AMC Tysons Corner 16 — Attraction in Tysons

In AMC Tysons, the only leather recliners are for the Dolby auditorium which there is an upcharge for ($25 or $11 on $5 discount days if you are a premiere member). The Dolby seats don't even fully recline like those at Cinemark (Fairfax Corner) or Regal (Fairfax Towne Center). Imax 2D/3D at Tysons are small seats you would expect from 15 years ago.

Now the reason I give AMC Tysons 3/5 is largely due to the customer service. What's the issue with customer service? They are rarely to be found at the actual desk. Now if you actually meet a manager, they may give you a re-admit ticket depending on your issue, but there is usually no one at the "customer service" desk (are they hiding in a back room or something?).

Anyways, if you actually need help and don't see anyone at the desk, I would suggest you go up to one of the employees at concessions (there are always a few there) and ask if you could speak to a manager or get someone at the customer service desk.

I usually try to use the kiosks to save some time waiting in line (even though I am a "premiere member"). On several occasions, all of the kiosks were not working/had no "paper" or were turned off.

Don't get me wrong, they have a ton of kiosks (I'd estimate around 12?), but they often have issues. In comparison, I have never had an issue with a kiosk at Regal Fairfax Towne Center, Cinemark Fairfax Corner, or Angelika Mosaic district. I think they could do a better job telling people that you can just walk up to the machines near the cashier (as the line is just for the cashier), but then the kiosks often are not working so...

For some reason, I have never seen more than two cashiers working at any one time (again, compare to Cinemark, Regal, Angelika). 80% of the time there is only one cashier. Even if there is a line of 20-30 people, the max you will see is two cashiers. Remember no one being at the customer service desk? I'm guessing this movie theater puts the majority of its employees to work at concessions and is understaffed. It makes sense if you consider that's where theaters earn most of their revenue.

Lastly, their bathrooms are not very well maintained compared to Regal Fairfax Towne Center, or Angelika at Mosaic District. One of the men's bathrooms in the back (not the men's restroom next to concessions, but as you continue down that direction) hits you over the head with the smell of pee as soon as you walk in. Repeated experiences like this make me wonder how often these bathrooms are serviced. The slow low-pressure trickle of water at the sinks is also very disappointing.

Sidenote: Yes, I contacted AMC Corporate (actually wrote them a letter) about the lack of employees at the customer service desk/other issues. I included my contact information in the letter and asked them to cancel my membership and get back to me. Guess what? Corporate cancels my membership, doesn't refund the premiere fees, and doesn't even bother to contact me. I called them about a month after they cancelled my account and the representative said they "emailed me" a few days before (this is a month after they cancelled my account). I told them I had received no email and when it had supposedly been sent. Unsurprisingly, I was put on hold and then the call "dropped."...

[] I love the movie Star Wars being shown here, but it was not that enjoyable. At 6:10PM it started in theater ROOM 15, but first the AMC Theater has to preview "promotional materials" for 20 minutes and to the extent of abusing the viewers' attention and enthusiastic mood. Comparing to most theaters near Columbia, MD, they stuck to a duration of 12 to 15 minutes of previews on promotional materials or upcoming attractions. Another serious issue is that the unfortunate event occurred, but I had not experienced at anywhere previously is that the indoor-air quality is so poor due to cigarette smoking, and I want to address that now. After the main feature show started at 6:30PM (tonight, 02 Jan 2016) I felt surprised by the cigarette smoke that came over the air around me and everyone in the audience. We sat on front row seats (row B’s.) Looking around to check if anyone were smoking and I saw no one smoking. I noticed another fellow movie goer doing the same thing, looking around also and then we all eventually surrendered to this unreasonableness and were forced to ignore a possible violation of the federal health code and maintenance of indoor air-quality in public places.

Let me describe briefly for a moment of our experience in that theater. My child was feeling sick of the smoke and slept for a short moment. I tapped him and asked if he is okay and he said he got a headache. We endured and did not leave early until over two hours the movie ended. I eventually walked to the Customer Service desk and asked for a written form of complaints. The attendant stated that there is not such a form available. So I asked her if she can take my complaint on the smoking issue, but she cannot.

Finally, there are almost no theaters that sell Assigned Seats in Maryland, I believe. (Please update me if I am wrong on this. Previously I had been visiting this mall too many times over the last five years but I had always Avoid coming into this theater, and this judgment call for avoidance is based on my visual observation of the extremely tight space for ticket-selling operations. Anyway, I finally succumbed to the pressure of my 12-year-old boy and the movie attraction ‘Star Wars’ and so I bought two tickets, of the most-expensive movie ticket ever in my experience ... at a cost of almost 25 dollars ($24.85.) So, I do not expect to come back to this theater any time thereafter. Moreover, I was feeling that I should have leave a telephone number for the staff to contact me for (some possible) explanation, but I did not do that (nor think that theater was civilized enough nor polite enough) as I walked away into the mall, and we were somewhat in a hurry mode in order to contact my love one and link up so that we can get to the car and drive home together for the night.

P.S.: It is just a personal judgment call but you should not read any reviews that are over a year-old and especially by some Anonymous reviewers, since there are a lot of changes and turn-over in the service industry over that span of time. (Just ask the Ethical Hackers for an opinion and you will get it...

Unfortunate that with the cost of concessions driving profits for movie theaters they can't even maintain working soda machines. Most are flat, some are warm, others don't have any ice to dispense. Maybe they get them up and running for the prime time hours, but just because I choose to go to the early shows on a weekdays should I really have to suffer? I pay the same price for the drinks- yet often popcorn and hot dogs aren't even available for purchase yet because despite being "open" they're really operating at a minimal level to maintain the thin profit margin that movie theaters are trying to deal with in our Netflix age. I'll tell you what, longer lines and higher costs for worse quality concessions is not going to solve their problem. Luckily they have good staff and I've always had positive interactions with their crew.

Update- Tried it again months later and they managed to make it worse. My mistake for going to see a movie on a Monday night I guess. This was clearly the C-Team keeping things a float... Spoiler alert. It sank. The good crew experience I had in the past was gone. Got a giant pretzel- didn't come with any cheese. Walked out of the move 10 minutes in to get some and it was a ghost town. The only person I could find to help told me the cheese should have been in my pretzel box. I know it should have. But it didn't. That was the end of the conversation. She went right back to work with a towel trying to pretend to be busy. Can you get me some? No go to the counter- yeah there's no one there. Last time AMC Tyson's. Luckily you and the mall will keep each other a float with the weekend masses. Might as well close the doors during the...