Acela first class attendant denied to serve me a meal...

[Green Maned Lion]

No, it just shows the cost cutting is not limited to sleeper.

 

[Ryan]

You can always break out the foia stick. Request documentation that substantiates the claim that trips under 60 minutes don't get meals. One of two results ensue.

1. The policy is provided, and you write Amtrak and rake them over the coals for advertising the meal without the limitations.

2. The policy is not provided and you rake them over the coals for the call center folks for making stuff up.

Did you talk to a "regular" agent, or did you get Customer Relations on the line?

 

[OBS]

That is the first time I ever heard of the 60 minute rule....

 

[andersone]

we have a five second rule but only if it hits the floor

 

[VentureForth]

Anything in the Blue Book?

 

[Ryan]

Not that I could find.

 

[VentureForth]

Holy crap you were fast with that answer!

Even faster than my reply to your reply!

 

[Ryan]

I looked yesterday.

I just looked for "60" and "hour", since the claim was an hour, still nothing.

 

[Railroad Bill]

Would it seem to make sense that the Acelas serve meals at a given block of time, as they do on regular dining cars?. Breakfast is from 6:30-9:30. Lunch from 11:00 -2:00 and dinner 5:00-8:00pm. That way you could expect to eat a meal if you were on the train at those times. Just thinking out loud

 

[amamba]

Would it seem to make sense that the Acelas serve meals at a given block of time, as they do on regular dining cars?. Breakfast is from 6:30-9:30. Lunch from 11:00 -2:00 and dinner 5:00-8:00pm. That way you could expect to eat a meal if you were on the train at those times. Just thinking out loud

No.

 

[VentureForth]

Just drink $30 worth of booze to get your money's worth. If they serve wine on trips less than 30 minutes...

Looked online and in the time tables and they don't mention that short journeys get shafted for meals. Only that "time appropriate" meals will be served.

I'd take this through Customer Relations and argue the marketing aspect.

 

[Railroad Bill]

Would it seem to make sense that the Acelas serve meals at a given block of time, as they do on regular dining cars?. Breakfast is from 6:30-9:30. Lunch from 11:00 -2:00 and dinner 5:00-8:00pm. That way you could expect to eat a meal if you were on the train at those times. Just thinking out loud

No.

Why not?

 

[cirdan]

The folks who have their travel expenses paid by their employer, or as a write off if self employed, don't really care what it costs!

Unfortunately more and more companies are prohibiting their employees from traveling first class or even business class unless the employee pays for the upgrade! (I never did figure out what the dividing line was between regular government peons like me and the VIPs who travel in style was! I know Joe Biden traveled for years on the Metro Liners and Acela between Wilmington and WAS on upgrades but he was a US Senator for 30 years, closest thing we have to being a member of the Royal family!)

The corporation I work for is quite generous when it comes to business travel on trains, but if you fly you have to have a good reason why they shouldn't put you in cattle class. Such reasons can include a customer-facing meeting directly after a long flight when you don't want to be more tired than necessary. I think when it come to trains its mostly shortish trips so in the bigger picture of things the costs are not hurting anyone.

I always used to think business class on trains was a waste of money but its a luxury you can grow used to and now I do it mostly when i'm paying out of my own money as well.

 

[jis]

Would it seem to make sense that the Acelas serve meals at a given block of time, as they do on regular dining cars?. Breakfast is from 6:30-9:30. Lunch from 11:00 -2:00 and dinner 5:00-8:00pm. That way you could expect to eat a meal if you were on the train at those times. Just thinking out loud

No. Because that would deny meals to someone who is unfortunate enough to have his/her journey between 9:30 and 11:00. That would be yet another example of a solution looking for a problem that it is trying to solve , which I must admit is not that unusual in these forums either . And also it does not address the specific issue being discussed in this thread at all. Serving a meal on a 14 minute journey from New York Penn to Newark Penn will still be a problem.

 

[Ryan]

Better solution: Start eliminating stops until such time as all stops are at least an hour apart.

 

[jis]

Even better - eliminate the service. Then you don't have to worry about anything at all

 

[VentureForth]

Someone in DC is already thinking that.... SHHH!

 

[fairviewroad]

The previous two anecdotes aren't entirely relevant here since Acela meal service is really nothing at all like meal service

on a LD diner. [though I have my own story about entering a diner with seemingly plenty of time to be served, only to

abandon the effort before my order was even taken]

At least we were talking about meal service on trains. Many posts on AU do not discuss subjects relevant to op.

True enough, and I didn't mean my comment to be pejorative. I thought a clarification was in order since

some people may not realize that Acela first-class meals are served differently than LD diner meals.

 

[PRR 60]

To be fair to Amtrak, the Acela meal policy is much more liberal than domestic airline meal service in F. Airlines limit full meals to specified minimum flight times or distances, typically around 900 miles or 2-1/2 hours. Less than that, and it's a snack only. Even for flights at the lower end of the meal limit, meals are only served at "appropriate times", meaning leave at 2pm and get in at 5pm, you might only get a "savory snack mix" and a glass or two (or three) of wine for your up charge or miles.

Even if Amtrak now has a 60-minute minimum time in their double-secret, available only to insiders book of rules, that is still much better than legacy airline F. Add to that the fact that serving meals in Acela F is more difficult than serving in an airline F cabin since Acela passengers are boarding and leaving all the time. The service provided by two attendants preparing and serving drinks and meals in a 44-seat car with constant passenger churn is pretty remarkable.

 

[VentureForth]

Why can't they simply serve BAL pax first out of WAS? Otherwise, and I mean no disrespect to the OP, I wouldn't expect to enjoy a nice meal in a half-hour. Perhaps provisions for the Cafe are in order if, indeed, the 60 minute rule is in force. Even for a 30 minute ride, FC should get something for that 50-75% premium over BC.

 

[iceberg]

Why can't they simply serve BAL pax first out of WAS? Otherwise, and I mean no disrespect to the OP, I wouldn't expect to enjoy a nice meal in a half-hour. Perhaps provisions for the Cafe are in order if, indeed, the 60 minute rule is in force. Even for a 30 minute ride, FC should get something for that 50-75% premium over BC.

The Acela train that I took left WAS at 12 noon. It rolled into Baltimore at around 12:30pm.

My ticket was on someone else's nickel. IIRC, the first class ticket was about $30(?) more

expensive.

I wouldn't have thought about asking for a meal. However, the attendant did serve a meal

to an elderly couple sitting across the aisle from me as soon as the train started moving

out of WAS Union Station. I later found out they were travelling to Philly.

I wasn't really that hungry, since I had a big breakfast with a couple of clients at 8AM.

However, I wanted to try the meal because it was my first time on the Acela.

 

[VentureForth]

Well, that's totally understandable. I suspect most riders between WAS and BAL wouldn't want a meal. However, if asked, it sounds like the masses declare it should be provided.

 

[Dovecote]

FWIW I had a similar experience as the OP on the Capitol Limited (CL) awhile back. I actually posted this to the forum on opinions whether I was entitled to a meal or not. I got mixed results one or two were pretty harsh if I recall.

In my case I was finishing a LD trip from the south to my then home in Harpers Ferry (HFY). The CL departs WAS approximately at 4 PM and arrives at HFY, if on time around, 5:15 PM. When the Dining Car Attendant came by to make dinner reservations I told the attendant of our destination. Since dining begins at 5 PM, knowing there is not ample time to eat dinner in 15 minutes, I asked the attendant if they would prepare the dinner to go for my wife and I. The attendant thought about it for a second and said there would be not enough time. I thanked her for considering it despite my disappointment.

Around 4:55 PM, prior to the first call for dinner seating, my SCA delivered dinner meals to passengers in the roomette across the hall. My wife and I were disappointed to say the least. I did not make a spectacle of our disappoint but felt we were denied a meal that we deserved.

 

[VentureForth]

I've had a similiar experience on the Silver Meteor. Scheduled to arrive in SAV at 6:44 and depart at 6:50, Diner opened at 6:30. That's 20 minutes from the time the diner opened until the train would depart Savannah.

At 6:15 I asked if I could put in a to-go order. They refused. Then at 6:30 they did. I got my meal at 6:45 and I got off the train before it kept me on board and ate in my car.

I'm a big fan of the 24-hr diner concept.

 

[railiner]

What train has a 24-hour diner? Or are you just proposing it as a concept?

The closest I ever saw, was the open-all-night cafe on the Night Owl, years ago.....