Diner Seating

Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.

HARHBG

Service Attendant
Joined
Sep 13, 2015
Messages
148
Anyone know WHY Amtrak Dining Car Attendants almost maniacally insist than when two people,... obviously together,,,, say husband/wife...sit side-by-side and NOT across from each other???

I recently had a real nasty encounter with this on the CS and have witnessed this on other trains. IF the people dining DEMAND and REFUSE to sit side-by-side Dining Car Attendants will back down but it ends up in a very unpleasant confrontation for all.

I recently took my brother, his first time on a long distance train, from PDX to SEA. An overall disappointment. Pacific Parlour Car was dark. Recent fire or other mechanical problem. Train 2.5+ hours late leaving PDX and arriving same late into SEA. I bought a roomette for the short ride from PDX to SEA just so we could use the Pacific Parlour Car.

I fully realize that "stuff" happens and we could still have dinner on the train so, disappointing as that was.........................

We, my brother and I, wanted to continue with conversation over dinner. No brainer, we thought. "Hostess" still could have seated a couple or two singles at the table. We sat across from each other to the clear annoyance of the Attendant. I wasn't demanding the entire table for myself. Besides, there were AT LEAST 4 tables empty at 6:30P.M. when we were seated AND remained EMPTY for the entire hour it took to recieve and finish our meal.

Our wait-person was VERY gracious, and served us well, no complaints with her. It was the woman who seated us who was acting like some officious, nasty egomaniacal **** that left both my brother and myself both annoyed and amused, as she was clearly and openly sneering at us each time she passed UNTIL I stopped her and asked her name, since she wasn't wearing a name tag. After that, she disappeared for the remainder of the time Jim and I were eating.

But getting back to this practice of insisting two people, obviously traveling or eating together, sit side-by-side, not across from each other??
 
Why do you insist on sitting across of each other?

If you go to wedding reception, you make your wife, or your bother, sit all the way on the other side of the table, and not sit next to you?

I don't know... it just seems to be the way seating is always done, when different people are sharing the same table, you put people that already know each other physically next to each other.

Would you really want some overweight person who hasn't showered for a few days, pushed physically right up against you while you try to enjoy your meal? :D
 
It helps with conversation. You, as a unit, are seated across from two other people who may or may not be a unit. The conversation naturally flows across the table.

While your spouse/relative/friend is included in the conversation, it's not necessary to face them. You're both talking to the other people, not so much each other.

I actually prefer to sit next to my partner/friend rather than a stranger, especially considering how tight those diner booths are, so I'm completely fine with Amtrak's arrangement.
 
I agree with Sarah. I prefer sitting next to my wife rather than rubbing shoulders with a stranger.

The only time we had to make a request for a change was when we were shown two seats facing backwards. My wife said, "Could we sit facing forward? I get sick to my stomach when I ride backwards." The attendant quickly gave us forward facing seats.
 
Why do you insist on sitting across of each other?

If you go to wedding reception, you make your wife, or your bother, sit all the way on the other side of the table, and not sit next to you?

I don't know... it just seems to be the way seating is always done, when different people are sharing the same table, you put people that already know each other physically next to each other.

Would you really want some overweight person who hasn't showered for a few days, pushed physically right up against you while you try to enjoy your meal? :D
As long as chubby didn't try to steal my dessert I wouldn't GARA.
 
I tend to agree with several of the answers. You simply don't get options to sit by yourself at a table or to choose the way you sit. In addition, more people prefer to sit next to each other in that configuration. It would make it tougher to find a space for another pair.

The last couple of times I was in a dining car it was four separate passengers and then two together with two separate (but four checks). They will do almost anything they can to avoid having tables that aren't filled.
 
My preference is always 100% to sit across from my dining companion to facilitate conversation. I hate the side by side seating on Amtrak, as others apparently do too.

Seating at a wedding reception is not comparable--first it's a special occasion and second, anyone who plans seating at such an event always strives for compatibility among those at a table. On Amtrak it's luck of the draw who is opposite you.

As for the REAL reason they prefer NOT to have strangers on Amtrak sitting side by side in close quarters as the train bumps and grinds and shakes and shimmies its way forward and side to side--how graphic do I have to get?? At the same time, if you travel coach, you will obviously be sitting side by side there. So it's contradictory. Go figure.
 
My preference is always 100% to sit across from my dining companion to facilitate conversation. I hate the side by side seating on Amtrak, as others apparently do too.

Seating at a wedding reception is not comparable--first it's a special occasion and second, anyone who plans seating at such an event always strives for compatibility among those at a table. On Amtrak it's luck of the draw who is opposite you.

As for the REAL reason they prefer NOT to have strangers on Amtrak sitting side by side in close quarters as the train bumps and grinds and shakes and shimmies its way forward and side to side--how graphic do I have to get?? At the same time, if you travel coach, you will obviously be sitting side by side there. So it's contradictory. Go figure.
I hate it too, to be honest, but I prefer it to the second bolded point. I'd rather be thrown against someone I know than a stranger.

When I travel alone, I sit on the aisle so I can scoot out just a tiny bit and give myself and the other person some personal space. If I feel a shake or shimmy coming on, I grab the table and try to stay put. It's a great core workout. ;)
 
As for the REAL reason they prefer NOT to have strangers on Amtrak sitting side by side in close quarters as the train bumps and grinds and shakes and shimmies its way forward and side to side--how graphic do I have to get?? At the same time, if you travel coach, you will obviously be sitting side by side there. So it's contradictory. Go figure.
Not really. If you're solo they'll typically attempt to seat you next to another solo passenger or maybe someone in a group of three.

I was placed next to someone I'd never met before last couple of times I've been in an Amtrak diner. When I was with my kid we were side by side.
 
I tend to agree with several of the answers. You simply don't get options to sit by yourself at a table or to choose the way you sit. In addition, more people prefer to sit next to each other in that configuration. It would make it tougher to find a space for another pair.

The last couple of times I was in a dining car it was four separate passengers and then two together with two separate (but four checks). They will do almost anything they can to avoid having tables that aren't filled.
I just don't get this whole fill every seat in the table crap. Really annoying when they seat someone halfway through your meal. They have so many empty tables, but lets not even forget the 6 / 8 tables that seem to always be full of crap or used by the crew to chat or talk smack on their fellow crew members.
 
On my last trip, I found that due to my "increased girth", I like having the whole side of a table to myself. [i was traveling solo.]. Also, due to my increased girth, getting myself to slide out was quite the show. Not complaining, just stating the facts.
 
On my last trip, I found that due to my "increased girth", I like having the whole side of a table to myself. [i was traveling solo.]. Also, due to my increased girth, getting myself to slide out was quite the show. Not complaining, just stating the facts.
While I guess (as Paul Simon would say) "I'm soft in the middle now" I'm not that big that I can't maneuver easily around a diner seat.

However, I was solo on the CS while the rest of my family stayed in Seattle with my BIL. They flew home later. I'm not sure if my wife would have approved of my seating next to a young woman who was also traveling solo, even if I had no choice in the matter. However, nothing untoward happened and the four of us at the table had interesting conversations about what we were doing, where we were going, and where we had been. One diner was taking Amtrak for the first time after dropping off a vehicle in Seattle; he was returning to Portland. Don't recall the other guy other than he was going to Portland. The young woman was a foreign visitor touring the US, although she'd spent time in another country. I'd actually been to her native country and it made for some interesting conversation.

Overall, I think our experience was what Amtrak is trying to get out of placing strangers at the same table. My first dining car experience was with my kid. We were placed at the same table as a married couple with sleeper accommodations. I thought that was typically the only way that sleeper and coach passengers mingled, although I'm not sure if sleeper passengers are allowed in the observation car.
 
Perhaps it has to do with avoiding something like this:

• Only four places available in the diner, all at the same table

• A couple arrives and is seated across from each other in the window seats

• Some time passes before another pair of customers arrives and they are seated at the only two remaining places - on the aisle

• The couple that showed up first (seated at the window) finishes their desert and wishes to leave the diner

• To do so, the two people in the aisle seats must rise and get into the aisle to allow the first couple to depart.

Had the first couple been seated next to each other, they could have departed with minimum fuss and causing minimum obstruction to the dining car staff.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Perhaps it has to do with avoiding something like this:

• Only four places available in the diner, all at the same table

• A couple arrives and is seated across from each other in the window seats

• Some time passes before another pair of customers arrives and they are seated at the only two remaining places - on the aisle

• The couple that showed up first (seated at the window) finishes their desert and wishes to leave the diner

• To do so, the two people in the aisle seats must rise and get into the aisle to allow the first couple to depart.

Had the first couple been seated next to each other, they could have departed with minimum fuss and causing minimum obstruction to the dining car staff.
This is my thought too.
 
Perhaps it has to do with avoiding something like this:

• Only four places available in the diner, all at the same table

• A couple arrives and is seated across from each other in the window seats

• Some time passes before another pair of customers arrives and they are seated at the only two remaining places - on the aisle

• The couple that showed up first (seated at the window) finishes their desert and wishes to leave the diner

• To do so, the two people in the aisle seats must rise and get into the aisle to allow the first couple to depart.

Had the first couple been seated next to each other, they could have departed with minimum fuss and causing minimum obstruction to the dining car staff.
Well that just makes too much sense... ;)
 
I've never been seated at a table where the other parties were halfway through their meal. Amtrak stewards always placed me at a new table. Sometimes, if no other comes in I eat alone for the entire meal.
 
I've never been seated at a table where the other parties were halfway through their meal. Amtrak stewards always placed me at a new table. Sometimes, if no other comes in I eat alone for the entire meal.
I've had it happen a lot during breakfast, but that could be because breakfast is open seating and not reserved. Also, when lunch is open seating, which happens on trains that aren't very crowded, I've had people placed at my table while I'm already eating.

Because I have good manners, I always feel quite awkward eating while they're waiting for their food, but I think it's forgivable, given the situation. I still feel weird, though.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Might as well chime in:

Most of the best reasons have been mentioned. When you seat two people next to the window, you are usually eventually forced to fill the two aisle seats at some point. If a couple wanted to sit facing one another, I usually tried to discourage that. If they insisted, I might relent; but then I tried to seat another couple with them with the two women on the same side of the table and the two men on the other. Sometimes this wasn't possible. I always felt very uncomfortable when I had to seat a man & woman side by side if they weren't acquainted. This always seemed to have the potential of resulting in problems if the motion of the train caused one person to jostle another. If the woman's husband is sitting across the table and sees something that he perceives (rightly or wrongly) to be inappropriate, then it could conceivably get very nasty.

We tried to fill every seat at each table because we never knew the composition of the next party or parties. Having more tables open left us more options. If a large group of 16 or so people came in together and our only open seats were individual seats spaced all over the car, those folks wouldn't like it. On a smaller scale, it's best to seat a family of 6 with 4 at one table and two across the aisle. Filling all tables as much as possible increases the chance that we would have those seats available. If a family had to be seated at two or more tables, I always preferred to have at least one adult at each table if possible, or at least very close if it wasn't possible.

Tom
 
Last edited by a moderator:
While we enjoy meeting other passengers in the diner, after a while on a multi segment trip, it's nice to have a meal just with your spouse. The ability to that on the PPC makes it our favorite.

Wouldn't it be nice if all LD trains gave you that option.
 
Hats:

Yes, Conductors are expected to remove their hats when passing through the diner, at least at times when meals are being served.

I recall a time several years ago when a couple entered the dining car with their teenaged son. I was pretty surprised when one of my coworkers went way out on a limb & exceeded his authority by saying to the son (very quietly and with respect) "Sir, would you please remove your hat while you're in the dining car?"

Nobody complained. In fact, the expression on the Mom's face said something like, "I'm glad somebody is able to teach my son some manners. I sure haven't managed it. Maybe there's hope for the kid after all."

Tom
 
Having spent three years working the diner, "Back In The Day", Twin-Unit on the Broadway, pre-Heritage dinners (ovens used "Presto Logs" for fuel, still hard to believe myself), the Santa Fe Hi-Level diners, and then the GLORIOUS Superliner diners, which were in the staff's opinion, something straight outa NASA technology... God they were a beautiful thing......

I always tried to accommodate HOW the parties would sit, Amtrak wanted us, even back then, to seat pax next to each other, but personally I hate that, and prefer to sit X from each other. I didn't very often, in fact I cannot remember, (more a function of years passed than what actually happened) anyone ever having issues with having to stand up, so a party that was seated next to the window could leave....

My focus was on getting the biggest TIP possible, and to do THAT, one had to give the BEST SERVICE possible, under the always challenging Amtrak conditions. (Outa stock, short staffed, no heat, no AC, rough track, work non-stop, B-L-D, drunk customer, customer who HATES life, yada, yada, yada.)

To this day, my Amtrak "claim-to-fame" was NEVER once did I cash a paycheck, lived exclusively off my TIP income. (But then again, I was single, no car payment, no house payment, couldn't do that now.......)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I have always enjoyed meeting people across the table in the diner. Being left handed I also need to have my left side on either the aisle or window so as not to interfere with the person next to me.
 
When you know you have 64 seats to work with and you know 64 people are scheduled to show up for a dinner seating, you have to do it as efficiently as possible. Most of the time, side-by-side seating tends to help get you there, although no solution is perfect. If the passenger count is incorrect and you end up with 65 or 67 passengers, you're in a world of hurt.

Been there. Done that. Hastily set the work table or a table in the adjacent lounge car. A royal pain, which always slows down the service.

Tom
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top