Acela First Class from Philadelphia to NY Penn?

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Feb 20, 2016
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I am wanting to take just a quick fun trip to sample Acela First Class in one direction. If I go Phil. to NYP will I recieve the meal in first class? I will be leaving at lunch time. The trip is only a bit more than 1 hour. Thanks!
 
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I am wanting to take just a quick fun trip to sample Acela First Class in one direction. If I go Phil. to NYP will I recieve the meal in first class? I will be leaving at lunch time. The trip is only a bit more than 1 hour. Thanks!
Yes, though on short trips it doesn't hurt to let the attendants know that you'll only be aboard briefly and that you indeed would like your meal politely and graciously ASAP.
 
You have to be proactive too ensure a timely meal. I once missed a meal between NYP and PHL because I assumed meals would be served to short trip riders first.
 
Yes. I travel between PHL and RTE frequently and will go FC on AE here and there. I've never missed a meal out of PHL or NYP to RTE. The LSA will usually stop by with a menu and ask if I would like a beverage. Most of the time I get my meal before SHORE interlocking which is near Frankford Junction. It takes all of 10 minutes to get to SHORE from PHL. I think the longest I had to wait was about 15 minutes or so. Only reason was quite a few folks got on in FC at PHL that trip. I didn't get my breakfast till Cornwells Heights. But did I care. No. I was happy to have a meal. :)

Only once did I not receive a meal between NYP and PHL, I was coming home from RTE and the LSA's normally will serve meals in priority order. Meaning they take orders and ask where you're detraining and serve those detraining earlier first. This particular LSA crew didn't do that. The LSA came to my seat when we were 20 minutes away from PHL and asked me what I would like. I told them as nicely as I could that because they didn't prioritize meal servings I wouldn't have time to eat a meal. They did apologize. But if they were really sorry IMO they would have prioritized orders. That was one trip where I actually paid for the upgrade too and I wasn't happy about not receiving a second meal. I think Customer Relations gave me something like $60 for future travel.
 
I once took FC Acela between Baltimore and Philly, a similar trip. They were serving me lunch before the train entered the tunnel, which about 1/2 mile north of the station.
That sounds over exaggerated. It's not like the stop at Baltimore is like NYP. The station stop at Baltimore is a quick one. 2-3 minutes. And most of that time is people finding seats, putting luggage in the over head. Which is exactly what it's like getting on at PHL..
 
I once took FC Acela between Baltimore and Philly, a similar trip. They were serving me lunch before the train entered the tunnel, which about 1/2 mile north of the station.
That sounds over exaggerated. It's not like the stop at Baltimore is like NYP. The station stop at Baltimore is a quick one. 2-3 minutes. And most of that time is people finding seats, putting luggage in the over head. Which is exactly what it's like getting on at PHL..
Depends on how many people are boarding. I had an extremely quiet trip on 2168 (4 ticketed boarding in WAS in First Class, and 5 out of NYP) on 1/3 that the EIC would literally be walking out the meal before I could even give the all clear to the conductor and get back in the body of the car. But, that is a very rare case where the car is extremely quiet, and the EIC in question is "fabulous" (that will tell Tom/OBS who I'm talking about!)
 
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