"12 Things You Might Not Know About Amtrak" from Amtrak.com

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

http://blog.amtrak.com/2016/03/amtrak-basics-12-things-you-might-not-know/

5. No seat assignments is a lie, at least on some trains (might be some crews). No middle seats is a valid point though.

9. Minor detail about the Silver Star and diner car.

10. They do close the cafe car at times, certainly at the end of rides.

11. Same minor detail about the Silver Star and meals included.

12. "The observation car is has windows on the ceiling" - Not an error, but grammar, anyone?

Some of these can be considered false advertising.

 

[PRR 60]

It's funny that they think "no seat assignments" is a selling point.

 

[mfastx]

No seat assignments is true in the sense that you can't choose your seat beforehand and on your ticket there is no seat number. Sometimes a conductor will assign seats.

And I agree with PRR 60, I want the option to choose my seat beforehand.

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

No seat assignments is true in the sense that you can't choose your seat beforehand and on your ticket there is no seat number. Sometimes a conductor will assign seats.

And I agree with PRR 60, I want the option to choose my seat beforehand.

I think if they are going to assign seats then have a way to choose a seat ahead of time rather than just let the conductors assign at the station. Or maybe ask passengers before they board if they want a window or aisle seat. Maybe they can reserve certain seats for pairs traveling together. It's a bit harder with trains as opposed to airlines where people board/leave at different spots but I believe I saw Megabus have the capability to choose seats ahead of time and they have the same format.

On my Amtrak cross country 2015 trip, I remember being assigned a seat for the CZ in CHI, SWC, and CL and not being assigned for the LSL, the CZ in SLC, and most of the short distance trains. I remember a seat assignment for the BL but not the TR. I'm pretty sure I was not assigned a seat on the CONO either out of CHI or Champaign. I don't remember for the SM. I don't know if there are hard and fast rules for particular trains or it varies by the wishes of the conductors or the capacity of the trains.

 

[A Voice]

No seat assignments is true in the sense that you can't choose your seat beforehand and on your ticket there is no seat number. Sometimes a conductor will assign seats.

And I agree with PRR 60, I want the option to choose my seat beforehand.

I think if they are going to assign seats then have a way to choose a seat ahead of time rather than just let the conductors assign at the station. Or maybe ask passengers before they board if they want a window or aisle seat. Maybe they can reserve certain seats for pairs traveling together. It's a bit harder with trains as opposed to airlines where people board/leave at different spots but I believe I saw Megabus have the capability to choose seats ahead of time and they have the same format..

Megabus allows passengers (for an extra fee) to reserve a limited number of seats per bus. You cannot allow people to select just just any seat (bus or train) without possibly causing no single seat to be available for the entire journey for passengers who book later. However, you certainly could offer passengers a "forced choice" of 3-5 different seats to choose from (near cafe, middle of car, etc.). For every single traveler who chooses a window seat, for instance, you need someone else to choose that aisle seat.

 

[fairviewroad]

There are definitely assigned seats on the Cascades, depending on which station you are boarding at. If you know the interior layout of the train and are near the beginning of the line, there is a decent chance of "picking" your seat, depending on the conductor's mood.

Regarding #8, there is definitely not a cafe car on "every" train. See the Keystones and the Hiawathas, for instance.

 

[WoodyinNYC]

http://blog.amtrak.com/2016/03/amtrak-basics-12-things-you-might-not-know/

5. No seat assignments is a lie, at least on some trains (might be some crews). No middle seats is a valid point though.

No middle seats IS the selling point. It should be listed first. Then some weasel words (often, usually ... ) about picking aisle or window.

But if they do mention seats, why not mention seat width, wide armrests, legroom, inches to recline, wide aisles. (Doesn't every seat-space that Amtrak sells have more square feet than any coach seat on any airline?)

And do mention 'get up and walk about the cabin'.

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

There are definitely assigned seats on the Cascades, depending on which station you are boarding at. If you know the interior layout of the train and are near the beginning of the line, there is a decent chance of "picking" your seat, depending on the conductor's mood.

That's unusual IMO for a short distance train. I'm pretty sure they don't assign seats on the NE Regionals.

 

[jis]

Oh! NE Regionals are complete bedlam, compared to the relatively sedate Cascades.

 

[fairviewroad]

There are definitely assigned seats on the Cascades, depending on which station you are boarding at. If you know the interior layout of the train and are near the beginning of the line, there is a decent chance of "picking" your seat, depending on the conductor's mood.

That's unusual IMO for a short distance train. I'm pretty sure they don't assign seats on the NE Regionals.

It's a source of irritation for Cascades riders who want to sit on a specific side of the train, since you have to stand in a sometimes long line (primarily in PDX, SEA and VAC) to get a seat assignment. If you don't really care where you sit, then you don't need to stand in the line. Anyhow, not to get side-tracked, but apparently the seat assignment system on the Cascades is at the request of the Washington DOT, which funds much of the service (on the northern end, at least).

 

[mfastx]

I think if they are going to assign seats then have a way to choose a seat ahead of time rather than just let the conductors assign at the station. Or maybe ask passengers before they board if they want a window or aisle seat. Maybe they can reserve certain seats for pairs traveling together. It's a bit harder with trains as opposed to airlines where people board/leave at different spots but I believe I saw Megabus have the capability to choose seats ahead of time and they have the same format.

On my Amtrak cross country 2015 trip, I remember being assigned a seat for the CZ in CHI, SWC, and CL and not being assigned for the LSL, the CZ in SLC, and most of the short distance trains. I remember a seat assignment for the BL but not the TR. I'm pretty sure I was not assigned a seat on the CONO either out of CHI or Champaign. I don't remember for the SM. I don't know if there are hard and fast rules for particular trains or it varies by the wishes of the conductors or the capacity of the trains.

I completely agree. There should be an option to choose your seat online from a seat map while booking. Make it like $5 or $10 extra. They do this successfully in Europe. It works there because the standard ticket is unassigned, only a portion of people actually end up choosing their seats. That way, you minimize instances where seats are unavailable for certain destinations due to quirks in booking.

If they can do it over there, we can do it over here.

 

[ehbowen]

I think if they are going to assign seats then have a way to choose a seat ahead of time rather than just let the conductors assign at the station. Or maybe ask passengers before they board if they want a window or aisle seat. Maybe they can reserve certain seats for pairs traveling together. It's a bit harder with trains as opposed to airlines where people board/leave at different spots but I believe I saw Megabus have the capability to choose seats ahead of time and they have the same format.

On my Amtrak cross country 2015 trip, I remember being assigned a seat for the CZ in CHI, SWC, and CL and not being assigned for the LSL, the CZ in SLC, and most of the short distance trains. I remember a seat assignment for the BL but not the TR. I'm pretty sure I was not assigned a seat on the CONO either out of CHI or Champaign. I don't remember for the SM. I don't know if there are hard and fast rules for particular trains or it varies by the wishes of the conductors or the capacity of the trains.

I completely agree. There should be an option to choose your seat online from a seat map while booking. Make it like $5 or $10 extra. They do this successfully in Europe. It works there because the standard ticket is unassigned, only a portion of people actually end up choosing their seats. That way, you minimize instances where seats are unavailable for certain destinations due to quirks in booking.

If they can do it over there, we can do it over here.

Let's say that I want to ride the Sunset Limited from Houston to Tucson, and I pay the extra $7.50 (splitting the difference) to pick out a nice window seat just forward of the stairway in the center of the car. Let's then assume that a couple boarding in New Orleans who didn't pay the extra decides that they want to sit in the seat I picked for their trip to El Paso. What is your plan for managing the differing expectations? Do we evict the couple from my seat in Houston? Suppose they complain because the only two seats left together are all the way forward at the front bulkhead? Does the train crew hang out a sign saying, "This seat reserved from Houston to Tucson...." Who prints those signs? Who hangs them? What if the train has already departed New Orleans when someone books a last-minute trip from Maricopa to L. A.?

I'm not saying these are insurmountable issues, because they are not. At one time many premium trains in this country operated with reserved coach seating, in an era of pencils and index cards well before computers. But I am saying that they are issues, and that there does have to be a plan to deal with them. As the saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it...." As of the present I don't see a critical mass of people complaining that the system is broke.

 

[jebr]

Let's say that I want to ride the Sunset Limited from Houston to Tucson, and I pay the extra $7.50 (splitting the difference) to pick out a nice window seat just forward of the stairway in the center of the car. Let's then assume that a couple boarding in New Orleans who didn't pay the extra decides that they want to sit in the seat I picked for their trip to El Paso. What is your plan for managing the differing expectations? Do we evict the couple from my seat in Houston? Suppose they complain because the only two seats left together are all the way forward at the front bulkhead? Does the train crew hang out a sign saying, "This seat reserved from Houston to Tucson...." Who prints those signs? Who hangs them? What if the train has already departed New Orleans when someone books a last-minute trip from Maricopa to L. A.?

I'm not saying these are insurmountable issues, because they are not. At one time many premium trains in this country operated with reserved coach seating, in an era of pencils and index cards well before computers. But I am saying that they are issues, and that there does have to be a plan to deal with them. As the saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it...." As of the present I don't see a critical mass of people complaining that the system is broke.

Yes, you kick the passengers out of the seat in Houston. Tough luck if there's no other set open.

Probably the best way to handle it is to have one or two reserved cars and the rest unreserved (with more cars being reserved as demand increases, but always keeping at least one unreserved.) If a seat has not been reserved, passengers can sit wherever in the unreserved seating area. If there's no room in the unreserved seating area, or a staff member knows there's space available elsewhere and would rather use that, a staff member can direct the customer to take a specific seat in the reserved car that may have not been reserved. If no seats are open the entire journey (either reserved or unreserved) and shuffling seats is required, the staff can handle that on a case-by-case basis (probably by having the customer take a temporary seat that's open until there's an open seat in the unreserved coach.)

 

[ScouseAndy]

In europe and the UK we either have over head LED displays stating if and where between stations that seats are reserved. On the remaining trains which dont have LCD a paper card is printed for each journey showing the same. When I traveled Amtrak the conductors would put hand written slips over seats showing it was reserved so why not do it from the start and charge passengers for the priviledge?

 

[jis]

In europe and the UK we either have over head LED displays stating if and where between stations that seats are reserved. On the remaining trains which dont have LCD a paper card is printed for each journey showing the same. When I traveled Amtrak the conductors would put hand written slips over seats showing it was reserved so why not do it from the start and charge passengers for the priviledge?

**LIKE**