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Want airline food? Take Amtrak

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Re: Want airline food? Take Amtrak

#81

Post by scyclow »

op00to wrote: post #74
scyclow wrote: post #61

I took the Empire Builder a couple weeks ago, and the Lakeshore Limited + California Zephyr last year. As much as I enjoyed the trips, I have to admit that they longer lines are incredibly impractical. Amtrak is operating at a huge loss per passenger ($32 on average)[1], and the prices aren't even that much cheaper than flying. It's viable for people with more time than money, but most of the passengers are just weir…

How much does the US subsidize air travel via FAA, airport subsidies, etc? What about road subsidies? It’s like somehow rail has to be profitable on its own, but not bus or air.

I don't know the numbers, but I'd be shocked if air and bus lost as much money per trip as trains. Part of what makes the train appealing for the longer rides is that if you're taking coach half of the car is empty and you know you won't have to sit next to anyone.

Re: Want airline food? Take Amtrak

#82

Post by jMyles »

I have traveled Amtrak quite a lot - across the country on the Empire Builder, Southwest Chief, and California Zephyr. And many other routes.

I think the food is usually decent - the veggie burger is reliably edible.

What I can say is terrible - and what has caused me to cease using Amtrak - is the presence of the DEA.

In case you haven't experienced this, the DEA sometimes raids specific sleeper cars at a station, demanding money, guns, or drugs. I had no idea about this until it happened to me.

It was absolutely, positively terrifying. I (and my partner) were repeatedly threatened with violence if we didn't allow our bags to be searched (which of course we didn't). Our 2.5 year old was screaming in terror the entire time.

They refused to tell of their names or let us see the numbers on their badges - they only flashed their badges for 250ms at us.

We recorded them on both of our phones and a camera. At one point, a DEA agent physically tried to swat my phone out of my hands.

They told us that we had been selected "randomly", but I found out soon after that a colleague of mine, seven cars back, had also been "randomly" selected. I later found out from an Amtrak employee that we were the only ones on the train who had been raided and that it was never random - they research people in advance and select who to raid. Apparently being involved in any way in crypto-blockchain tech is enough to trigger such an event (indeed their primary questioning to my colleague was about his hardware wallet, which they took the majority of their time with him to inspect and photograph).

The Amtrak employee further told me that she and others are terrified of these agents - that there had been times when they themselves had been subject to their antics and also to unwanted advances at their departing stations. She said that they have learned to just leave the train and stay out of the way and also encouraged me to complain to Amtrak or file a lawsuit, saying that if we were able to get the DEA off Amtrak we'd be doing Amtrak employees a big favor.

If Amtrak can't protect me against armed thugs coming into my sleeper car and terrorizing my family, they are simply not a viable solution for transportation IMO.

I encourage you to reconsider Amtrak - if you ride often enough, this will happen to you.

A quick google search will show you that this is a common, if largely unknown practice. Here are some links:

* https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/08/10/dea-travel-re...

* https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/10/the-per...

* https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-09-29/dea-bribed-a...

* https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/05/12/...

Re: Want airline food? Take Amtrak

#83

Post by ghaff »

huebnerob wrote: post #2

I've taken the California Zephyr between Chicago and SF a couple times now, it's a wonderful experience. 2 1/2 days of solitude from a world with increasingly few remote corners. If you're at all interested, I recommend riding soon. These admittedly impractical long-distance routes are going to be the first to go when budget cuts necessitate it.

You're probably right. The California Zephyr or the Empire Builder are on my "should do once when the stars align" list but they probably won't be an option forever. I should probably consider doing one of them at some point when the stars get at reasonably in the vicinity.

Re: Want airline food? Take Amtrak

#85

Post by xvedejas »

cc439 wrote: post #75
tspike wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't disagree with your comment, but the thing that often gets lost in these discussions is that at least for the Empire Builder, people generally aren't using it to go from Chicago to Portland or Seattle. Sure, a flight from Chicago to Seattle would be much faster and cheaper. But what about getting from Minot to Whitefish? Or Spokane to Wenatchee? I personally use it 2-3 times a week to go between Bingen and Por…

Most of those trips appear to be under 3.5 hours each way... Why not drive since it's likely faster and cheaper than the train?

That's just about the distance that I prefer to take Amtrak over driving or flying (mostly I travel SF Fresno). I can get work done, unlike when driving, and I don't have to deal with all the pains of getting to the airport early and going through security.

Re: Want airline food? Take Amtrak

#86

Post by walshemj »

reaperducer wrote: post #5

Amtrak's current food is far superior to airline food. I'm speaking as a regular Empire Builder, Sunset Limited, and Southwest Chief first class passenger. The only disappointment is that for some reason, I can't get food served in my room on the Sunset Limited. No problems on the other routes. It's kind of sad if Amtrak has to sacrifice freshly-prepared food for airline heat-n-eat fare. But if it means an additional…

Agreed in the UK I used to have to fairly regularly do London to Scarborough for conferences I always used to prefer to go up on the Friday on the flying Scotsman to York (and eat on the train).

And have Saturday and Sunday as time to prep for conference and have some me time in a cool uk seaside resort

Re: Want airline food? Take Amtrak

#87

Post by johan_larson »

gascan wrote: post #48
johan_larson wrote: post #42

Good, good. The sooner Amtrak alienates its remaining customer base, the sooner it can be scrapped. There are only a few parts of the country that are settled densely enough -- and broadly enough -- for passenger trains to make sense. Any moves toward consolidation of service to only those areas should be welcomed.

Why do you want rail to be scrapped?

I don't want to scrap it all, just the parts that require hefty subsidies to serve places that have realistic alternatives. US households usually have cars and for those that don't, intercity buses tend to serve even very tiny burgs. So most people most do have realistic alternatives.

Trains are the right solution in some cases. Commuter rail often makes sense. And in some densely populated regions, intercity trains make sense too. But in most of the US, because of the distances between cities, cars and planes work better.

Re: Want airline food? Take Amtrak

#88

Post by walshemj »

SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #10
reaperducer wrote: post #5

Amtrak's current food is far superior to airline food. I'm speaking as a regular Empire Builder, Sunset Limited, and Southwest Chief first class passenger. The only disappointment is that for some reason, I can't get food served in my room on the Sunset Limited. No problems on the other routes. It's kind of sad if Amtrak has to sacrifice freshly-prepared food for airline heat-n-eat fare. But if it means an additional…

Depends on where you are flying. ANA is my favorite airline (Japan), but Lufthansa (Germany) has better food I think. EVA (Asia) food isn’t great, but United and Delta are still worse imo.

The BA LON - EDI route always used to have awesome cream teas on the evening flights to London :-) and being able to rock up show your card and have a drink and be on a plane Then again I Was on full ride and was staying in the Balmoral or the Cally

Re: Want airline food? Take Amtrak

#89

Post by gascan »

johan_larson wrote: post #87
gascan wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you want rail to be scrapped?

I don't want to scrap it all, just the parts that require hefty subsidies to serve places that have realistic alternatives. US households usually have cars and for those that don't, intercity buses tend to serve even very tiny burgs. So most people most do have realistic alternatives. Trains are the right solution in some cases. Commuter rail often makes sense. And in some densely populated regions, intercity trains…

the parts that require hefty subsidies to serve places that have realistic alternatives

You realize roads are built & maintained entirely at public expense? But we are so used to taking roads for granted.

Public money spent on rail, is public money that doesn't need to be spent on roads. So, IMO, the first question is how many passenger-miles we get per dollar on rail, and how many per dollar on roads.

Re: Want airline food? Take Amtrak

#90

Post by dahdum »

dshep wrote: post #57

I've only taken Amtrak once, from Portland to San Francisco. One of the best parts was having dinner in the dining car. Two older ladies invited me to join them because I was by myself and we had a nice chat while cruising through the mountains. Sad to see it go, but I guess it was only a matter of time.

I’ve done the same trip by myself, met so many interesting people in the dining and observation cars.
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