Passenger Trains > Crescent Business Class

My son and his girlfriend (twenty-somethings) just took the Cresent to New Orleans for Jazzfest.  They left DC on Wednesday evening and I encouraged them to upgrade from coach to business class.  He cannot really afford a sleeper--at least he won't--and I told him this might be a good alternative.

He stayed in touch with me the entire journey via text and pics.  There were 8 people in the entire business class car leaving DC and he said it hovered around 7-12 people the entire journey.  They had plenty of space and slept reasonably well.  Nice seats with leg rests, etc.  The car runs behind the sleepers in front of the diner.

Until more folks discover it, this is a great option if you want to save a few bucks off of the sleeper fare and yet have a quiet car with good space.  They come back tomorrow, I believe, and if there is any more news to report, I will post here.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/16 13:42 by Chessie1963.

Quiet is a function of the car being not very discoverable on the reservation system, therefore mostly empty, not Business Class per se.
In this car, did they order you where to sit  ?

No, they were free to sit wherever they wanted.  

He would not have known about the option were it not for me telling him, so yea, customers are largely unaware.  

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Quiet is a function of the car being not very
> discoverable on the reservation system, therefore
> mostly empty, not Business Class per se.
> In this car, did they order you where to sit  ?

Lack of kindergarten seat assignments is reason enough for me to pay the Biz class money, not that I plan to take the Crescent. 

I have not ridden LD coach in a long time, though I do ride coach on the corridor as well as on the Downeaster.  There are no assigned seats on those trains.  I am guessing the LD trains have assigned seats now?

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Lack of kindergarten seat assignments is reason
> enough for me to pay the Biz class money, not that
> I plan to take the Crescent. 

I just looked on Amtrak.com at a trip on the Cresent next week--just looking for kicks.  You would never know to look for business class seats in the sleeper category.  One must use the arrows to advance through room types to get to the business class seat.  No wonder they don't sell.  Amtrak needs to find a way to highlight the option.  Otherwise it will never get sold.

Typical Amtrak.  

Does that car have it's own attendant for the duration of the trip?
I wonder how that cost can be justified with so few tickets being sold unless they're giving additional job duties the the actual sleeping car attendant.

Previous reports say there is no attendant, so no increased labor cost.

Molino Wrote:
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> Does that car have it's own attendant for the
> duration of the trip?
> I wonder how that cost can be justified with so
> few tickets being sold unless they're giving
> additional job duties the the actual sleeping car
> attendant.

Is it left up to ther condctor to get these folks off the train in the middle of the night ?
Maybe the adjacent sleeper car attendant does ?
What if they had a capacity load of 58 people ?

I am not sure.  My son is on board today headed home so I will ask him.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Is it left up to ther condctor to get these folks
> off the train in the middle of the night ?
> Maybe the adjacent sleeper car attendant does ?
> What if they had a capacity load of 58 people ?

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is it left up to ther condctor to get these folks
> off the train in the middle of the night ?
> Maybe the adjacent sleeper car attendant does ?
> What if they had a capacity load of 58 people ?

first off - what type of car are they running on this "business class" for the Crescent - is it a full regular business class car or the half business and half table seating? I'd hope the later.......Amtrak needs to shuffle these premium cars around. Nice leather seating, roomy, 2-1 seating, and the other side has table seating which would be great for folks who want room to spread out and work - a mini lounge. But I am not sure what type of business class car is running on the Crescent. I support the half seating and half table type - leaving the concessionaire area closed.......most of these types of cars are used on the Empire Corridor and I think they would make better use as business class cars on LD overnight single level cars. 

And mid I am sure the conductor can handle the car if it is the 1/2 and 1/2 style. I thought these business folks also get a complimentary overnight comfort sleeping kit - or whatever it is called. 

Amtrak's was converting cafe cars to coaches and here's an example where they could have just renovated the cafe cars and stuck them on the LD trains as premium seating (ala business class on LD trains). I'd want to know if they are standardizing the type of car the single level LD trains are getting for business class if I put up money to ride in it. It could be a GREAT option on the LD trains and they have a lot of room to make them premium cars if Amtrak wanted to. 

< Amtrak needs to shuffle these premium cars around. Nice leather seating, roomy, 2-1 seating, >

There are a finite amount of Amfleet-1and Horizon split club-dinette cars. The Cardinal got one of those.
For the Crescent, it's a plain old Amfleet-2, inserted between the sleeper and diner.

I don't see Amtrak going on a huge seat purchasing binge to retrofit LD coaches to be genuine Business class cars with 2+1 leather seats. That costs money, and Boardman's Amtrak is not the least bit concerned with prioritizing a consistent customer service or physical product.

As for the 35 or so surplus Amfleet-1 food service cars, including 9 Barbie Richardson Toad Stool/Bistro cars (one left for the exhibit train), they have long since been stripped down to be corridor coaches with Stimulus or Tiger funds. You can tell when you see a plain coach, yet has a smooth, blank stainless panel about 16 feet long near the door that once said "Food Service Car", plus some patches on the roof endemic that it was once a cafe car of some sort. (Haven't been back to Chicago on Amtrak since).

< I thought these business folks also get a complimentary overnight comfort sleeping kit >

I believe you thought wrong. "Free" beverage and WiFi access to some "premium" newspaper is all you get.

I think we can read between the lines why people who find out about this service buy it.

My reason would be to avoid the several Matilda Headmaster types I have seen encountered among the coach attendants and conductors vis a vis seat assignments. I also reserve Superliner coach lower level to avoid them, though got yelled at by a Conductor Madame Lafarge out of Chicago on #30 back in 2013. Two of us, including a handicapped woman who she cruelly disparaged, wrote her up.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/16 10:50 by joemvcnj.

Four (4) passengers in the entire business class car from NOL to Atlanta.  More as it develops.

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> < Amtrak needs to shuffle these premium cars
> around. Nice leather seating, roomy, 2-1 seating,
> >
>
> There are a finite amount of Amfleet-1and Horizon
> split club-dinette cars. The Cardinal got one of
> those.
> For the Crescent, it's a plain old Amfleet-2,
> inserted between the sleeper and diner.
>
> I don't see Amtrak going on a huge seat purchasing
> binge to retrofit LD coaches to be genuine
> Business class cars with 2+1 leather seats. That
> costs money, and Boardman's Amtrak is not the
> least bit concerned with prioritizing a consistent
> customer service or physical product.
>
> As for the 35 or so surplus Amfleet-1 food service
> cars, including 9 Barbie Richardson Toad
> Stool/Bistro cars (one left for the exhibit
> train), they have long since been stripped down to
> be corridor coaches with Stimulus or Tiger funds.
> You can tell when you see a plain coach, yet has a
> smooth, blank stainless panel about 16 feet long
> near the door that once said "Food Service Car",
> plus some patches on the roof endemic that it was
> once a cafe car of some sort. (Haven't been back
> to Chicago on Amtrak since).
>
> < I thought these business folks also get a
> complimentary overnight comfort sleeping kit >
>
> I believe you thought wrong. "Free" beverage and
> WiFi access to some "premium" newspaper is all you
> get.
>
> I think we can read between the lines why people
> who find out about this service buy it.
>
How many cars are there with 1/2 business class and 1/2 cafe style seating?
- Maple Leaf
- Vermonter
- Ethan Allen
- Most Empire Service Trains
- Downeaster (not sure if they pay for them or not though)
- What else?

There are potentially cars that could be shuffled around. Probably the only single level long distance overnight trains needing business class with these types of cars:

- Crescent (four cars)
- Cardinal (two cars)
- Silver Star (four cars)

Lake Shore?
Silver Meteor?

When it comes to "vision" or "thinking outside the box" - not sure if Amtrak knows how to do that too often or they'd have better designed the former "35 or so plus" food service cars. They could have made some of these into pure coach cars (as they did) and others into an upgraded business type car. Or have made all of them into an upgraded business type car. Yes, they needed more cars in the system. But they could get more bang for the buck and ROI if they had designed a more premium type of car for the long run. But 20/20 is hindsight...........Although I did mention it at the time.

And before we start "judging" - I am not an Amtrak hater. Rather I like the idea that Amtrak has rolled out in terms of a business class on the long distance trains. The execution of such........more to be desired.......but they got half way there.  

The Cardinal is using the 2+1 seating.  Works fine, as it can be used as a lounge for the sleeper passengers.

Not sure what the hip is about using leather seats. Seems they workd fine on the mixed cafe 2 + 1.  since except for the Cardinal they are not long haul trains.
I would not want to remain overnight on the Crescent or Starlight in Leather.  I know the airlines are going leather too.   What am I missing??
 

There are 44 Amfleet I Club-Dinettes and 9 Horizon Club-Dinettes.

I have been told tha the Club-Dinettes assigned to NYSDOT funded Empire Service cannot be reassigned without NYSDOT's consent. Don't know how easy or hard that is to obtain. But presumably the replacement will have to be two cars, a full food service car and a full BC, which may be hard to come by.since there are only 43 Regional BC cars.

The fact that they assigned an Amfleet II as BC on the Crescent suggests that they do not have 4 spare Club-Dinettes consistently to assign to the Crescent.

What they need to do is improve the soft product for BC. Throw in the Travel Amenity Kit and maybe bring back the pillows.

The Carolina BC service in the Carolinian could be used as a model to shoot for.

< How many cars are there with 1/2 business class and 1/2 cafe style seating? >

I believe the former Night Owl (65/66/67) is another example of a combined Biz-dinette car.
I don't care if it is leather, but Biz Class ought to be a consistent 2+1 seating with leg rests. At least until that is ever done, they should throw in coach pillows and over night kits if the passenger is on board after 9pm.

When the Amfleet-2 cars got Capstoned, the single reclining seat at the bathroom end of the car got removed. So there were once 125 of them. I suppose they were tossed into a dumpster in Bear, DE.
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/02/16 08:07 by joemvcnj.