Acela First Class - Worth it?

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George K

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Planning a trip to DC next year with Daughter #4. Leaving Chicago on a Friday evening, with arrival at (hopefully) early afternoon via the Capitol Limited on Saturday.

We had originally planned to leave DC on Tuesday, with a Wed AM return.

I tossed out the idea of extending our trip with a visit to Boston (leave DC Wed AM and arrive BOS that evening).

It would be fun to ride the Acela, right?

But....

First class? Do I really need it? I'm not clear from Amtrak's site what the real perks of 1st Class are. Bigger seats? Free drinks? What else?
 
In my opinion, not worth it. You get a meal, but it really isn't that good. For me, I have done it to say I have done it. Even Acela on a whole is not worth it and overpriced in my opinion.
 
Hmm. Complimentary cocktails.

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Six bucks on the Empire Builder.

If that's what they call a "cocktail" I'll pass.

I assume there's a dining car, or something similar where I can eat? If so, I'll walk. Not sure it's worth the premium - to me, at least.
 
Wow. Looking at next October, which is when we'd be traveling, the Acela is about $200 cheaper than next week. Also, it's $300 more than the Northeast Regional which takes an hour more. $300 an hour? That's more than I make....
 
You don't get those small bottles that you have to open or mix yourself. The drinks are served to you by the attendant, and you don't just get 1 drink - you can have what you want (within reason)! :) And that includes wine.

There is a cafė car. And note that on Acela that Business Class is the Acela equivalent of a regular train's coach. (There is no "coach" on Acela.)

What you may want to consider doing is take Business Class between WAS and NYP and First Class between NYP and BOS! The northern 1/2 is cheaper than the southern 1/2 - and it's longer too! :D
 
You can also occasionally find upgrade coupons for sale on Ebay. They are valid for a one-class upgrade (coach to business, or business to first).

The coupons generally cost $30-40. A heck of a lot cheaper than paying for first-class.
 
You have a bunch of AGR points IIRC. You can get a pack of 5 upgrade coupons for 10,000 points. That would be enough for you and your daughter to each do a roundtrip. (one coupon is good for one way for one person).

I personally love to travel FC on acela and generally have enough upgrade coupons to do so.
 
You can also occasionally find upgrade coupons for sale on Ebay. They are valid for a one-class upgrade (coach to business, or business to first).

The coupons generally cost $30-40. A heck of a lot cheaper than paying for first-class.
This is against AGR rules! They can NOT be sold. Period. You can give them away as gifts and thats it. I'd say free is better then 30 or 40 bucks. Look at the AGR T&C's and you'll see that it's against AGR rules to sell them.
 
You have a bunch of AGR points IIRC. You can get a pack of 5 upgrade coupons for 10,000 points. That would be enough for you and your daughter to each do a roundtrip. (one coupon is good for one way for one person).

I personally love to travel FC on acela and generally have enough upgrade coupons to do so.
Well, that's special! I didn't know that. I'm currently at 47K points (but that's before I get another 8K for general purchases (repairing my car was expensive!). I plan to use 50K for a trip to NOLA with the Mrs, and should have another 40 (between me and my daughter) by the time we travel in October (2 zone trip from Chicago). So our whole trip would be about 50K (roomette: 2 zone), right?
 
Use points to upgrade to FC one way, take business class or NER the other. 2k per upgrade = 4K one way for two. Acela first class is something that is awesome to experience, but I would definitely never pay for it in cash on my own dime, and I don't think I'd spend more than 5K pts on one trip for it either. Via Rail Business class is the same service (even slightly better) and costs under $150 one way from Toronto-Montreal. Paying insane cash sums for Acela FC isn't worth it. Unless it's a client paying for you :)

Edit: Actually I'm not sure if you can upgrade individually without the 5 pack. I could have sworn I saw people talk about doing it but I can't find anything on AGR's website. Your trip would indeed be 50K points. IF you can upgrade each seat individually... then 48K.
 
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If you're considering redeeming points to obtain the upgrade coupons, DO NOT redeem the points prior to February 28, 2015! Otherwise, the coupons that you will receive will expire on February 28, 2015.
 
I think it reads that they expire "within 12 months"! Thus if you receive them in April 2014, the end of February 2015 is within 12 months. Likewise, if you receive them in December 2014, the end of February 2015 is also within 12 months!
 
I think it reads that they expire "within 12 months"! Thus if you receive them in April 2014, the end of February 2015 is within 12 months. Likewise, if you receive them in December 2014, the end of February 2015 is also within 12 months!
In my personal experience, the coupons purchased with points do not expire at the end of February 2015, like the Select coupons , but are dated out from purchase 11 months.
 
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Is First Class Acela worth it? I guess that depends on the subjective opinion of the rail passenger. While we have no problem purchasing the highest level of service and always travel LD via bedroom accommodations on all the Long distance the trains, we opt for the Acela only occasionally . We regularly take regional business class and sometimes the regionals. From our location the time savings to WAS is only about 20 minutes. On either train you will sit in coach style seating. The Acela is brighter, has a nicer interior and in first class there is food and drink.

You can travel from MET (Iselin, NJ) to WAS on the regional for about $100 or $160 R/T. The Acela is about $550 R/T and first class is over $1000 R/T. ( Sat Dec 7th fares) These are fares for a trip that takes about 2 1/2 hours each way.

Is it worth it to save 20 minutes on your trip for an Acela fare for three times the price of the regional, and/or worth the extra $500 upgrade for some food and drink? Is the fare worth the time savings? . You decide.

-
 
Having done FC on the Acela on a number of occasions, my thinking is as follows:
(1) The food is pretty good and the beverage service is as well. I'd put it on par with Virgin America's First Class service; it's definitely worth something (big 2-1 seats, good food, etc.).

(2) That being said, the cost is steep. I used to do FC a lot with upgrade cards when you still got the 750 points for a one-way trip in FC while using an upgrade card (so the card turned into basically "free" points with better service).*

(3) That being said, what I would do if possible is book a multi-city trip WAS-NYP/NYP-BOS on the Acela. You'll pay about the same amount for both legs as you would for a through ticket, but you'll get points on both legs. Then burn some upgrade cards on one leg or the other: You'll get 1000 points each (assuming no specials, no status, and no credit card) and the upgrade cards are effectively 2000 points each, so you won't do too badly on that front.

*This was ended at the start of this year due to the fact that the benefit-stacking was getting to be obscene: Were it in effect today, in theory I could book a $113 NYP-BOS ticket on the Acela and upgrade into first. With SE status, I'd get 750 points for the leg, 750 for status, 750 for double days, and 226 for using the AGR card (2476 points total). That's about 22 points per dollar. If I did that 6 times (14856 points for $678) I would have roughly enough points to book an $850 roomette to Florida (i.e. for those six round trips I'd be getting a free ride down to Orlando thrown in for free...on top of not having to pay for FC on the Acela...).
 
Yes about the coupons - my coupons that I just received a few weeks ago state

Valid between

10/21/2014 CT-

10/21/2015 12:00 AM CT
My select status though is valid until 02/29/2016.
 
I think it reads that they expire "within 12 months"! Thus if you receive them in April 2014, the end of February 2015 is within 12 months. Likewise, if you receive them in December 2014, the end of February 2015 is also within 12 months!
My understanding is that this is no longer the case (thanks AGR Insider!!!) and that they now last for 12 months from the date of the points being redeemed.
 
I am planning on taking Acela 2159 leaving BOS at 9:15am and arriving NYP at 12:45pm. Will I get breakfast and lunch in first class?
 
I am planning on taking Acela 2159 leaving BOS at 9:15am and arriving NYP at 12:45pm. Will I get breakfast and lunch in first class?
No. They serve one meal between BOS - NYP and then do a second meal service between NYP - WAS.
 
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