Amtrak dumps new pricing policy after $25,000 fare flap with disability rights group: ‘We will do better next time’

Access Living member Michelle Garcia boards an Amtrak train to Normal on Wednesday. | Provided by Bridget Hayman

Amtrak is scrapping a controversial group pricing policy after it resulted in an eye-popping $25,000 travel bill for a group of disability rights activists heading Downstate for a conference and rally.

The team from Chicago-based Access Living made smooth passage Wednesday morning on an Amtrak train to Normal after days of wrangling over the steep tab that was slashed by the transit agency after an intense public outcry following a Chicago Sun-Times report.

“After further review, Amtrak has determined to suspend the policy in question. It was never meant to be applied to this situation and we apologize for that mistake,” the agency said in a statement Wednesday. “We are glad it has all worked out and we were able to accommodate our customers’ trip. We will do better next time. We are America’s Railroad and we want to provide more trips, not fewer.”

Members of the advocacy group said they got “the royal treatment” from Amtrak on their trip Wednesday, with plenty of room to spare, according to Access Living communications director Bridget Hayman.

“Makes you wonder what the hubbub was about,” Hayman said in an email.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported last week that Amtrak had quoted Access Living at more than $25,000 to reconfigure train cars to accommodate five wheelchair users.

Access Living member Adam Ballard boards an Amtrak train Wednesday in Chicago.

That’s despite the fact teams from Access Living have made dozens of trips Downstate via Amtrak over the years for their lobbying and outreach efforts, with Amtrak typically charging them anywhere from $800 to $1,000.

But an Amtrak sales agent told the group last month a new pricing policy meant they’d be charged for seats that have to be removed to fit more wheelchairs, resulting in the gargantuan tab.

An Amtrak spokesman initially insisted the agency “has typically charged an additional fee when any group requires reconfiguration of our railcars” and suggested the group could take two separate trains.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat who uses a wheelchair due to wounds she suffered in combat in Iraq, led a public outcry over the weekend against Amtrak. She called the charge “outrageous” and requested a meeting with Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson.

Amtrak changed course and apologized Monday, reducing Access Living’s fare and saying they’d review their reconfiguration fee policy.