GG: I thimk you have been flying the wrong airlines. Amtrak coach seats are basically airline coach seats with more legroom. Airline domestic first class seats are wider, have a large space between the seats in each pair, and are much more comfortable than Amtrak. International business and first class seating, which deals with trip lengths closer to Amtrak long distance trains, are in a whole different world. They are like self-contained living units and many convert to flat beds. Amtrak is a seat and nothing else.
Having spent a fair amount of time in Amtrak's coach and Northwest's, Continental's, and Delta's first class cabins and NWA's "World Business Class" cabins, I think the analogy of Amtrak's long distance coach to an airline domestic first class cabin is fair.
Airline domestic first class cabins have been downgraded to bring them closer to Amtrak. The market for domestic first class seats has really dried up. 99.9% of leisure travelers do not buy first class seats, and major corporations have implemented travel rules stating that if the flight is less than 6 hours, the corporations will only pay for coach. With the rise of smaller and cheaper business jets and fractional ownership of said jet, executives that would normally demand to fly in first class on the airlines are now in the corporate jet.
With these changes in the market, the airlines have turned their domestic first class cabins into "perk" cabins for their elite frequent flyers. All the airlines have a system to automatically upgrade their most frequent flyers to first class. You can read all about these changes over on
Flyertalk. As a former NWA Platnium Elite, I've never purchased a first class ticket and don't remember the last time I rode in coach. In order to deal with the revenue loss in first class, the airlines have significantly downgraded the level of service given up front.
I think the analogy between airline domestic first class and Amtrak's long distance trains is fair. Amtrak's LD coach and airline domestic first class seats are about the same size. Amtrak is more generous with the legroom than domestic first class on the airlines. The airlines have removed first class seats and moved those that remain closer together to make room for more coach seats. Check out
www.seatguru.com for the size dimentions and seat pitch for alirline seats.
The airlines are more generous with the food and alcohol in the first class cabin than Amtrak's coach. The meal that used to be served to all coach passengers for free is now being served to the first class passengers for free, assuming your flight is at "meal time". Amtrak is selling about the same caliber food and booze in the dining & cafe cars. The airline's seats are also newer and better looking than Amtrak's, and this goes along way towards perceptions of quality.
International business class is probably better than Amtrak's coach. It has not suffered as great a reduction in service levels as domestic first class becasue most business class flights are longer than six hours. Also, elite frequent flyers are not automatically upgraded. They may be upgraded by a gate agent in a coach oversell situation, but it is by no means guaranteed.
I still think the biz class and Amtrak seats are about the same size, but the legroom up front on airline long haul is more generous. I know some of the seats lie flat or close to flat. I'm not sure what is meant by "private living spaces". That sounds like a sleeper compartment to me. The closest I've seen to privacy in a business class seat is a "privacy hood" that envelopes the top of the seat. Since I'm 6' 7" tall, this hood whacks me in the back of the head. The food in business class is way better than anything I've eaten on Amtrak. The booze is also free and there is usually a wider variety of it to choose from. International business class has in seat audio and on-demand video entertainment. This is akin to (or sometimes is) the digEplayer. The difference here is that Amtrak expects you to pay for the digEplayer. The airlines supply it for free.
My $0.02
Rick