrak. They gave me a $250 voucher for future travel saying the CZ was paid with points and they do NOT refund points.
They then returned my full fare ($276) for the EMY to LAX and LAX to San Diego via credit to my VISA card.
Better than I expected.
Thanks everyone for the comments.
Policypeddler is offline  
Old Sep 26, 2015, 10:00 pm
  #7  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: California
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About a year and a half ago I was on the SW Chief and we were 11 hours late into Chicago. They called me about 3 or 5 days after and gave me a refund of the rail fair portion (not the sleeper upgrade) of the trip. I think it was a voucher but might have been a refund.
zgscl is offline  

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