Amtrak dining and cafe service

[zetharion]

Unless every meal option costs Amtrak the same I don't see why they went with a one price fits all for each meal service. Did they price it based on their most expensive option so if passengers choose anything that isn't that one it just means even more profit? I predict them being "out" of steak for all coach passengers every time.

 

[pennyk]

This morning, I received a message from a reliable source (regarding traditional dining on the Silvers), who informed me I could share the information provided.


Below are excerpts from the message I received:

A 3 month traditional dining pilot will start Mar 15 on 92 and Mar 17 on 91. The pilot will be evaluated before potentially being expanded to the Meteor. First Class only, no coach passengers allowed.

As I understand, they’re trying to run the diner with one chef and one LSA. No service attendant or food specialist like the western trains have.

 

[AmtrakFlyer]

“As I understand, they’re trying to run the diner with one chef and one LSA. No service attendant or food specialist like the western trains have.”

Ouch

 

[jis]

I suspect they will discover that they will need a third person, but for now in tight labor situation better this than nothing.

Meanwhile we need to get the RPA folks on the F&B Committee to forcefully advocate for full staffing instead of endlessly nickeling and diming.

There is a session on the F&B Committee work led by Maddie at the upcoming RPA meeting in Alexandria to press this point. This session is separate from the main meeting, and located in an Ale House, and costs $20.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

“As I understand, they’re trying to run the diner with one chef and one LSA. No service attendant or food specialist like the western trains have.”

Ouch

If the sleeper attendants continue offering “room service” that will make this work.

Lots of passengers actually want room service, but they don’t know it’s available unless the attendant offers it.


Also, the sleeper attendants should be expected to help with serving in the diner. Especially on a single level train.

 

[lordsigma]

3 would bring it back to where it was before which we know is doable even serving coach. When I rode the few times I did before they flexified it was chef LSA and 1 server in the viewliners on both meteor and crescent. No food specialist. I guess the million dollar question is can the LSA handle all the non cooking work. Maybe on the Star with just 2 sleepers, no coach passengers, and the fact that there are no purchases other than alcohol. I would tend to agree with the consensus that 3 is needed for good service especially on the meteor with 3 sleepers.

They did just put out another job posting for train attendants for Miami. This is the job class they’d need more hiring in to add server jobs. The jobs done by train attendants are coach attendant, sleeper attendant, and diner service attendant.

 

[HammerJack]

Really feels like Amtrak can’t get anything right with dining.

 

[Bob Dylan]

“As I understand, they’re trying to run the diner with one chef and one LSA. No service attendant or food specialist like the western trains have.”

Ouch

Take away the Chef and you have the Texas Eaglette,CONO and Cardinal!

 

[danasgoodstuff]

Really feels like Amtrak can’t get anything right with dining.

They brought back traditional dining in the west. When I had it a year ago on the Builder it was great.

 

[lordsigma]

They brought back traditional dining in the west. When I had it a year ago on the Builder it was great.

I’d have to agree. What’s being served out west is superior to what it was in 2019.

 

[Cal]

Really feels like Amtrak can’t get anything right with dining.

Is it as good as it used to be? No. But it's definitely improvement and leaves hope for the future that traditional dining may make a proper return eventually. I think we should be glad that Amtrak is at least doing something.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I hear coach passengers complaining about the cost of a microwave hotdog or cheeseburger.

You can fly across the country for the cost coach passengers will be charged to eat their meals in the diner.

They brought back traditional dining in the west.

Did Amtrak bring traditional dining back or was their hand was forced by a pro-rail congress that erased every excuse from the book?

 

[lordsigma]

Did Amtrak bring traditional dining back or was their hand was forced by a pro-rail congress that erased every excuse from the book?

I give a lot of credit to RPA for it as they’ve been pushing F&B issues hard and Congress getting rid of Mica is a big part too. Though in fairness to Amtrak they could have brought back the bare minimum - there seemed to be a genuine attempt to bring it back better than it was before which they didn’t have to do. I think one should credit them for good moves while criticizing bone headed moves.

 

[Steve4031]

At some point, I think it would make sense to offer a coach fare that is higher than the normal coach fare and have it include meals for the duration of that passenger's trip. The computer can limit the number of people who book these fares. The passengers can be seated in coaches by destination as is currently done. The LSA would know ahead of time the number of coach passengers being accommodated for meal service and would plan accordingly. The sleeping car passengers get first dibs on reservation times. Then the coach passengers could report to the diner and get their reservation. Since the LSA has the list of passengers who paid for meals, only those passengers get reservations. This reduces the LSA's workload because they do not have to handle a bunch of transactions as each coach passenger pay's for their meal.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I give a lot of credit to RPA for it as they’ve been pushing F&B issues hard and Congress getting rid of Mica is a big part too.

Agreed.

Though in fairness to Amtrak they could have brought back the bare minimum - there seemed to be a genuine attempt to bring it back better than it was before which they didn’t have to do. I think one should credit them for good moves while criticizing bone headed moves.

Where I live I have a choice between a train that travels three times per week and a truncated daily train with no lounge and no traditional dining. That looks an awful lot like "bare minimum" to me. Rewarding Amtrak for taking the only path left is like rewarding a child for completing their chores while grounded. Any reduction of flex meals is absolutely a positive development but if we're honest Amtrak is leading this charge from the rearmost guard.

 

[lordsigma]

Rewarding Amtrak for taking the only path left is like rewarding a child for completing their chores while grounded.

I'm not sure I'd totally agree with this. I think it is important to acknowledge and credit good choices and decisions in order to encourage further improvement even when there remains work to do and other problems and its important that when they do make a good choice like bringing back traditional dining with higher quality than before that people show they are happy with that choice. I don't think it's hypocritical to credit when they make good decisions and simultaneously criticize others.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I'm not sure I'd totally agree with this. I think it is important to acknowledge and credit good choices and decisions in order to encourage further improvement even when there remains work to do and other problems and its important that when they do make a good choice like bringing back traditional dining with higher quality than before that people show they are happy with that choice. I don't think it's hypocritical to credit when they make good decisions and simultaneously criticize others.

We did acknowledge it two years ago when traditional dining was partially reimplemented. Rather than re-thanking Amtrak again I'd rather focus on what can be done for the rest of the network. It's nice to see some progress with coach dining but charging the same price for substantially different meals would turn me off. Arena pricing may be an apt comparison but stadium concessions are about as popular as Ticketmaster so good luck building good will that way. If Amtrak does bring traditional dining back to the rest of the long haul network I will absolutely thank them for that. Even though we may often disagree I do appreciate your counterarguments and enthusiasm.

 

[Maglev]

By the way, the article also mentions 2 food-poisoning incidents on Amtrak during 1974. That's one thing I don't hear too many complaints about here on AU.

Bad food was rampant on Amtrak in the '70's. I experienced food poisoning on Amtrak in 1977, and bought a spoiled sandwich in the cafe on the Night Owl in 1974. A quick Google search didn't reveal the details, but I think it was the FDA that came down hard on Amtrak dining cars in the 1980's.

 

[fdaley]

At some point, I think it would make sense to offer a coach fare that is higher than the normal coach fare and have it include meals for the duration of that passenger's trip. The computer can limit the number of people who book these fares. The passengers can be seated in coaches by destination as is currently done. The LSA would know ahead of time the number of coach passengers being accommodated for meal service and would plan accordingly. The sleeping car passengers get first dibs on reservation times. Then the coach passengers could report to the diner and get their reservation. Since the LSA has the list of passengers who paid for meals, only those passengers get reservations. This reduces the LSA's workload because they do not have to handle a bunch of transactions as each coach passenger pay's for their meal.

I like this idea because it would remove the uncertainty for coach passengers regarding whether they'll be able to obtain meal service. I would certainly be happy to pay a higher coach fare if I knew that meals were definitely included.

Over the many years when Amtrak's dining cars were open to all, there were a couple of routes in the east where I'd always book the train with a dining car so I could get dinner en route -- such as on the Crescent from New York to Charlottesville or Lynchburg or the Lake Shore from Albany to Rochester or Buffalo -- rather than using one of the cafe-equipped corridor trains on the same run. On the Crescent, this usually meant paying a higher rail fare than on NER 171/176.

The potential pitfall might be for longer runs out west, where a coach passenger might reasonably want to economize by buying only one or two dining car meals on a longer trip rather than paying for the full series of three meals a day. A well-functioning reservation system might be able handle that, but it might be too complicated for Amtrak's current system.

 

[jimdex]

At some point, I think it would make sense to offer a coach fare that is higher than the normal coach fare and have it include meals for the duration of that passenger's trip.

Or simply remove the dining car surcharge from sleeper fares, and give both coach and sleeping car passengers a pre-paid dining car option. That way, Amtrak would know how many people really want dining car meals, and it could stock and staff the dining cars appropriately.

 

[MccfamschoolMom]

Or simply remove the dining car surcharge from sleeper fares, and give both coach and sleeping car passengers a pre-paid dining car option. That way, Amtrak would know how many people really want dining car meals, and it could stock and staff the dining cars appropriately.

That would make sleeper fares more like the old Slumbercoach fares, where food (other than coffee/bottled water from the coffee station in the sleeper) was an extra charge (per meal back then).

 

[jis]

That would make sleeper fares more like the old Slumbercoach fares, where food (other than coffee/bottled water from the coffee station in the sleeper) was an extra charge (per meal back then).

And there was complementary welcome aboard wine and snacks in Sleeper. That would be nice considering some US airlines are now serving such upon boarding on longer distance flights in first Class, even those that cost much less than Amtrak Sleepers in some cases.

 

[zephyr17]

That would make sleeper fiares more like the old Slumbercoach fares, where food (other than coffee/bottled water from the coffee station in the sleeper) was an extra charge (per meal back then).

It would make them like the sleeper fares themselves, not just Slumbercoach, under railroad operation as well as Amtrak until the mid 1980s.

 

[zephyr17]

And there was complementary welcome aboard wine and snacks in Sleeper. That would be nice considering some US airlines are now serving such upon boarding on longer distance flights in first Class, even those that cost much less than Amtrak Sleepers in some cases.

Amtrak also gave out little stationary kits with Amtrak stationary (and a cheap Amtrak logo pen) once upon a time.

At some points, the Starlight and Builder both gave out glasses/champagne flutes with the train logo with the welcome aboard wine.

They also gave out toiletry packs in a little fabric bag with shampoo, conditioner and lotion at some points.

I still have some of that Amtrak swag.

These days I'd settle for a route guide and a printed schedule.

 

[Brian Battuello]

These days I'd settle for a route guide and a printed schedule.

I'd settle for a train that arrived at the time shown on the printed schedule

However, I do have to give credit to the return of decent dining service.