jis
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Yeah I don't really believe any of the numbers quoted in that article without further backup material
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Chefs being removed off Capitol Limited
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Dakota 400
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The cost to airlines for a domestic First Class meal is $100? I don't believe that! I have yet to have any airline meal in domestic First Class (on Delta, incidentally) or international Business Class that was worth $100. And, that includes dinner and breakfast on a long distance Singapore Airlines flight where their meals are supposed to be the best or at least among the best of the international carriers.
crescent-zephyr
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I can't comfirm or deny any of the costs, but it seems reasonable.
The food has to be ordered and stocked by a commisary that has to deliver the food to the airport? Then the food has to be loaded onto the plane by specialty employees... Then excess food is unloaded and returned to a commisary.
That's alot of steps for each flight (or set of flights..) Way more than a restaurant getting an order from Sysco once or twice a week and storing it in a big walk in till its needed.
The food has to be ordered and stocked by a commisary that has to deliver the food to the airport? Then the food has to be loaded onto the plane by specialty employees... Then excess food is unloaded and returned to a commisary.
That's alot of steps for each flight (or set of flights..) Way more than a restaurant getting an order from Sysco once or twice a week and storing it in a big walk in till its needed.
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Often the commissaries are at or very close to the airport. Airlines order in bulk (prepare the same meal 1,000 times), and there's not necessarily anything special about these "specialty employees" (a quick Google search tells me that at LSG Sky Chefs, an "assembler" makes $10.40/hr, and supervisors make under $50,000 per year). While I don't doubt the cost of providing a meal on an airline is higher than that equivalent meal at a ground-based restaurant, it's also true that you don't get equivalent meals to ground-based restaurants (they're really only a couple steps above a TV dinner).
I still say, if the all-in cost per meal was north of $10, I'd be very surprised.
cpotisch
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Yes, but at the scale the airlines and commissaries are operating, those costs and overhead probably work out to be relatively negligible. And FC meals are probably ordered from the same places as the rest of the food, which further divides up the costs. On a 400 passenger flight, delivery costs would have to be pretty astronomical to average anything like $100 per person.
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Americans are keenly aware that our airline service standards have devolved into sharp tongues and indifferent lip service (well, most of us anyway) but that doesn't mean we believe every dumpy foreign outfit is always better. Virtually any airline south of the US border is or anywhere in Africa is generally assumed to be substantially worse than the domestic carriers. It's true that many of us believe the best foreign airlines are indeed better than most/all US airlines, but that view isn't only held by US citizens; a majority of airline rating respondents, travel journalists, and globetrotting bloggers agree with us.
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jis
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Absolutely. There are about a dozen outstanding airlines, most of which are undoubtedly better than the US3. Beyond that things get pretty spotty.
If they base the cost of that the way they charge to transport my bicycle, I can see how they can come up with that number.
Is there any confirmation that the Capitol is losing it’s chefs? Unless I missed it, seems it’s just hearsay from an Amtrak employee.
Re the Special Meals for Coach pasengers:
When I rode the Sunset Ltd. this Winter the offering was a Chicken Dinner with a bottle of Water that cost $12, and the Coach Attendant took orders,the LSA collected the $$$ in advance since they are the only OBS allowed to handle purchases.
The attendant delivered them to the Coach Seats ( Sleeping Car pax weren't allowed to order them).Several Coach riders told me it was delicious and worth the $12!
I think this is an excellent idea for LD Trains for ALL passengers that could pre order and paid for with their tickets.
When I rode the Sunset Ltd. this Winter the offering was a Chicken Dinner with a bottle of Water that cost $12, and the Coach Attendant took orders,the LSA collected the $$$ in advance since they are the only OBS allowed to handle purchases.
The attendant delivered them to the Coach Seats ( Sleeping Car pax weren't allowed to order them).Several Coach riders told me it was delicious and worth the $12!
I think this is an excellent idea for LD Trains for ALL passengers that could pre order and paid for with their tickets.
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cpotisch
Engineer
You didn’t miss anything. All we know what he heard about that one employee. Knowing Amtrak, it wouldn’t at all surprise me for them to ditch the chef on the CL, given recent trends. That said, until we get further info, I wouldn’t say this is by any means definite.
This rumor along with threads about the end of the American call centers and the end of private car movements and charters point to an ominous trend IMHO.
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Seaboard92
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The private cars and charters isn't a rumor. It's a fact. It's such a fact I'm now unemployed.
Note I said, "this rumor along with the threads about... ". The only thing I stated was a rumor was the chefs being removed off of the Capitol limited. I don't know enough about the other situations. But there is a pattern.
I regret your situation. Your posts and trip reports are informative.
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I had one of the chicken dinners on the Southwest Chief in September 2017. It was a very good meal for $12, certainly better than a meal in economy class on an international flight. I think that about half of the passengers in a fairly full coach ordered the dinner.
crescent-zephyr
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With recent changes, I think there is cause to be concerned that this won't be just the capitol losing its chef. :-/
My concern is the whole system will some day be shut down. While I am really glad it is there, I am not so sure the taxpayer should be subsidizing it. Not with all of the other vital needs the are struggling out there.
crescent-zephyr
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That's a long rabbit hole to go down.... Which transportation systems should the tax payer pay for?
The country would survive without long distance rail, but it would also survive without interstates (make them all toll roads that charge as much as they need to) smaller regional airports that currently lose money... Etc. Etc.
No easy answers.
The country would survive without long distance rail, but it would also survive without interstates (make them all toll roads that charge as much as they need to) smaller regional airports that currently lose money... Etc. Etc.
No easy answers.
Oh I don't disagree. I have often thought our interstate be all toll roads. But where do you stop? What about the local streets?
And I guess where I live the people train really isn't vital for transportation. In fact it is darn right inconvenient. You really have to want to use it. Out west it is pretty much the only option in a lot of cases and I can see were people there would suffer if it went away.
crescent-zephyr
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Where do you live?
Pittsburgh. The CL has a horrible schedule for departures west. OK for arrivals from the east. Barely livable for departures east. The Pennsylvanian has an OK schedule but no baggage car and it does not carry bikes. That is the one that has me upset. I really want to go to Trenton to do a trip on a bicycle path out there but can't get my bike out there without pre-shipping it.
Yeah I know it is worse elsewhere but still a pain.
Not to mention the time it takes. I took the CL back from Cumberland last year. I could have driven round trip in the time it takes, Not complaining there. I don't care but it is a reason more people don't use the train. Also there was a ton of space available in the car for more racks but only one rack for 6 bikes in that car. And this is along one of the most popular bike trails in the country. But then again (at least on the day I was there) there were empty racks. And our car was almost empty in coach.
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Some cities, commuter rail is critical and can not be replaced by driving cars. Chicago, New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, etc. Many other cities are trying to move that direction. Light and heavy rail run near capacity in many of these cities. The geography of Pittsburgh makes using rail difficult at best, but they did have a great trolley system in the South Hills and to east of the city, decades ago, the tunnel it used is still used today.
We replaced the trolleys with light rail in the South Hills . They pretty much used the same lines. But if you are talking way back then yes the trolley system was extensive. We also had local passenger trains. It actually was not that long ago the one from the east went away. Not enough ridership. Why someone would rather sit in their car in traffic is beyond me.
We also had a rather extensive number of inclines. Long gone before I was born. One was so large it carried horses and wagons. One actaully had a curve in the track going up the hill.
Thirdrail7
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Or...just picture this. When you use the website to reserve you ticket, you pick from a menu of available items in advance. Then, they use the dining cars to serve the meals that would be higher quality than what is served in the diner lite and would be closer to what is served on the Acela.
It has the potential to reduce costs, staff, waste and criticism from Congress.
Just something to think about.
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