Yes. In a bar fine. Not appropriate for a location where someone might have to sit an additional hour or so because Sunnyside can’t get their act together and send in the consist for a silver service train, the crescent or Lakeshore Limited. Or a day when a Darwin Award contestant competes by wandering onto the tracks in New Jersey.
New Metropolitan Lounge in NYP expected to open in 2021
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keelhauled
OBS Chief
The target for an NYC club isn’t sleeper passengers, though, it’s for everyone on the Acelas and always will be. Those people aren’t going to spend much time there, just enough to grab a drink or snack and check their email. With trains every hour, it’s not like Chicago where most people in the lounge are on multi hour layovers, and with how limited NYP is in real estate it makes sense to design a layout that maximizes capacity.
Actually, not everyone on the Acelas, FC only. The NYC Club Acela is not open to BC customers of any service at NYP (not counting passes, status or the like) It's just too small to even consider that in its present location.
keelhauled
OBS Chief
I thought it would have been obvious that the place is only for eligible passengers. My point still stands—Acela departures and passengers vastly outnumber sleeper passengers. It makes sense that it would be designed to primarily serve the dominant user.
True, I was commenting on the words "everyone on the Acelas", but your premise is certainly in line with what I've seen. Mostly business folks waiting for Acela.
Yikes, they must be ogres in Chicago. I understand they really want to process people quickly in NY, it's busy and crowded and the line often stretches to the door, but they are often truly nasty to people. I've sat near the desk and they often continue to bad-mouth passengers after they've moved away from the desk if they didn't like their tone or they didn't follow a direction or seemed too demanding. It's cringeworthy.
cpotisch
Engineer
Agreed. When I was in the CA last month and this month, the front desk attendant was REALLY snide to a lot of people. For example, when she asked one man what train he was departing on, they had this exchange:
Attendant: And what train are you departing on?
Man: Uh, the 3:40 train to Chicago
Attendant: The 49?
Man: Uh...no, 3:40 (thinking she was talking about the time)
Attendant: I didn’t say 3:49, did I? I said “Are you on train 49!!!"
And then a couple weeks later, having just arrived back in NYC on 98, we dropped by the lounge to sit down and switch from sandals to sneakers, and to get some water, and the (same) lady yelled at us for using one of the seats near the front (which I assume are for sitting since they are seats), and loudly demanded we head to the back of the lounge. It was just the manner and volume in which she said everything that was pretty irritating. :unsure:
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Reminds me of the time I heard one say to another something about a track number and I asked her, "do they have a track yet for ____?" and she snapped, "DID I SAY ANYTHING? I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING!"
They treat most passengers (they do have a few regular favorites, and those people get sunshine) with such disdain, like they're an interruption, like they're idiots, like they're unworthy of help, that when I saw this thread, I thought, "keep the old lounge, just get new staff."
Manny T
OBS Chief
Agree with all the comments about lounge attendants who can be rude, even nasty, because I've seen it, but I disagree it's a "Chicago" thing or a "New York" thing. It's an Amtrak thing. The service ethic is lacking at Amtrak -- everyone knows that, it's been studied and reported, it shows up ON the trains (dining attendants, SCA's), so why wouldn't it show up at the front desk of the lounges?
Since I live in Chicago (lived in NYC for many years), I encounter Chicago service personnel all the time in retail, restaurants, offices, etc. In general, there is very little "attitude" and a surprising amount of friendliness. Even bus drivers, about half the time, will say good morning when you board and thank you when you pay your fare.
If service, respect and friendliness are lacking at the front desk of Chicago's Metropolitan Lounge, I'd bet it's an Amtrak thing and not a Chicago thing.
Since I live in Chicago (lived in NYC for many years), I encounter Chicago service personnel all the time in retail, restaurants, offices, etc. In general, there is very little "attitude" and a surprising amount of friendliness. Even bus drivers, about half the time, will say good morning when you board and thank you when you pay your fare.
If service, respect and friendliness are lacking at the front desk of Chicago's Metropolitan Lounge, I'd bet it's an Amtrak thing and not a Chicago thing.
To anyone who has experienced less-than-stellar customer service in the lounges, or anywhere else in the Amtrak system for that matter, please call 1-800-USA-RAIL and ask for Customer Relations and explain the situation. Amtrak can't improve if they don't know how widespread the issue is.
Devil's Advocate
⠀⠀⠀
I see where you're coming from but in my experience it's a combination of factors. Amtrak employees can be rude and obnoxious but so can residents of Chicago and New York in general. That's not to say this problem is unique to those two cities. It seems like there's a certain size beyond which city living becomes a chore for many people and a common reaction is to take their frustrations out on strangers, even if those people happen to be paying their wages. We're also living in a era when being rude, arrogant, and disruptive is considered some sort of virtue. I doubt that helps matters but I guess it's just one last gift from the most spoiled generation to have ever lived.
VTTrain
Lead Service Attendant
- Joined
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A rude customer never excuses rude and obnoxious customer service.
Cho Cho Charlie
Engineer
I don't know. If you choose to sit in a bar stool, passing up on the lounge chairs, I would say you can't complain. It was your choice.
cpotisch
Engineer
What if there aren't any lounge chairs available (the CA can get crowded)? Why not just have more lounge chairs instead of those bar stools?
Sactobob
Train Attendant
There has been quite a bit of discussion about bar stools, etc., based on this picture But I think you are all barking up the wrong tree. I do not think this is a rendering of a portion of the new Metropolitan Lounge, but rather of a completely separate facility which will be open to the general public. Go to illustrations from the original post in this this thread, and you will see that the illustration of the balcony of the Metropolitan Lounge in no way resembles the above picture."Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these trains from the swift completion of their appointed routes”
OK, maybe NYP would end up with a nicer lounge than PHL.
Or maybe not.
cpotisch
Engineer
Huh? The routes you are talking about have no connection to whether someone can or can't get into the NY ClubAcela. Here are the three ways you can be allowed in:
- Having a same day arriving or departing ticket in Acela First Class or a sleeper.
- A lounge day pass*
- Having qualifying status with Amtrak or United. For Amtrak, that's Select+ or above. For United, it's...I don't know.
*Note that unlike PHL and BOS, the NYP and WAS ClubAcelas do not offer $20 lounge passes to Business Class passengers.
Thank you for the clarification. I went back and clicked on the link. The lounge depicted in the news story does not have bar stools. In fact it looks like it would be a great place to wait for a train.
neroden
Engineer
Actually, given that sleeper passengers are going to be in the lounge *much longer*, a random sample of the lounge at any given time will show more sleeper passengers than Acela passengers. Betcha it will. Statistics is fun!
Anyway, the actual lounge design is full of chairs and couches, not barstools. (The bar rendering is from a different part of the planned station.)
Amtrak released these renderings: note that the center image in the top row, right-hand image in the second row, and all three images in the bottom row are of the Metropolitan Lounge; the others are not. (P.S. There is no way in hell that the "bar" will have as much free food as is shown in the rendering.)
https://media.amtrak.com/media-images/moynihan-train-hall-renderings/
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jis
Permanent Way Inspector
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For United it is United Club Membership, which one can either purchase directly, or indirectly by having either an Explorer Club or Presidential Plus credit card. The Presidential Plus is no longer available for opening new accounts. It is grandfathered from Continental. No United Mileage Plus status confers access to United Clubs AFAIK, though I am not sure about Gllobal Services. I know with an international ticket they get access to Global First Lounge, but I don;t think they get access to United Club or Amtrak Lounge without United Club membership.
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