Touche.
I'm kind of indifferent at this point. The limited selection is disappointing but the quality of food has already decreased to the point that I hardly miss it anymore. I just wish more stations had quality food options available nearby.
Express menus...like what's on the CONO? What about the cafe/lounge car?
...unless Amtrak somehow gets some extra funding or some kind of reorganization takes place. Cost-cutting does not always work, since it can lead to a lower revenue, and lost opportunity for more revenue. They really do need to take some chances.
They called AGR 2.0 an improvement. I recognize that some people have done better under the new system, and my complaint is mainly against the "2.9¢ per point" claim that I find to be true no more than 15% of the time.
I believe your understanding is correct. If there is a dining care, then sleeping car passengers pay for food obtained from the lounge.
As a Trails and Rails volunteer, I have been on #19 many times over the past few years. Even when the train was 2 hours late, they still offered only the Express Menu.
Are you trying to blame that on the crew, or..?
The dining crew can ask/pester/beg the LSA to institute the express menu at any time anywhere on the route. Today's "full service" menu already resembles the limited express menus from the past, and most selections are precooked and/or frozen anyway, so I'm not sure why they feel the need to cut back even further.
Yes, you will have to pay if you go to the lounge car. Unless there are extenuating circumstances, nothing is likely to be comped in the Cafe. Same thing goes for First Class on the Acela. If you're extra hungry or just don't like what we have to serve, I may offer to run back to the Cafe and cook/heat up whatever you'd like "properly" (i.e. in the oven, toaster, etc.), but at cost. Now if we're running out of meals, or you're vegan/vegetarian and we have nothing to suit your needs, I'll offer to run back and get a cheese pizza, vegan burger, veggie dip, etc. A month or two back I was working the Cafe when one of the crew from the Club Car came back and mentioned they had a regular passenger who was vegan and use to eat the old kid's meal (it was Barilla pasta and sauce), but the passenger didn't know that the kid's meal was changed out for a hot dog and cheeseburger. So I gladly offered to write off a vegan burger for the passenger.
I assume they can't start Dinner Service until the SWC leaves the station, true? If so, that cuts 1.5 to 2 hours off, and I guess the crew needs to expedite wherever possible.
