Read Friday’s newswire story about cuts to some of the amenities, including complimentary wine and newspapers for First Class on the Builder and Starlight, down to flowers in the dining cars.
Looks penny-wise and pound-foolish to me.
Looks penny-wise to me. How is it pound-foolish? The standard mantra of the NARP et. al. is that Amtrak needs more sleepers because they are “always full”. Think there’s anyone out there who will say “No USA Today? That’s it! I’m flying now!”?
Most of the amenities being eliminated are really small potatoes but they do provide Amtrak with some cover when Congressional critics start complaining about costs.
Amtrak does not always obtain the generic newspaper for its sleeper passengers. Through March, you should still have the Centralia, Illinois, paper delivered to your room when you ride #58. There are a few other cities where Amtrak has bought the local paper. As I recall, Memphis is one, for passengers on #59. Also, Omaha, for passengers on #6.
However, I certainly would not make any change for the sake of the generic newspaper.
Although newspapers (if they do it, at least have the NYT or WSJ?), wine and cheese parties and flowers may be nice, they really contribute little to passenger service and cutting them at least gives the appearance of concerns with costs.
C’mon, Don, we know you’re penny-wise in your own travels between Atlanta and the Northeast, preferring air to an Amtrak sleeper. And would stick all us rail passengers in coach if you could.
Thanks, but I think we’ll look elsewhere for a consultant on First Class by rail! [;)]
There are cheaper amenities if the folks at Amtrak would look at what others are doing in the transportation space.
- How about free popcorn in the lounge car?
a. Apparently Amtrak people on board can’t plug in a hot air popcorn maker and use $1
a bag popcorn without generating a significant loss? They could serve most of
the train with a $1 bag of popcorn.
- What about fresh baked chocolate chip cookies after a meal?
a. American Airlines is doing this now for First Class Passengers now that Midwest
Express is out of business. All they do is pop the cookie in the Micro same way they
do the cocktail mixed nuts (warm mixed nuts taste a lot better than cold). A little more
expensive here with the ingredients but not as expensive as wine.
Two examples of amenities at far less cost than Wine and Cheese and Flowers (BTW, can you really
Also, the free popcorn could be sold to Congress as generating beverage sales. The free hot chocolate chip cookies…sell some healthy milk for change?
Cutting out various amenities and providing only a bare-bones roomette or bedroom, for what already strikes most passengers as an exorbitant amount of money, just looks cheap. It isn’t generous, it doesn’t offer customers something extra. I mean, really, how much does a newspaper or a small box of cheeses and/or a tiny bottle of wine cost? No matter what it costs, what percent is that of the total cost of a ticket? For goodness sakes, it’s better to raise ticket prices by $3 or $4 and look generous, then to be Scrooge-like and begrudge. What would be next? The bag of ice at the end of the sleeper? The plastic cups?
The train is already a few hours late; is it too much to ask for a complimentary newspaper to read as we sit here in the hole waiting for the freight trains to pass us by?
Agree with raising ticket prices to cover it. Look how many people pay Allstate more for the free “good drivers bonus check” even with their agent disclosing the scam to them?
Anyways, anyone knows what the deal is with some Superliner sleepers NOT having an ICE MAKER? Encountered that on the Capital Limited. On the way there we had a functioning Ice Maker drawer in the center of the car where the juice station is. On the way back…no drawer? We had to walk all the way to the Cafe Car to ask for Ice. Ice Makers are not that expensive, maybe next time we will pack one and sell the ice to other passengers from our compartment.
“Tiny bottle of wine”? If you get one, you pay for it, in the diner or in the lounge car. At the wine tastings, a small amount is poured into your glass from a standard bottle for each wine (usually three) that is tasted. Any that is left over in a bottle is given to the passenger who is able answer a question about train operation. Also, those who take part in the wine tasting have the opportunity to buy a whole bottle of each type that was tasted.
Deggesty,
The small bottle of wine I was referring to (probably about 6 or 8 oz.) was invariably red, of decent quality, and was included in a box about eight inches square, which each passenger found on his seat or bed upon entering his roomette or bedroom. The cheeses were individually wrapped and included Laughing Cow brand, along with a few crackers. I’m familiar with the wine situation you describe and prefer the arrangement we had for years on The Lake Shore Limited.
Over the years I remember getting, on that train, not only wine & cheese kits, but very nice small black faux-leather overnight bags with an eyeshade, toothpaste, a brush, a comb, and maybe a shoehorn; we still use both our bags for other purposes. I have also received LS Ltd pins for my lapel. On The Capitol Limited I got the same wine & cheese kits and two fine, large glass mugs with the train’s name embossed. We still use those mugs, just as we do my favorite free amenity from years ago, a pair of champagne flutes my wife and I received in our bedroom on The Silver Meteor when we went to Florida.
Does anyone else remember or have any favorite free Amtrak amenity from their travels in First Class?
I remember riding Pullman on some of the better US trains in the early 1960’s when service was still excellent, such as the CZ, 20th C,. City of Miami and Super Chief. No trinkets, no free wine and crackers. But there were fresh flowers in silver vases on the white table cloth in the dining car. In the mid 70s on the Amtrak versions of the Broadway and LSL, no trinkets. Everything costs money, even trinkets. In this case the taxpayers are footing the bill since the Amtrak long distance trains all are huge money losers.
Are our A-T sleepers different from other Superliners? I’ve never heard of an ice maker on a Superliner sleeper, or any other Superliner. They have ice wells, resupplied bag-by-bag from the finite ice supply in the diner or lounge car. Airlines can provide those chocolate chip cookies because they don’t have their ovens tied up with PREPARING meals. I’ve previously said that there is a lot of misunderstanding about the amount of work that goes into preparing meals in a dining car, and I’m saying it here again. Fresh flowers? We’ve been using very nice artificial ones on A-T for as long as I can remember, and I’ve been working that train for over 25 years. Popcorn? it’s OK with me if the Company says to do it. There are some amenities that are probably a good idea & some that aren’t. There are some things we can eliminate to save money, and other things that we might as well provide because it’s not very expensive & the passengers like them, so we might as well provide them. For my part,I can think of ways to save money & I always do my work in such a way that I eliminate or reduce waste as much as I can. Of course, I don’t make policy.
This is another misguided and spiteful run at Amtrak by the idiots in our Congress who don’t know anything about business, hostelry, restaurants, trains, people, moving people, and government. Their motto is simply “don’t spend any money except for my salary and expense accounts”. Sounds like they are saving money while saving the world when they are really costing more money while screwing up the way the world operates.
Well said Henry6!!
Keeing them sanitized and filled with potable water is not cheap!
Now, now… I’ve ridden a bedroom in the CZ and Auto Train in recent years…
And, I would ride a roomette between Atlanta and Philly if only it were only somewhat more expensive than flying.
But, first class should pay it’s full, long term variable cost. In what crazy world should something called “first class” be subsidized? If Ed Ellis can’t make a go of it, should we subsidize him?
Not even close. What they said to Amtrak was, “Why do you lose money selling food on trains?”. Amtrak responded, “We shouldn’t and we won’t.”
Admittedly, this is really small stuff that might be worth more in good will than it costs. But, Amtrak is doing this unilaterally.
Perhaps they’d be better off keeping the trinkets and dropping the “meals included” - without dropping fares.
No, Oltmannd…this is more picking on Amtrak by people who know nothing about passengers, passenger trains, hostelry, feeding people, controlling people under sequestered conditions, marketing a product, making a product appealing and worth buying. They do know how to pick away at the most minute of costs in the total Federal Budget. As I’ve often said: go to a restaurant and order a sandwich and you receive a piece of meat between two slices of bread on a plate big enough to hold it. Tempting, appetizing, think you got your money’s worth? Go to another restaurant and order the same sandwich and you get a piece of meat between two slices of bread with lettuce, maybe tomato, plus mustard, mayonnaise or butter, a slice of pickle on the side and a handful of chips. Which one do you remember as being the better sandwich and will go back again? Same thing with a long distance passenger train.