Leg rests on long distance coaches

[MARC Rider]

Does anyone find the leg rests in the long-distance coaches (and 2x1 business class club cars) comfortable or useful? Maybe it's just the length of my torso and legs, but when I try to use it, my feet stick out over the end, the rest supports my calves, and after not too long, it's really not very comfortable. They're also not that easy to extend, given that they require you reach under the seat and pull them out, which requires contortions my body is not really designed to do. The last overnight coach trip I took, I just let my feet stay on the floor. That wasn't too comfortable either, but I did manage to get some sleep.

I just bought a recliner from Ikea that seems to be more comfortable. You recline it by pushing the seat back with you back and body. No buttons or anything, it seems to be some sort of spring mechanism. You can recline pretty far back, and the leg rest is reasonably comfortable, even though my feet stick out from that one, too.

I wonder if it would be worthwhile to push for redesigning the coach seats for the next set of long-distance cars, which I think are going to be procured in a few years.

 

[zephyr17]

They just need to find somebody to build some classic Sleepy Hollow seats. Those were orders of magnitude better than the seats in the Amfleet IIs and Superliners that replaced them in all ways (depth of padding, distribution of padding, as well as leg rests).

 

[travelplus]

I find legrests to be comfortable. What would be cool is if Amtrak could have a Business Class long distance car with Airline lie flat type seats or the Japanese Business Class type seats along with at seat meal service etc. A privacy divider would seprarre you from your seatmate.

 

[joelkfla]

I just bought a recliner from Ikea that seems to be more comfortable. You recline it by pushing the seat back with you back and body. No buttons or anything, it seems to be some sort of spring mechanism. You can recline pretty far back, and the leg rest is reasonably comfortable, even though my feet stick out from that one, too.

I wonder if it would be worthwhile to push for redesigning the coach seats for the next set of long-distance cars, which I think are going to be procured in a few years.

I don't think that would work on a train. Every time the car lurched, passengers would suddenly find themselves involuntarily supine.

After years of heavy service and Amtrak maintenance, everybody would be reclined all the time.

 

[bratkinson]

I recall an LD trip being on the aisle with the window seat occupied by a stranger. The leg and foot rests combined to make a fairly comfortable sleep position for this 6 footer. Thankfully, he deboarded about 2AM and I had the seat all to myself after that. Diagonally across 2 seats worked great! On another trip, I had a window seat and a seatmate for most of the overnight trip. Being able to use the wall as a backup for an inflatable pillow and a jacket I was carrying worked nicely.

I suspect that getting a seat at the bulkhead, be it a Superliner or Amfleet II coach would offer the best legroom, but no foot rest. The downside is that it could be adjacent to either the restrooms or an end door. Upper floor bulkhead facing the stairwell on a Superliner would be ideal, in my opinion.

Note...about 8-9 years ago, one of the coaches on train #449 must have been bad ordered and Boston grabbed a NEC business class car. No leg rests and seats had 2" less legroom. I'm probably the only passenger that noticed the difference. Thankfully, I only rode it SPG->ALB before moving to my NYP section sleeper for the trip to CHI.

 

[Trollopian]

I'm 5'0" and my feet don't reach the footrests. But no complaint. It sure beats an airplane seat...yes, even short people detest 'em.

 

[Barb Stout]

Does anyone find the leg rests in the long-distance coaches (and 2x1 business class club cars) comfortable or useful? Maybe it's just the length of my torso and legs, but when I try to use it, my feet stick out over the end, the rest supports my calves, and after not too long, it's really not very comfortable. They're also not that easy to extend, given that they require you reach under the seat and pull them out, which requires contortions my body is not really designed to do. The last overnight coach trip I took, I just let my feet stay on the floor. That wasn't too comfortable either, but I did manage to get some sleep.

I have the opposite problem with the leg rests; no problem in getting them into the operational position, but I can't get it back down. I have only tried it 2 or 3 times, but after the last time, I haven't wanted to try to use them at all because I can't get them to go back down. Is it because I'm not strong or did I just get unlucky with 2 or 3 times with problem chairs?

 

[Maglev]

I just took my first overnight trip in a Superliner coach, and found the leg rest to be quite comfortable, although in fact mine was slightly defective. I raised my leg rest all the way, but did not raise the leg rest on the seat next to me when I spread out over two seats.