New dining options (flex dining) effective October 1, 2019

[chrsjrcj]

The problem with the food truck, is that you have to purchase your meal by 3 pm so you can board the train, but there is no way to heat up your meal at dinner time. I’m sure it will be popular, but it’s not an adequate substitute for no food service (although there will be a cafe car).

 

[Seaboard92]

The other problem with food trucks they can tear your system right up.

 

[lordsigma]

The other problem with food trucks they can tear your system right up.

Some can for sure. But around where I live at a lot of the craft breweries they have some really good ones that have top notch food. Fancy food trucks are Kind of a becoming a trend along with the craft beer thing.

 

[lordsigma]

The problem with the food truck, is that you have to purchase your meal by 3 pm so you can board the train, but there is no way to heat up your meal at dinner time. I’m sure it will be popular, but it’s not an adequate substitute for no food service (although there will be a cafe car).

I agree it’s Very true. I think they should add the ability to heat your own meals in the coach food service area. I think it is presumed that the new coach setup will be a cafe car equivalent but you never know, they may have some more substantial meals you can get similar to what the silver star cafe had when they first dropped the diner or perhaps they’ll offer something similar to the flex dining options from the meteor for purchase. Certainly not a proper substitute but it would be more substantial than just cafe fare. We’ll have to see what happens with that. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a menu unique to the auto train.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Soda contracts tend to be iron clad. It is tough to get out of them. Even if they want to switch to coke they’ll have to wait or pay a lot.

Do soda contracts last decades? Because that's how long we've been waiting. I'm not a Coke fanboy myself; I just can't stand Pepsi. If anyone thinks there is no difference try finishing a "Jack & Pepsi" without gagging.

I believe the rule is you have to go through C&I at the first American port that you touch irrespective of whether that is your final destination or not.

Correct. This is even true when you have no other reason to exit the aircraft, such as a direct same metal domestic connection. The only exceptions I can think of are tech stops and IRROPS.

 

[Anderson]

I mean, some companies (or restaurants) deal with each one...but there do seem to be situational exceptions (e.g. some bars may be Pepsi but can still accommodate a Jack and Coke, if only by not selling the Coke separately).

 

[Seaboard92]

Some other weird exceptions are like on the USC campus the chick fil a has Pepsi products because that’s who Aramark is using. Yet a chick fil a a mile away is using coke as all other chick fil a’s use.

 

[lordsigma]

Do soda contracts last decades? Because that's how long we've been waiting.

They can last 5-10 years from what I recall from my employer. (I work at a college) And often you get stuck if you are in a place that requires competitive bids due to ethics or legal requirements (which Amtrak May.) and when you sign with coke or Pepsi there are usually iron clad exclusivity clauses. At my college anything done officially on campus has to be Pepsi products even if it’s served by an outside contractor and not by our food service. (For example Dunkin’ Donuts normally serves coke but the franchise on our campus has to serve Pepsi due to exclusivity clauses in our contract.) you can also buy soda from third party companies that serve both coke and Pepsi.

I’m a coke fan but I don’t drink soda anymore for dietary reasons. If they switched to coke on my campus that would be dangerous for me!

 

[Palmland]

I can see food trucks in the congested northern Virginia area, but not sure why they are needed in Sanford. On our recent Auto Train trip Amtrak had a shuttle bus available to take passengers to the attractive downtown with many restaurants/pubs. We checked in at the main gate and, after telling them we wanted to drive downtown, were directed to nearby visitor parking to complete check in at the station. It was all done quickly and efficiently. We then made the very short drive downtown and had an excellent lunch at Hofferbach's German restaurant. https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/4bd62e_352711021bc14b00a09d099de93814ec.pdf.

 

[NYP2NFL01]

I rode CL from WAS to DET (Via TOL) August 19-20. Service for both dinner and breakfast was acceptable. For dinner I didn't have to ask for dessert, the pre-packaged brownie was included in the box. The dinner roll had been microwaved and inedible. But, the beef dish was tasty. Had the egg and cheese muffin for breakfast.
I liked the diner more when people were seated by the staff. It forced people to be friendlier. In my experience you sat where you wanted subject to available space. No one wanted to sit at my table - maybe I had that grumpy look on my face that my wife cautions me about. She was not traveling with me on this trip.
I do miss the previous service and food in the diner though!

 

[lordsigma]

I can see food trucks in the congested northern Virginia area, but not sure why they are needed in Sanford. On our recent Auto Train trip Amtrak had a shuttle bus available to take passengers to the attractive downtown with many restaurants/pubs. We checked in at the main gate and, after telling them we wanted to drive downtown, were directed to nearby visitor parking to complete check in at the station. It was all done quickly and efficiently. We then made the very short drive downtown and had an excellent lunch at Hofferbach's German restaurant. https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/4bd62e_352711021bc14b00a09d099de93814ec.pdf.

I have eaten there coming north. Great lunch.

 

[Dakota 400]

The Auto Train hasn't been affected by this mess as of yet. What dates are you looking at traveling?

Thanks for the 3 responses to my post. I would book a sleeper in January, Northbound. Due to your responses, I will still consider the Auto Train as an option.

 

[MARC Rider]

One can skip the food on an airplane as it's never over 4 hours unless going overseas.

Just quibbling here:
1) There's no meal service on Domestic US flights in coach, anyway.
2) Transcontinental domestic US flights can last more than 4 hours. For example, Baltimore to either San Francisco/Oakland or Los Angeles takes about 6 hours westbound, 5 hours eastbound. I expect a flight like San Diego - Boston would take even longer. In addition, many fights are actually longer than that because not every city pair has non-stop service, so you will need to add the waiting time in the transfer airport, not to mention some pretty weird routings, like flying from Baltimore to San Francisco via Dallas. Of course, if you do have to change, you can buy and eat your meal at the transfer airport.
3) Do airlines provide meal service in coach on flights to Alaska and Hawaii? The are domestic, but depending on the route, it's possible some flights could be of equivalent length to overseas flights. How about flights to U.S. territories like Guam or Samoa? Are they considered "domestic?"

 

[lordsigma]

Just quibbling here:
1) There's no meal service on Domestic US flights in coach, anyway.
2) Transcontinental domestic US flights can last more than 4 hours. For example, Baltimore to either San Francisco/Oakland or Los Angeles takes about 6 hours westbound, 5 hours eastbound. I expect a flight like San Diego - Boston would take even longer. In addition, many fights are actually longer than that because not every city pair has non-stop service, so you will need to add the waiting time in the transfer airport, not to mention some pretty weird routings, like flying from Baltimore to San Francisco via Dallas. Of course, if you do have to change, you can buy and eat your meal at the transfer airport.
3) Do airlines provide meal service in coach on flights to Alaska and Hawaii? The are domestic, but depending on the route, it's possible some flights could be of equivalent length to overseas flights. How about flights to U.S. territories like Guam or Samoa? Are they considered "domestic?"

Several years ago I flew delta to hawaii in coach and they served food. I don’t think I would do that flight again in coach. I really don’t like flying and generally only do when I’m going somewhere where there’s no other choice. But that was several years back so things could be different now.

 

[Anderson]

I think that, for the most part, you do get a meal in coach en route to Hawaii (at least, if you're not leaving from the west coast). There are also a few airlines that do offer complementary food on TCON flights (American has a few pairs). However, a lot of airlines do offer at least modestly substantial food for sale in coach on flights of over about 2-3 hours (depending on the airline).

 

[lordsigma]

On auto train tonight. This is the first time I’ve seen the superliner cafe/lounge car. Last time I was on it there was a sightseer lounge. A decent car but I miss the big windows of the sight seer but I guess those belong on the western trails. Seeing the cafe menu here I really hope they have additional options when the coach diner goes away.

 

[jis]

Yes, you can certainly buy a Hamburger or Hot Dog or a couple of other meals in Coach on domestic flights in the US at least on the big three, for not a very unreasonable price, specially on mealtime flights. You can buy other snack boxes too.

 

[Anderson]

On auto train tonight. This is the first time I’ve seen the superliner cafe/lounge car. Last time I was on it there was a sightseer lounge. A decent car but I miss the big windows of the sight seer but I guess those belong on the western trails. Seeing the cafe menu here I really hope they have additional options when the coach diner goes away.

Those are technically refitted diners, which saves Lorton/Sanford from having to deal with a different set of stuff.

 

[Dakota 400]

On auto train tonight. This is the first time I’ve seen the superliner cafe/lounge car. Last time I was on it there was a sightseer lounge. A decent car but I miss the big windows of the sight seer but I guess those belong on the western trails. Seeing the cafe menu here I really hope they have additional options when the coach diner goes away.

What's the difference between a Superliner Cafe/Lounge Car and a Sightseer Lounge Car?

Just as the recent posts convince me to put a trip on the Auto Train back into my planning, this one makes we wonder why.

 

[TiBike]

If anyone thinks there is no difference try finishing a "Jack & Pepsi" without gagging.

The only thing I can drink with Jack without gagging is more Jack.

 

[Manny T]

(This may have been answered: Is there anywhere one can go to find out the list of ingredients in the "new contemporary" meals?

A link would be great. Thanks!

 

[Zach]

Just quibbling here:
1) There's no meal service on Domestic US flights in coach, anyway.
2) Transcontinental domestic US flights can last more than 4 hours. For example, Baltimore to either San Francisco/Oakland or Los Angeles takes about 6 hours westbound, 5 hours eastbound. I expect a flight like San Diego - Boston would take even longer. In addition, many fights are actually longer than that because not every city pair has non-stop service, so you will need to add the waiting time in the transfer airport, not to mention some pretty weird routings, like flying from Baltimore to San Francisco via Dallas. Of course, if you do have to change, you can buy and eat your meal at the transfer airport.
3) Do airlines provide meal service in coach on flights to Alaska and Hawaii? The are domestic, but depending on the route, it's possible some flights could be of equivalent length to overseas flights. How about flights to U.S. territories like Guam or Samoa? Are they considered "domestic?"

I'm a FA for Delta, we serve complimentary meals in coach on New York-JFK- LAX, SFO, PDX, SEA, SAN. Routes from SEA-Florida and RDU, there may be more from SEA but I can't recall at the moment. I'm NYC based and fly mostly JFK-LAX. We used to have 3 options in coach, this month we went down to two choices. You can also order a special meal, kosher, low fat, diabetic, gluten free, vegan, etc

 

[Rasputin]

(This may have been answered: Is there anywhere one can go to find out the list of ingredients in the "new contemporary" meals?

A link would be great. Thanks!

This may be what you are looking for:
http://www.amtrakfoodfacts.com/

 

[pennyk]

(This may have been answered: Is there anywhere one can go to find out the list of ingredients in the "new contemporary" meals?

A link would be great. Thanks!

Because I have food allergies, I have been trying to obtain a list of ingredients since October 1st. I was not able to obtain ingredients prior to my 10/3 and 10/7 Silver Meteor trips. I was also unable to obtain an ingredient list while on the train, thus I was not able to eat any of the lunch or dinner entrees. Since I have 8 upcoming trips this year on the trains providing flex dining, I am still trying to obtain ingredient lists. It should be noted that the prior version of these meals were in boxes and inside each box was a full ingredient list.

 

[Anderson]

I know it would be an expensive pain, but Amtrak deserves a good ADA slap over this.

(There's a lot they can't control, such as host RRs that won't accommodate high-level platforms for Reasons as well as historic stations that are tricky to modify, but this one is totally on them.)