Passenger Trains > Business Travel: NY to DC, Amtrak did OK

The Points Guy, a travel maximizing website, sent five of its people on business trips to DC.  Starting at Central Park NY, they used the Delta shuttle, Acela, NE Regional, MegaBus, and American Air shuttle.  7 am departures, on a rainy weekday

Amtrak, especially the Acela, did well.  No unexpected problems, train arrived on time, drinks were cold, comfortable.  Got a lot of work done.  The Regional did well, made almost as good time for a lot less money. Got stabbed outside DC as "no tracks available" per the conductor.  Wi-Fi was unreliable, and disconnected.  No sign of where the Acela would board, so the traveler got on a line, and it was the right one.

Air didn't work as well. One flight was cancelled, due to crew out of position.  Security lines were a problem, TSA Pre-Check was a mess for both at LGA.  Difficult to do any real work, even on regional jet's "first class".  But, hours faster into DC.  Wi-Fi was a problem, and very slow.

MegaBus was OK, ran fast, no serious traffic, poor wi-fi.

Nothing here that people on this site don't already know.  Wi-Fi has been a problem on Amtrak for decades.  Most people working on sensitive materials bring their own hot spot. Even my old 3G device was usually faster than the train's service.  But it's interesting to see how business people look at the challenges.

(Interesting too at how integrated Scooters, Lyft, and Uber are in the getting around town issue.)

https://thepointsguy.com/news/racing-from-nyc-to-dc/

Ironic about Wifi on the Vermonter, no problem coming down from God's Country of Essex Jct, but the spottiest area was the Metro North portion New Haven - New Rochelle. It was not the short duration HEP outages over movable bridges. 

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> TSA Pre-Check was a mess for both at
> LGA.  

Umm....

Delta flight,

"Jessica got dropped off at LGA even earlier than expected. The TSA PreCheck line at Terminal C was short"

American flight,

"Scott left the lounge at 7:10am only to find a giant line for TSA PreCheck. He cleared security at 7:30am"

Under 20 minutes on a Monday morning is far from "a mess", even for PreCheck.

 

I get a little tired of the whining about wi-fi. If you absolutely *must* be on your "device" and connected at all times, invest in a decent wireless data plan. Don't expect blazing fast rock-solid reliable internet to be included in the price a ticket.

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA

I don't care if it is not as fast as home cable service, but repeated total outages is what we are talking about. 

In my travels, I noticed the Wifi got better south of DC on the Regionals. I wonder if the catenary plays a factor into that or not.