Passenger Trains > Amtrak Choose Your Meal in Advance Option

Something new from Amtrak. I just received a message regrading my upcoming trip on the Silver Starvation. I can choose my meal in advance. How exciting!  While this works well on Delta One (so they are sure not to run out of what you want by the time they reach you're row) this further takes away from the dining experience were you perused a menu and placed your order with a live person.  Amtrak is becoming more like an airline everyday. My choice is to have a great meal, brought to my table on real plates, cooked the way I want it at a nice restaurant before boarding.That works fine on a short trip as I'm doing. But it makes any LD trip spanning more than one night not an option. So more lost business. This will be my fourth overnight trip since the "Enhanced" dining service was introduced.  In each case I declined the meal. In each case my car attendant didn't seem surprised some saying they don't blame me and that  they often bring their own rather than be stuck eating that crap day after day. 

Amtrak is anxious to please itself not it's LD passengers, and cannot conceive that their system is anything less than wonderful.

After my son started working in Denver I used Amtrak every 3-4 months to visit him from Philadelphia via the Pennsylvanian, Capitol, Zephyr and Late Shore. Now back in 2014 and up to about 2017 I enjoyed these 2-3 day trips, being retired and on no time clock. Costs however made it a one way trip, it was hard to compete with Southwest $59-$79 fares, Amtrak was costing me $550-$650 for one way fares in an economy sleeper. I enjoyed the dining car service and the meals, some were very nice to be sure, a chance to relax and enjoy the scenery. IMO service deteriated significantly by 2018. I was actually twice admonished for asking to have my bed turned down after 10PM and even once accused of not being aware of the time zone difference, i.e. NOW it was 1115pm, how dare me interupt the sleep of the attendant.......
As much as I dislike flying and the circus associated with it, price and service mandates I fly [argh] instead of subjecting myself to the 2-3 day mistreatment on the rails. At least when I fly the ordeal is over in 6 hours.

lne655 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> After my son started working in Denver I used
> Amtrak every 3-4 months to visit him from
> Philadelphia via the Pennsylvanian, Capitol,
> Zephyr and Late Shore. Now back in 2014 and up to
> about 2017 I enjoyed these 2-3 day trips, being
> retired and on no time clock. Costs however made
> it a one way trip, it was hard to compete with
> Southwest $59-$79 fares, Amtrak was costing me
> $550-$650 for one way fares in an economy sleeper.
> I enjoyed the dining car service and the meals,
> some were very nice to be sure, a chance to relax
> and enjoy the scenery. IMO service deteriated
> significantly by 2018. I was actually twice
> admonished for asking to have my bed turned down
> after 10PM and even once accused of not being
> aware of the time zone difference, i.e. NOW it was
> 1115pm, how dare me interupt the sleep of the
> attendant.......
> As much as I dislike flying and the circus
> associated with it, price and service mandates I
> fly instead of subjecting myself to the 2-3 day
> mistreatment on the rails. At least when I fly the
> ordeal is over in 6 hours.

Being in a Southwest Jet over 3 hours is torture....

Modern day travel in America is awful... thanks to deregulation and the the effect of corporate greed squeezing every penny out of passengers and taxpayers.

bluesboyst Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> lne655 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > After my son started working in Denver I used
> > Amtrak every 3-4 months to visit him from
> > Philadelphia via the Pennsylvanian, Capitol,
> > Zephyr and Late Shore. Now back in 2014 and up
> to
> > about 2017 I enjoyed these 2-3 day trips, being
> > retired and on no time clock. Costs however
> made
> > it a one way trip, it was hard to compete with
> > Southwest $59-$79 fares, Amtrak was costing me
> > $550-$650 for one way fares in an economy
> sleeper.
> > I enjoyed the dining car service and the meals,
> > some were very nice to be sure, a chance to
> relax
> > and enjoy the scenery. IMO service deteriated
> > significantly by 2018. I was actually twice
> > admonished for asking to have my bed turned
> down
> > after 10PM and even once accused of not being
> > aware of the time zone difference, i.e. NOW it
> was
> > 1115pm, how dare me interupt the sleep of the
> > attendant.......
> > As much as I dislike flying and the circus
> > associated with it, price and service mandates
> I
> > fly instead of subjecting myself to the 2-3 day
> > mistreatment on the rails. At least when I fly
> the
> > ordeal is over in 6 hours.
>
> Being in a Southwest Jet over 3 hours is
> torture....

Flying SouthWORST In general Is torture. Never. But that vs. Amtrash food for 2 days? ehh thats a tough toss up. 

Train, plane, and even bus travel (when Greyhound was run by professionals) could be fun. Now it is hit and miss, usually the latter.
Planes are glorified school buses, Greyhound is shrinking and failing - not once was I on one in the last 12 years that was not an hour late for nothing, and we know what a joke Amtrak is,being deliberately run into the ground by management. 

Not to worry.
We reserved our meals for our trip on the Cardinal last week, and after we boarded the attendant had no idea what this was all about.

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Something new from Amtrak. I just received a
> message regrading my upcoming trip on the Silver
> Starvation. I can choose my meal in advance. How
> exciting!  While this works well on Delta One (so
> they are sure not to run out of what you want by
> the time they reach you're row) this further takes
> away from the dining experience were you perused a
> menu and placed your order with a live person. 
> Amtrak is becoming more like an airline everyday.
> My choice is to have a great meal, brought to my
> table on real plates, cooked the way I want it at
> a nice restaurant before boarding.That works fine
> on a short trip as I'm doing. But it makes any LD
> trip spanning more than one night not an option.
> So more lost business. This will be my fourth
> overnight trip since the "Enhanced" dining service
> was introduced.  In each case I declined the
> meal. In each case my car attendant didn't seem
> surprised some saying they don't blame me and
> that  they often bring their own rather than be
> stuck eating that crap day after day. 

Molino Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Modern day travel in America is awful... thanks to
> deregulation and the the effect of corporate greed
> squeezing every penny out of passengers and
> taxpayers.

You hit he spike squarely on its head!

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Something new from Amtrak. I just received a
> message regrading my upcoming trip on the Silver
> Starvation. I can choose my meal in advance. How
> exciting!  While this works well on Delta One (so
> they are sure not to run out of what you want by
> the time they reach you're row) this further takes
> away from the dining experience were you perused a
> menu and placed your order with a live person. 
> Amtrak is becoming more like an airline everyday.
> My choice is to have a great meal, brought to my
> table on real plates, cooked the way I want it at
> a nice restaurant before boarding.That works fine
> on a short trip as I'm doing. But it makes any LD
> trip spanning more than one night not an option.
> So more lost business. This will be my fourth
> overnight trip since the "Enhanced" dining service
> was introduced.  In each case I declined the
> meal. In each case my car attendant didn't seem
> surprised some saying they don't blame me and
> that  they often bring their own rather than be
> stuck eating that crap day after day. 

Somehow the saying "People in hell want icewater" comes to mind.

We just got home from a trip where on the California Zephyr and Empire Builder what special plates for your meals that I ate and on the Coast Starlight meals came to your in a take out bag. How the mighty has fallen.



Chris

bluesboyst Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Being in a Southwest Jet over 3 hours is
> torture....

Funny, I don't have a problem with them. But then my level of expectations is probably different then yours.
When I fly Southwest I expect transportation from point A to point B. The flight is not the reason for the trip, it's just how you get there.
I'm not expecting the over the top luxury you used to get on Pan Am when flying was a luxury and you paid for that luxury too. 

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> bluesboyst Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Being in a Southwest Jet over 3 hours is
> > torture....
>
> Funny, I don't have a problem with them. But then
> my level of expectations is probably different
> then yours.
> When I fly Southwest I expect transportation from
> point A to point B. The flight is not the reason
> for the trip, it's just how you get there.
> I'm not expecting the over the top luxury you used
> to get on Pan Am when flying was a luxury and you
> paid for that luxury too. 


Exactly..
Southwest is a cheap good flight... nothing more, nothing less. And they do great

Posted from Android

Land Cruise or basic transportation for isolated towns?

Posted from Android

From November 29, 2019
"Amtrak Dining Cars as Profit Centers"
https://www.railwayage.com/passenger/amtrak-dining-cars-as-profit-centers/?RAchannel=home

Earth to b109.  Its not the 1950's anymore.  Get over it.  And if u cant,  can u at least spare the rest of us have to read you whining about it.

pdt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Earth to b109.  Its not the 1950's anymore.  Get
> over it.  And if u cant,  can u at least spare
> the rest of us have to read you whining about it.

How would you define "the rest of us"?

pdt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Earth to b109.  Its not the 1950's anymore.  Get
> over it.  And if u cant,  can u at least spare
> the rest of us have to read you whining about it.

i pay money to hear people's opinions on this site.  i am NOT obligated to reply or even read every posted discussion here.

i will let the MODERATORS enforce what can NOT be posted in these discussions..............

66

goneon66 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> pdt Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Earth to b109.  Its not the 1950's anymore. 
> Get
> > over it.  And if u cant,  can u at least
> spare
> > the rest of us have to read you whining about
> it.
>
> i pay money to hear people's opinions on this
> site.  i am NOT obligated to reply or even read
> every posted discussion here.
>
> i will let the MODERATORS enforce what can NOT be
> posted in these discussions..............
>
> 66

By his own admission b109 hasn’t even tasted one of the new meals and yet he feels he is justified in condemning them. It’s not the 1950s and traditional dining car service suffered a long slow death. That said, it’s time to say your last goodbyes and deal with the grief folks. It never did and cannot generate a profit no matter what all the the experts say on this thread. The final knife was the American public deciding that they are not willing to subsidize your dinner on the train. IMHO, I agree completely, if you want steak you must pay for it.

Another_view: Stop lying between your teeth.

The American public has decided nothing of a kind. There is no excuse why food service must make a profit. That requirement that was inserted by John Mica has been been removed from the current CR, and have been repeatedly criticized in Congressional hearings. . You and your buddies are too incompetent to view the product as a whole and used Covid as an excuse to carry it out on western trains. The intentions are quite clear from this and from reducing booked up trains with no consist expansions to tri-weekly: run more revenue than cost out of the system and shut it down. 

You then had the audacity to increase sleeping car rates.
There is nothing 1950's about not wanting to eat junk food for meal after meal.
Go out and eat at Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks for 2 days straight and see how you like it.

As long as brand new sleeping cars remained parked while the existing ones remain in service with duct tape, there should be NO Amfleet-1 replacement procurement, and I will lobby my state delegation to that effect. 

 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/20 15:16 by joemvcnj.