Getting a refund hardly matters if you miss an important event. A lot of us have to travel on tight schedules due to work and family commitments, and can't spare an extra 5 hours.
Traveling on tight schedules is always risky, whether you go by car, plane or train.
With that tight of a schedule, international flights will screw you fairly often too. That's just not enough slack for robustness.
Re:Crossing the USA by Train
by casenmgreen on Monday October 28, 2024 @03:46AM
(#41968620)
The problem is that the distance to be covered is long, and the train is relatively slow.
I left early in the morning to get to Paris in time for the train, and that was the only train that day, and that train left early because it had a long way to go.
Re:Crossing the USA by Train
by casenmgreen on Monday October 28, 2024 @04:45AM
(#41968933)
With a flight, normally I can go directly from where I am to where I wish to be.
It's a single hop.
With a train, when I'm travelling across multiple countries, necessarily I will take multiple trains; which then brings the problem of missed connections.
Re:Crossing the USA by Train
by prmoustache on Monday October 28, 2024 @03:02AM
(#41968402)
I'd trade reliably late over randomly cancelled any day.
I remember a last minute cancellation on a Toronto-JFK flight meant I couldn't connect to my JFK-MAN flight.
Was downgraded to economy and rebooked on a Tornoto-Amsterdam-MAN arriving 7 hours late, having had very little sleep.
Plane travel isn't viable for those travelling on tight schedules.
There are frequent delays, especially in Germany [0], but it was always easy to get a confirmation from the railway companies, and I was always able to take a later train. I never had to pay more, and I even got quite a bit of money back if the delay was relevant. Even if I booked the tickets at different operators.
I also usually use a buffer of about 4-5 hours in the middle of the ride. This can compensate some delays, and if on time, it's nice to visit whatever city you are in.
[0] I heard that some Swedish trains are too slow for the express connections in Germany. The trains must take detours or stop every few hours to let the faster trains pass.