Recent content by pi314

I agree completely. While not an actual government agency, it may as well be since that's where the subsidies come from, not to mention the Board of Directors is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate because ... well ... because they're all rail experts themselves that's why...

Amtrak has a huge opportunity here. The choices they make now will define the brand for decades. Do they want to cheap out or do they want to grab the brass ring? Amtrak can't compete with other modes of overland transportation for convenience (cars) or destination selection, frequency, and...

I don't understand why anyone in charge of Amtrak coach designs would consider an airline cabin as their competition. That would completely negate the most valuable inherent advantages of a train coach, namely the lack of weight restrictions and the luxury of space. Need more room? Add...

Is it just me or are the Venture cars a huge leap backwards? Why would they take a relatively comfortable ride and make it worse? Do the people who make these decisions ever actually have to use their product? It's like most modern packaging these days. I often wonder if the family of one of...

Just to put an additional perspective on your comments: I'm a recently retired commercial pilot. In 2021 I got covid real bad - 16 days hospital, pneumonia, DVT, the works. After release I had long covid symptoms for months. Long story short, I'm (mostly) fully recovered, although it took 8...

Yikes that's awful! The CZ is a bucket list trip that I hope to take just once. I would be done with Amtrak after something like that unless they either issued a full refund or a comped ticket on an identical accommodation. Still it doesn't adequately make up for an extended unpleasant...

So there seems to be conflicting information on this thread. How can you determine which sleeper car you are booking in advance and what its priority is in the consist hierarchy?

It seems to me that comparing the relative safety of planes vs trains is a pointless statistical exercise. The chances of dying or being injured using either mode are so remotely insignificant that any personal experience with that would come down to pure chance.

Yep, there actually are some carriers, usually smaller freight outfits, that will provide positive space commutes, but I can't see jump seating going away as a general practice since it has worked without a problem for decades. As for downing a pop for the ride home, they sure couldn't get...

It wouldn't really be practical to eliminate the jumpseat occupancy. Consider that hundreds of off-duty pilots ride on the jumpseat system wide around the globe on a daily basis with no incidents. Without the ability to commute to and from their home town to the base they're assigned to, the...

Every type of jet aircraft has its own unique fire suppression system but they all perform pretty much the same function. Pulling a fire handle will do several things simultaneously such as disconnect the affected engine from the major systems it powers, (air, hydraulics, electrics), shut off...

It'll be interesting to see what his motivation was during interrogation, but it was some seriously unhinged behavior that thank goodness is obviously extremely rare. Suffice to say he won't ever fly at the controls of an airplane again and most likely will be banned from commercial flights for...

I'm a retired pilot, and there are so many puzzling things about this incident. First thing to point out is off-duty pilots ride in the cockpit jumpseat all the time, usually commuting to or from work, and many times the jump seater is an employee of a different airline as part of a reciprocal...

I'm a retired pilot - 40 years Air Force and commercial flying. On the subject of turbulence: Pilots will do everything they can do mitigate it or avoid it entirely, but sometimes you just have to soldier on through an area with no great options. When the Captain makes that "Please be seated"...

I don't know about "never again", but I have had three trips this year where I really wanted to take Amtrak because a train is my default preferred method of getting from A to B, but each time I bailed on Amtrak and either drove or flew, mostly because of decisions made at the managerial level...