New Coach Seating Procedure: Long Distance Trains on NEC

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pennyk

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According to my sleeping car attendant (formerly a coach attendant), starting today, coach attendants will no longer assign seats on the Silver Meteor. Passengers will sit wherever they choose to sit. I am assuming this will apply to the Silver Star also since the crews are pretty much the same. There is some concern that seats will not be left open for families.

EDIT to add that this policy will apply to long distance trains that travel along the NEC, according to Thirdrail7.
 
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I think I had read elsewhere that seat assignments tend to make it easier for the crews to determine which passengers are getting on and getting off at which stations and grouping them accordingly. I don't know how true that is, but if seat assignments are done away with, how will the crews accomplish that?

Like for instance, when I rode the Silver Meteor from RVR to ORL over two years ago, I was getting ready to board and a coach attendant (or Conductor, not sure) asked me where I was going and directed me to the proper coach car. So my concern is that there might be more confusion when the SM stops at a station and the crew members have to direct detraining passengers out from different cars at that station.
 
Well for starters, we’ve all seen Amtrak crews directly disobey rules when it comes to food service operating hours, dining car procedures, etc. so I’m guessing some crews will still assign seats.

They can also still assign by car, as certain cars will train / detrain at certain platforms.

Will be an interesting experiment.
 
I am thinking (but not sure and I can no longer ask since I am off the train) that passengers will still be boarded by destination and a seat check will be placed above their seat. Otherwise, it will be chaotic.
 
I have noticed announcements to the effect that you should "walk forward/back to the train car with the open door" at stations with short platforms. This should work if the seats are assigned or not assigned.
 
Another way to drive away customers?

Have to relocate passenger in the middle of the night so a family can sit together? Is it going to be up-to the family to ask people to move, or will the conductor do it?

When you start down the path of the conspiracy theory, it so easy to loose sight of reality. On the other hand it makes so much more sense of the things Amtrak, government, and people do when you think it’s all a (ploy, spin, or plot) for a certain outcome. Especially when it’s not a outcome you want.
 
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I have noticed announcements to the effect that you should "walk forward/back to the train car with the open door" at stations with short platforms. This should work if the seats are assigned or not assigned.

You have to look at the passengers. On the nec, mostly business travelers with something like a briefcase or laptop bag or college students with a backpack. Asking them to move ahead or back one car is fine. On the long distance trains (especially those serving Florida!) you’re going to have families with small children and lots of seniors. Asking those passengers to move through cars with luggage for no reason is downright mean.
 
I still think it will be done by cars.

Just 2 weeks ago, I was on the SM going to FBG (where only 1 door opens). When I boarded, I was told what car to sit in but I could chose any seat. Yes, I did board at NYP but other passengers (including my seat mates - who each boarded later at different stops) were also free to chose any open seat. (I think one boarded at TRE and the other at ALX.)
 
According to my sleeping car attendant (formerly a coach attendant), starting today, coach attendants will no longer assign seats on the Silver Meteor. Passengers will sit wherever they choose to sit. I am assuming this will apply to the Silver Star also since the crews are pretty much the same. There is some concern that seats will not be left open for families.

You should probably change the title. This isn't just the Meteor. They basically abolished the boarding plan for long-distance trains to accommodate the NEC, who are accustomed to sitting anywhere they want. They want to speed the train over the NEC and they believe the boarding plan prolongs station stops. So, now it will be a sort of free for all.

Well for starters, we’ve all seen Amtrak crews directly disobey rules when it comes to food service operating hours, dining car procedures, etc. so I’m guessing some crews will still assign seats.

They can also still assign by car, as certain cars will train / detrain at certain platforms.

Will be an interesting experiment.


Another way to drive away customers?

Have to relocate passenger in the middle of the night so a family can sit together? Is it going to be up-to the family to ask people to move, or will the conductor do it?

Well, basically when you're aren't given clear guidelines, you'll get freelancing crews. A lot of questions and situations were broached and the guidelines aren't clear. So, you get a "yes" with a "but" or a "no" with an "if" which translates into a "maybe" with a "when."

At the end of the day, it boiled down "do what you think is best," so I fully expect some to carry out a boarding plan based upon the manifest while others just throw in the towel and "give them what the want."
 
You should probably change the title. This isn't just the Meteor. They basically abolished the boarding plan for long-distance trains to accommodate the NEC, who are accustomed to sitting anywhere they want. They want to speed the train over the NEC and they believe the boarding plan prolongs station stops. So, now it will be a sort of free for all.

Thanks. I changed the title to Long Distance trains. Will this apply to western LD trains or just eastern LD trains?
 
Thanks. I changed the title to Long Distance trains. Will this apply to western LD trains or just eastern LD trains?

I'm not aware of Western LD trains plying the NEC. :D

Seriously, I know the trains plying the NEC that had boarding plans will no longer have them. This includes the long-distance trains like the Palmetto (which actually carried add on cars to accommodate local NEC passengers) and the Carolinian, which is a state-supported train but has a boarding plan (which was impossible to enforce on the NEC but everyone just blamed the employees on the front line since some attempted to follow the procedures while others said no way." )
 
probably 90% of my Amtrak travel is NEC and always for leisure. I travel with luggage. It is not that bad. I have picked bags that are easy to move down the aisles. Occasionally on very crowded trains if I pick the wrong place to stand on the platform, I will stow bags in the large bag shelf in one car, walk to other cars with my wife and find seats. Once we have claimed a homestead, I will go back and move the bags to our car. That is a rare occurrence but I have done it more than once.

Only twice have I not been able to sit with my wife and of that once was only for a few stops. Last year going to Philadelphia a conductor saw us looking and found us two single seats 1 row apart, one of which was with someone who was getting off in two stops. So when the other passenger left, I got up moved and sat with my wife. The other time was years ago before they ever called a train sold out. It was standing room only coming from Baltimore back home. We ended up as part of a group that rotated seats hourly so we all got a chance to sit down for part of the trip.

So while it is really not that bad to find your own seats, I would be in favor of a plan that let you pick your seats when you booked your tickets, my local movie theater just started this so how hard can it be?
 
I think we need to give some credit to most of the Trainmen = OK, OK, and Trainwomen. They try to do things to ease everyone's journey, and try to ease their jobs.
They will try to herd people to an appropriate car, they actually talk to pax in person and on the PA about seating when they know there will be a crush. I've seen them mark out sections "Please reserve these seats for families and groups", and other strategies to keep things moving along.
They don't want the tsouris any more than the pax.
Indeed, there's always gonna be some horse's patoot who demands his own two seats, or fights the system, in this less than gentle age. So therew deal with the problem on the spot.
Logically, any plan that would help to keep me from riding past my destination would please me. But then, I have a little bit of a brain and engage it properly.
 
Sounds like they're getting closer to what they do on the Piedmonts. Passengers are directed to a specific car (grouped by destination) and within that car can sit anywhere - with one exception - they must avoid the seats that have the blue signs posted over them. The blue signs are used to reserve seats for small groups of people (3 or 4) and also for those with disabilities.

Everyone is seat checked. The system works just fine.

So all they need now is the blue signs.

jb
 
Sounds like they're getting closer to what they do on the Piedmonts. Passengers are directed to a specific car (grouped by destination) and within that car can sit anywhere - with one exception - they must avoid the seats that have the blue signs posted over them. The blue signs are used to reserve seats for small groups of people (3 or 4) and also for those with disabilities.

Everyone is seat checked. The system works just fine.

So all they need now is the blue signs.

jb

Is this the plan though, or is it going to be a free-for-all?

I was thinking maybe Amtrak should try a different color scheme. How about a Red, White and Blue seating plan:

Red tickets for Reserved Coach seats that will guarantee you and your travel partner(s) seats together. Maybe there is a $5 fee to select your seats online?

White for Unreserved Coach seats in a designated car for the lowest fare for people who just want to get from point A to point B.

Blue for reserved Business Class Seats for those who want a little more.
 
Eliminating negative customer service experiences is more important than providing positive ones. People remember the negative stuff and talk about it – that's not a trait limited to people on this board ;). There are two problems with having staff assign seats on the train.

First, passengers are used to choosing their own seats, either when making a reservation (most airlines) or walking on board (Southwest, corridor and commuter trains, and pretty much every other form of public transportation). Taking that choice away is annoying at best and upsetting at worst. A friend of mine is a "never again" after what he perceived to be an unnecessary and unpleasant such encounter with staff on the Starlight. I had the same reaction the first couple of times I was told to sit somewhere I didn't want to sit.

Second, customer service skills (or perhaps willingness to use them) vary widely among staff. It's all about customer perceptions. What a staff member might think is a perfectly reasonable way to give instructions to passengers can be perceived as being told off. And then there are staff who do bark instructions at passengers.

If you let passengers choose their own seats and then deal with any problems that do come up (which seems to be the de facto standard on the Starlight in recent years), there will be fewer potentially negative interactions with staff, overall.

Another benefit, which might horrify some on this board, is that it'll help normalise long distance train travel. The more it resembles the experience people have on other forms of transportation, particularly planes and other types of trains, the more likely the expectations of new and/or infrequent riders will be met. That's how you attract and keep new customers, which Amtrak needs to do.
 
So while it is really not that bad to find your own seats, I would be in favor of a plan that let you pick your seats when you booked your tickets, my local movie theater just started this so how hard can it be?
It's probably a bit more complicated than the average passenger would think. Even with the movie theaters that have reserved seating I notice a few glitches. One is that the actual location of the seats can be confusing. For one theater chain of my acquaintance, the mobile app for advance ticketing shows the screen at the top of the device screen, as one would be seated in an auditorium. But when you go to the box office of the same theater to buy tickets, the display screen from which you choose shows the screen at the bottom of the display screen, as if you are looking at the seats from the stage.

Likewise, since trains are different than planes, I could see someone thinking they are getting a window seat on the left side of the car traveling in a specific direction, when the end result places them in a seat on the right side of the car in their direction of travel. Along with that, do pax get to change their seats? When, and how often?

A better model might be to have a decision tree of sorts, so that passengers when booking are asked how many are travelling in their party and how many window or aisle seats they need (along with a "no preference" option). There might be one other qualifier, such as being near or away from the restroom (similar to hotels which inquire about proximity to elevators). One advantage of doing advance seating requests is that those needing wheelchair or other ADA accommodation would be able to note that on the request form, thus giving train (and station staff, where applicable) a heads-up. Then let the reservation system pre-assign seats from there.
 
I’ve been avoiding Amtrak coach lately out of New Orleans...and sticking to FlixBus and Greyhound... because I can sit where I want to. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become increasingly annoyed with the coach seating arrangement on Amtrak. Just tired of the archaic system of being being handed a seat number when boarding the car.

I do like the idea of the blue signs which say “reserved for couples only.” Have that on six or so rows per car and have the rest open seating.
 
First, passengers are used to choosing their own seats, either when making a reservation (most airlines) or walking on board (Southwest,

The difference with southwest is they can pre-board passengers with disabilities and families with small children.
 
I’ve been avoiding Amtrak coach lately out of New Orleans...and sticking to FlixBus and Greyhound... because I can sit where I want to. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become increasingly annoyed with the coach seating arrangement on Amtrak. Just tired of the archaic system of being being handed a seat number when boarding the car.

I do like the idea of the blue signs which say “reserved for couples only.” Have that on six or so rows per car and have the rest open seating.

You are welcome to choose the way you travel but wow. Even if I get a bad seat on amtrak (which I have) I can always go hang out in the lounge where I can... gasp.. choose any seat I want! The odds are in my favor of getting a fine seat on amtrak, the only ones I don't like are the ones too close to the doors or the ones with no, or hardly no window. (Unless the infamous forum lounge police are in attendance, and then they will set a timer and eject me from the lounge!)
 
The difference with southwest is they can pre-board passengers with disabilities and families with small children.

Unless they show up late, then staff work it out. Pleasantly and professionally. I've never seen it turn into a problem. For that matter I can't recall an unpleasant interaction with Southwest staff, and I fly Southwest a lot more than I ride Amtrak.
 
Unless they show up late, then staff work it out. Pleasantly and professionally. I've never seen it turn into a problem. For that matter I can't recall an unpleasant interaction with Southwest staff, and I fly Southwest a lot more than I ride Amtrak.
I love Southwest! If they would offer a business class style seat I would be 100% loyal to them. I don't need the amenities that Delta etc. provide but I need to know I will have a comfortable seat for the flight. I Agree they have great staff.

But let's be realistic... do you want to be woken up at 3 AM by an amtrak attendant offering a free drink coupon to anyone who is willing to move to allow a family to sit together? (which is what I have seen Southwest do). It's a different operation.
 
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