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Re-Training for Worldcon
Mar. 13th, 2022 05:15 amI woke up at what would have been the usual time on a work day for me waking up without the Daylight Savings time change, but that's just as well, because I wanted to get on the phone to Amtrak Guest Rewards to rebook our ticket to Chicago later this year, and unlike the main Amtrak phone number, they're only open from 8 AM daily. I called at 4:56 PT and got the "call back after 8 AM ET" message. I called five minutes later and only had to wait ten minutes for an agent. Goodness knows what the wait would have been if I'd called later in the day.
The reason for rebooking is due to my concern that Amtrak will not be able to get the California Zephry back up to daily service by August. They "temporarily" cut back to 5 days/week (no departures on Sunday or Monday from either endpoint) due to lack of crews and lack of serviceable equipment, thanks to COVID cutbacks and not storing equipment properly. In theory, they were going to return to daily service by April, and the Sunday/Monday departures were in inventory and I originally booked us leaving Reno on Sunday, August 28; however, I have started hearing stories of people with April and May reservations on that train having their reservations canceled.
We did not want our train canceled out from under us with no alternatives but to fly, so I changed our departure from Sunday to Saturday. It does mean an extra day in Chicago, as we'll now arrive on Monday instead of Tuesday. Also, the ten bedrooms on that train are already nearly full, so our only choices were room A (the worst) and C (okay, but the single power outlet is on the wrong end of the room), rather than the B or D rooms. I took room C. We'll manage with the extension cords we bring with us for this purpose. It's still better than a roomette, two coach seats, or "sorry, nothing available; you'll have to fly."
The reason for rebooking is due to my concern that Amtrak will not be able to get the California Zephry back up to daily service by August. They "temporarily" cut back to 5 days/week (no departures on Sunday or Monday from either endpoint) due to lack of crews and lack of serviceable equipment, thanks to COVID cutbacks and not storing equipment properly. In theory, they were going to return to daily service by April, and the Sunday/Monday departures were in inventory and I originally booked us leaving Reno on Sunday, August 28; however, I have started hearing stories of people with April and May reservations on that train having their reservations canceled.
We did not want our train canceled out from under us with no alternatives but to fly, so I changed our departure from Sunday to Saturday. It does mean an extra day in Chicago, as we'll now arrive on Monday instead of Tuesday. Also, the ten bedrooms on that train are already nearly full, so our only choices were room A (the worst) and C (okay, but the single power outlet is on the wrong end of the room), rather than the B or D rooms. I took room C. We'll manage with the extension cords we bring with us for this purpose. It's still better than a roomette, two coach seats, or "sorry, nothing available; you'll have to fly."
