Amtrak Reviews 

crazy service ! speand 2k usd , they dont know how to behave with customers , that's why you guys loosing your business

…when added fees = the regular price, plus the cost of the product.

Received a promo offer email from Amtrack entitled “ Subject: Our best USA Rail Pass deal yet (❗)“ advertising 50% off. Sounds Amazing right? I clicked on the link right away to see what it was all about.

Yep, they’re offering the US Amtrack (Coach) Rail passes for $250 instead of $499. (Technically it’s a little less than 50%, but I could live with that).

But there’s fine print, and it needs to be read with a magnifying glass. I had to polish mine and re-read it twice to be sure I wasn’t mistaken.

The cost of the pass is reduced to $250 but…

1- The pass expires 120 days after purchase.

2- Each SEGMENT of travel requires an additional $25 fee, with a maximum of 10 Segments allowed which have to be used within 30 days of the first.

So what’s the $250 sale price + $250 in (10) added segment fees equal? Full price of $500!

But wait, there’s more!
(This is where it gets interesting…)

Example: if you need to get from Los Angeles to Sacramento, California, that itinerary requires 2 Amtrack busses and a train ride for a total of 3 segments. 3x$25=$75, and the $250 cost of the pass you now have to use up in 30 days…plus $25 for any other segment transfers.
Regular coach fare for the same trip is only $63 without the rail pass and added $75 fees!

This means that with the “rail pass 50%off deal” you’re actually paying more overall.

What a deal…but for who?!

Do they really think we can’t do the math?

Whoever dreamed this one up (and those at “corporate” who approved it) should be embarrassed it was publicly advertised, and apologize (just as publicly) to those on the front lines (who are paid peanuts) and have to enforce this dastardly double-dealing.

Question:
How is it that other countries and domestic city/county rail travel does it so much better?

Answer:
Being able to proof-read and do the math helps. Remembering this is a Service that supposed to benefit an entire nation…and provide working wifi, also as advertised.

In addition to the long overdue overhaul of infrastructure, web, amenities, and customer service, this single example illustrates why Amtrack is failing, and why this country needs and deserves far better options.

Train 5 hours late...upgraded for $200 and ended up with a filthy sleeper. Never again.

Enjoyed the views from Emerville to Chicago. Rocky Mountains were incredible to see from the train.
Cabins were quiet at night.
Allowed to consume own drinks in private cabin.
Restaurant Deck was included and 1 drink included with meals (beer/wine/Cola/etc).

I planned our 50th wedding anniversary around our Amtrak trip to southern California. We made it to Chicago from Jackson MS on 12 Dec without a problem, rested in the wonderful Metro Lounge and then things went bad. After we left Chicago (13 Dec) we were informed the Dining Car was out of commission because of a faulty dishwasher hot water system and they were unable to prepare hot fresh food because they couldn't properly clean their cookware. Our Flatiron Steak anniversary dinner turned into a microwaved grilled cheese from the club car. No hot cooked food 13-15 Dec.
To make matters worse, the heating system was sporadic at best (it was about 11 degrees when we left Chicago) so it was a very long and cold night.
Our return trip on 2Jan was fine with no problems but the best I could get Amtrak to do for compensation was a $450 voucher for another booking, good for a year. (don't know if we will have recovered by then).
We really liked travelling by train but now we may be flying again.

I rode the Texas Eagle from Longview, TX to San Marcos, TX on Dec 24, 2025. The train was 30 minutes late leaving then experienced a significant delay in Ft Worth, I believe a different engine was needed. Not sure what was wrong which is concerning. While the staff remained nice, upbeat & helpful that was the only plus. This train is old, filthy & in need of updates including a bathroom you can turn around in. I think Amtrak would be a good experience & a viable option, even tho it takes much longer, if they would get a new, updated train. It had been 9 years since I rode before & it was the same train only older & dirtier. I do not ever plan to ride Amtrak again unless they invest in a new train. It was crowded, hot & not an overall good experience. It did get me to my son’s eventually & I’m grateful for that.

Jamal will make sure you have a horrible experience.

On our trip with my family from New York to Rochester on Train 49, we went to the café car around 8:00 PM and encountered one of the worst customer service experiences I’ve ever had.

Jamal, who was working in the café car, became immediately hostile toward me over a very minor situation. I simply moved a small bag of potato chips inside a box that I was paying for so a bottle of water would fit. Instead of calmly addressing it, Jamal got aggressive, confrontational, and stood in my face as if he was ready to start a fight. His behavior was paranoid and escalated quickly for no reason.

I told him there was no need to be hostile or have an attitude, at which point he told me to sit down and refused to serve me at all. His behavior was extremely unprofessional, intimidating, and inappropriate—especially while dealing with passengers and families. I genuinely felt unsafe during the interaction.

Based on his behavior, it appeared that Jamal may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or otherwise unfit to be working with the public at that time. This experience completely ruined what should have been a normal train ride.

Amtrak seriously needs to address how this employee interacts with passengers, because no customer should ever feel threatened or disrespected like this.

I’ve been riding Amtrak between Chicago and Michigan every week for the past three months, and it’s rare for the train to arrive on time—if it arrives at all. Some days you end up waiting an extra three hours; other days they put you on a bus that takes triple the time the train was supposed to. Amtrak is incredibly unreliable and wildly overpriced.

After spending hundreds of dollars on tickets and being disappointed every single trip, I contacted customer service to share my concerns. Their solution was a $30 travel voucher. Completely unacceptable.

I’ve experienced far faster trains and significantly better service in other countries. The U.S. loves to call itself advanced, but when it comes to rail travel, it feels like the richest third‑world country.

I’d say avoid them entirely, but since Amtrak is basically the only interstate rail option in the U.S., you might not have a choice. Just keep your expectations low (like super low).

The train was stuck at a station for six hours and did not move at all. It got severely delayed, and the restrooms were dirty,I felt like puking. 🤮

All the years im riding Amtrak i can officially say im done at least with bus drivers are so friendly n respectful but today ride on Amtrak was so pathetic people sitting on floor no seats n train personnel esp women employees where so damn nasty n their attitude where pathetic so sad they think they can be nasty n don’t even help passengers

Traveled from New York Penn Station to Washington Union Station on the Acela—an excellent experience. The waiting areas are comfortable, signage is clear, and the journey is smooth and efficient. Overall, it’s the best way to get to Washington, D.C. and to travel along the East Coast

The amtrak is a horrible train service. As a college student who planned to commute from Merced to Modesto to save money on transportation, Amtrak has done nothing but disappoint. I have experienced train delays and unexpected cancellations for both morning trains and evening trains, making it almost impossible to attend classes and return home in a timely manner. Delays range from 1 hour to 4+ hours. The gold runner trains in particular are old, have torn seats, and awful hygiene.

While conductors are nice and staff at Amtrak Merced and Modesto have been attentive, customer service online has been horrendous. I once refunded my monthly pass by mistake by cancelling a trip I did not mean to reserve. I tried calling to receive my money from that refund since the charge back was nullified. The representative I spoke to was condescending and rude and Amtrak poorly communicated its 1 hour cancellation policy for the monthly pass. On top of it all, they still choose to raise train ticket prices despite their awful customer service, torn down train cars, and constant delays and nullified trains.

The Amtrak is an awful train service. They will scam you of your money and time. I will never purchase a ticket from Amtrak ever again.

It's 2025 and Amtrak seems to be stuck in the 80s. I know we all didn't have computers on our desks back then. But these days it's almost impossible to use their site. I don't understand why they can't improve it. It's been a few decades since computers came along, and yet it's still the worst site ever. I've attempted to use it many times over, it's not bad if you're going from place a to b, but if you have to make a train transfer, it just becomes more difficult. It's strange how many negative comments are here.And yet , for some reason , amtrak doesn't wake up and fix the problem. amtrak , get it together , so many of us would love to use your service , but it's difficult , almost impossible.

The train from L.A to Chicago was excellent. Comfortable with a professional caring team. Our room attendant, Alex, was just brilliant. The train from to Chicago to Washington DC however was just awful. Uncomfortable but the teams lack of care or regard for guests was so so bad . The woman running the cafe was in particular breathtakingly rude.

For the past couple of days I have been dealing with amtrak from traveling to over the phone service and it has been great! I thought it would be rocky due to the current situations from political to weather but I am impressed! Keep up the good work! Give everyone a raise for Christmas! 🤗🤗🤗

First of all, don’t take this if you have somewhere to be. It will be late.

We took the Empire Builder route. Our first leg of the journey was great though, as was the second (Chicago to Glacier & Glacier to Seattle). The accommodations were small and old but we had a roomette for a bit of privacy and the crew was great. Ok food in the dining car (for re-heated train meals anyway). Beautiful destinations and scenery throughout.

The Seattle back to Chicago stretch was awful. A similarly old and cramped train, but the crew was the difference maker. The crew was horribly rude and unprofessional. They seemed angry at the fact that you were there at all. Get yelled at in the dining car. Get yelled at in the cafe car. Get zero service from the car attendant. Awful. I even heard the dining car attendants talking trash about the passengers several times while they were in the service area (including complaining about a little girl asking for extra syrup for pancakes).

By the time we made it back to Chicago (many hours behind schedule), the crew was somehow first off the train.

I’ve been waiting two months for my ticket refund, which has still not arrived. I’ve not been told if it doesn’t arrive, to contact my bank! About ten emails and still no refund. Avoid. I’m down over one hundred dollars and no appologies…

Horrible spammers. If you ever make the mistake of giving them your email address, they will send you loads of spam all the time forever. Unsubscribing is broken and it has no effect, and there is absolutely no way to stop spam.

1. The cost of their tickets are prohibitively expensive, and simply are not worth it. 2. Their quiet car is a sham. Senior citizens, who typically (need peace and quiet for health reasons) need a quiet car (to escape the very noisy partying elsewhere on the train) are routinely targeted for illegal expulsion for not obeying the "Library rules" by not "whispering low enough". Can you believe this? Not whispering low enough?? Imagine an old person with a bad heart condition not knowing how to whisper?

On one trip an Amtrak employee, who was standing less than two feet from my friend and I YELLED, that we were violating the "library rules". What does this mean? Well, whatever they want it to mean. In our case according to the Amtrak employee, who was hassling an elderly couple next to us "if I can hear you then you are not whispering!!!" Again, remember she was standing less than two feet away and was leaning towards us.

Even after I told the Amtrak employee, that I was nearly 80 years old, had a bad heart condition and that her yelling at me then leaning into my face in a threatening manner ( so the passengers behind me couldn't hear the hateful things she was saying to me) was very bad for my heart condition. Moreover, I begged her to show compassion and to stop, but to no avail. It soon became obvious that she was playing to the cameras for the benefit of her friends who were seated behind me and who were allegedly recording her little performance. It should be noted that they could neither hear me nor see me from their vantage point. Just of her violating my civil rights then filing a false police report. Moreover, I truly felt sorry for the young officers who were forced to attend this farce, while actual crimes were being committed elsewhere.

Then when we reached the next stop I saw her go outside to chat with four heavily armed Amtrak policeman officers. Sadly couldn't hear what she was saying as I had my noise cancellation headphones on at the time waiting for my heart medicine to take effect in response to being assaulted and violated. Moments later two of the officers walked in to confront me. They ordered me off the train and said, if I refused to leave, that would be considered trespassing at which point I would be handcuffed and arrested! Good thing they didn't otherwise my heart probably would have given out from being subjected to Gestapo like tactics at which point we would be talking involuntary manslaughter. Accordingly, I informed them that I had recorded her and, that my friend had recorded her asking her friends, (who were sitting behind me) to "hold up your phones, when the police arrive....gotta make it look good...I need your help" followed by muffled laughter, but the Amtrak police did not even want to look at my video. If they had it would have proved that the Amtrak employee lied about what happened. Interestingly enough they didn't even look at her friends videos before forcing me off. Additionally, all her friends had to do anyway was to simply hold up their phones while trying to hold back muffled laughter and that was enough for the police. "GET OFF NOW OR YOU WILL BE ARRESTED!" said the one officer, who seemed determined to try to provoke me for some reason.

In the spirit of brevity I won't go further except to say that I have a video proving (mostly) what actually happened plus the video of a good Samaritan, who recorded from start to finish EVERYTHING. Just goes to show you never know, who is watching you.

Now, according to Amtrak I (a sickly elderly person) have a record with them as being dangerous enough for them to need to summon four heavily armed police officers in order to have me thrown off one of their trains. No one to whom I have spoken to about this matter can believe this actually happened to someone like me...at least not until they see the videos. Note: to the good Samaritan, who shared your video with me...thank you, again and God Bless you!

"Why don't you sue Amtrak"? Because Amtrak is an extremely well connected tyrannical monopoly, with resources which would make many small countries blush. Or as one civil rights lawyer said to me, "yes, you have the weight of law on your side, but they have the resources". Translation: don't waste your time or money, but keep your videos just in case.

Note to Amtrak Ownership: Please don't bother sending one of your nauseatingly disingenuous responses, which probably will go something like; "we are sorry...we feel bad, blah, blah, blah, and would like you to email us at......."especially since I have already spoken to several of your people, who were patronizingly contemptuous over the phone.

In closing, let me just say, all of this makes me sad because once upon a time Amtrak was actually deserving of respect and admiration. Very sad

On Nov 6, 2025 I got on to the Charter Bus in Bakersfield. A Beginner African American woman has a terrible personality. You couldn’t ask her a simple question because she responded disrespectful. A young man bought tickets to ride with his mother. He nicely explained he wanted to ride with his mom. She angrily removed them from the bus and redirected towards a 2nd bus going to LA. Nothing was nice about this woman. She shouldn’t be working with the public. Riding should be a positive experience. She needs to work in Corrections where her attitude is best fit. I travel once a month and I hope I don’t see her again. AMTRAK, SEND HER to a different location, or different position. She sucks. I was warned by other Drivers about her attitude.