Sneaking in to Parlor Car

[Bob Dylan]

Enjoying the various points of view, IMO this is an ethical,individual thing, one has to decide for themselves whether trying to get over is worth the risk! Generally the young tend to take more risks since that is the nature of life! Think it was Winston Churchill who said: "A young person who is not a liberal has no heart and an older person who is not a conservative has no brain!" :unsure:

My personal point of view is that stealing is stealing whether it's penny candy or Madoffs billions! I totally agree with the posters that say if you choose to violate the rules and get found out you have to be willing to pay the price and not whine about "it's not fair" or "what about so and so, they got away with it" etc. IMHO the worst thing in todays world is lack of personal responibility which must be taught, youth arent born with ethics or moral codes, they are a blank slate that need guidance and role models, once you are an adult youre own your own! This doesnt justify the sociopaths of whatever age that never have a clue! h34r:

Next time Im in a sleeper(which is all of next week) I'm not going to wonder if everyone I see snuck in to get coffee or a shower or to steal but if I suspect such I will notify the SCA or other crew since thats their job! Someone made a great point about would you try this on an airplane, people do and they end up in handcuffs and even in jail! Not saying this is appropraite for trains but as another poster said, "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime"! I'll buy anyone a drink or meal if they need it, my philosophy is that we are all our brothers keeper when needed but not every minute of their lives! The old saying that there is no free lunch seems right so I'll close with that!

 

[sunchaser]

Good for you Lizzy.. nice to have a breath of fresh air, and also stir up some of the err... "normal folk".
Ed

Normal.......hmmm........ :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

It's a good thing I wasn't drinking my coffee when I read your comment, I would have ruined my laptop!

I was just wondering, are you currently having tea, or maybe something a bit stronger?

(I love your sense of humor!)

 

[the_traveler]

and also stir up some of the err... "normal folk".

I resent being called "normal"! :angry: Anyone who knows me knows that I'm :wacko: !

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[singwith]

well, if you have friends in sleeper, you would get into PCC if your "friends" invite you there. Make some new friends when you go to dinner and ask them that you want to take a look PCC. It's not that hard to do it.

Snuffy

 

[Steve4031]

well, if you have friends in sleeper, you would get into PCC if your "friends" invite you there. Make some new friends when you go to dinner and ask them that you want to take a look PCC. It's not that hard to do it.
Snuffy

Don't mooch, buy a ticket.

 

[singwith]

well, if you have friends in sleeper, you would get into PCC if your "friends" invite you there. Make some new friends when you go to dinner and ask them that you want to take a look PCC. It's not that hard to do it.
Snuffy

Don't mooch, buy a ticket.

In case you don't know that "invitation from friends" and "begging something from somebody" are two different things. and Just for "take a look" is no big deal but someone like you, always make a big deal out of nothing.

 

[DET63]

Just to add some more fuel to the fire . . .

If a CS operates without a PPC (due to maintenance or whatever), should (or do) sleeping-car passengers get cheaper tickets? (This might be hard to figure out due to the bucket system, which I don't really understand, except that it means some people pay more for the same seat or accommodation than do others.) If not, doesn't that really mean that the PPC is an "extra," and not really explicitly or implicitly paid for with the sleeping-car ticket? If this is the case, then should coach passengers really be denied access to something that even sleeping-car passengers might not be able to use, i.e., if the PPC was not on the train?

Now, given that sleeping-car passengers are allowed into the PPC if it is on the train, maybe this question is entirely moot.

 

[zepherdude]

Once on the CZ, I was seated with a couple in the dining car. Small chat was exchanged and they asked me where I was sitting on the train. I replied a sleeper. They proceeded to tell me I must have been very rich to afford a sleeper. They even qouted me the advertised price on the web site. They asked me if they could go with me back to my roomette so they could get into a vacant room, to which I replied no. They made fun of me during the rest of the meal about being snooty and a snob. I told them to go screw themselves and left and advised the service manager.

The point is, one gets what one pays for. Nothing is free, you dont like it, too bad. I am not snooty or a snob, and if I cant pay for a service, I dont deserve it. Please don't sneak into the PPC, you did not pay for it and you should not get it.

 

[ThayerATM]

Once on the CZ, I was seated with a couple in the dining car. Small chat was exchanged and they asked me where I was sitting on the train. I replied a sleeper. They proceeded to tell me I must have been very rich to afford a sleeper. They even qouted me the advertised price on the web site. They asked me if they could go with me back to my roomette so they could get into a vacant room, to which I replied no. They made fun of me during the rest of the meal about being snooty and a snob. I told them to go screw themselves and left and advised the service manager.
The point is, one gets what one pays for. Nothing is free, you dont like it, too bad. I am not snooty or a snob, and if I cant pay for a service, I dont deserve it. Please don't sneak into the PPC, you did not pay for it and you should not get it.

I think it would have been completely appropriate to tell the couple that it wasn't your call to make, and they'd get a definitive answer if they asked the conductor. We KNOW what the conductor would tell them. :lol:

 

[rrdude]

I told them to go screw themselves and left and advised the service manager.

And I wonder how many people they told about this "@#$!@ guy they met on a recent Amtrak trip. How enjoyable you must have made the trip for them, not. (I Suspect you don't care)

As far as marketing purposes go, Amtrak ought to be doing "more" showing of the sleeper cars, when time and pax counts permit.

I"m not advocating "tours" to the coach cattle (I'm the snob, not you) all thru the day, but many people have only read about or seen something in a movie about the "mysterious sleeper cars" on trains.

It's almost the best dang thing about rail travel. The OP's idea of having a conductor or TA, or SCA show them the sleeper is obviously the best idea.

 

[sunchaser]

Not to sidetrack the thread, but I have noticed that when I mention getting a bedroom on the train, whether here or talking to friends or relatives, the first thing they ask is "Isn't that awfully expensive?" Usually followed by them saying "I'm not rich!"

Yes, it can be. Sometimes it's not so bad.

 

[JayPea]

If a CS operates without a PPC (due to maintenance or whatever), should (or do) sleeping-car passengers get cheaper tickets? (This might be hard to figure out due to the bucket system, which I don't really understand, except that it means some people pay more for the same seat or accommodation than do others.) If not, doesn't that really mean that the PPC is an "extra," and not really explicitly or implicitly paid for with the sleeping-car ticket? If this is the case, then should coach passengers really be denied access to something that even sleeping-car passengers might not be able to use, i.e., if the PPC was not on the train?
Now, given that sleeping-car passengers are allowed into the PPC if it is on the train, maybe this question is entirely moot.

That situation did happen to me last August on the CS. The PPC was bad-ordered and instead we had a CCC in its place. I'm in the process of figuring out another CS trip just so I can take advantage of the PPC. (And I wouldn't pay for it either---I have plenty of AGR points!).

To add my $.02, if you want the privelege to enjoy the PPC, then PAY for it. I guess I'm one of these backward, old-fashioned guys who was raised on the belief that you are entitled to the service or product you paid for and nothing more. I admit I don't understand the whole "cheat to get something for nothing" and "I'm entitled to it whether I pay for it or not" mindset. It's theft of services, plain and simple.

On a side note: my August journey on the CS was the final leg in my Slidell Loophole trip. The previous leg had been a Chicago-Portland EB trip. As, I assume, most know, the Spokane-Portland section of the EB has no diner. And as the schedule calls for breakfast, the sleeping car passengers got a complimentary cold breakfast. We were given reserved seating in the Sightseer Lounge for this. And, as it just so happened, breakfast time came during the run through the Columbia Gorge. More than one group came from the coaches, saw the reserved seating for sleeper passengers, and were incensed that THEY didn't get reserved seating. Naturally, all the good seats on the left side of the train (facing the Columbia) were taken and the others were left with a spectacular view of rocks and dirt. The point was these folks thought they ought to be entitled to reserved seating too. (This trip was paid for fully by AGR points so in effect I didn't pay for it either. If they'd known that they'd REALLY have been upset!

 

[The Metropolitan]

.........And our country was founded by....Patriots who followed the "rules".....
Anyway, you guys are all right. Follow the rules. Toe the line. And WHATever you do, don't draw outside the lines.............

Brand me a miscreant, anarchist, dissenter, malcontent, voting Republican. (Hey! No politics here, it's against the rules!) I'll just crawl back into my box now....

If there is something tangible and good to be gained by not following the "rules," than by all means, a person should violate the rules for the ultimate good it will create. Racial Segregation and the Civil Rights Movement would be an ideal example wherein people enacted a positive change by acting in violation of "rules" that were in place in the land.

Can the same be said in this case?

I don't think so - it's simply one person's selfish crusade to violate rules so as to get something for nothing.

Violating rules purely for self-serving reasons certainly seems to be the the most common occurence these days.

From the "Rules are Made to be Broken Playbook:" If a person parks their car illegally in a transit bus stop because they don't care to follow the rules and are too lazy to walk from down the block, should they champion your inspirational logic of shadowing their noble forefathers as their defense when an elderly lady falls off the step of the bus, hits the pavement, and gets badly injured because the bus couldn't navigate over to the curb to let her off?

The sacrifices made by previous generations was done to improve our current way of life. Referring to these sacrifices as a justification for circumventing rules for purely self-serving reasons is really low.

 

[pennyk]

.........And our country was founded by....Patriots who followed the "rules".....
Anyway, you guys are all right. Follow the rules. Toe the line. And WHATever you do, don't draw outside the lines.............

Brand me a miscreant, anarchist, dissenter, malcontent, voting Republican. (Hey! No politics here, it's against the rules!) I'll just crawl back into my box now....

If there is something tangible and good to be gained by not following the "rules," than by all means, a person should violate the rules for the ultimate good it will create. Racial Segregation and the Civil Rights Movement would be an ideal example wherein people enacted a positive change by acting in violation of "rules" that were in place in the land.

Can the same be said in this case?

I don't think so - it's simply one person's selfish crusade to violate rules so as to get something for nothing.

Violating rules purely for self-serving reasons certainly seems to be the the most common occurence these days.

From the "Rules are Made to be Broken Playbook:" If a person parks their car illegally in a transit bus stop because they don't care to follow the rules and are too lazy to walk from down the block, should they champion your inspirational logic of shadowing their noble forefathers as their defense when an elderly lady falls off the step of the bus, hits the pavement, and gets badly injured because the bus couldn't navigate over to the curb to let her off?

The sacrifices made by previous generations was done to improve our current way of life. Referring to these sacrifices as a justification for circumventing rules for purely self-serving reasons is really low.

Well said. Thank you.

 

[Steve4031]

well, if you have friends in sleeper, you would get into PCC if your "friends" invite you there. Make some new friends when you go to dinner and ask them that you want to take a look PCC. It's not that hard to do it.
Snuffy

Don't mooch, buy a ticket.

In case you don't know that "invitation from friends" and "begging something from somebody" are two different things. and Just for "take a look" is no big deal but someone like you, always make a big deal out of nothing.

When you wrote "friends" with the quotes around it, I took that to mean that you were looking to meet somebody on the trains so that you could make friends with them in order to be invited back into the first class area. Now if you are traveling on the train with friends, and some of them have a sleeper, then yes this is fine with me. In fact, you and your friend could call Amtrak ahead of time, and have a ticket agent link the reservations. Then you can enjoy all of the amenities that come with first class along with spending more time with your friend.

I actually did this. The person had already paid for coach, and since we new were going to want to hang out, I suggested the above tactic. It worked fine.

 

[AAARGH!]

SCA also know who belong and who don't. I struck up a conversation with a younger couple traveling coach on the Silver Star during lunch. They were very interested in what a bedroom and roomette looked like. After lunch, I took them back to my sleeper and showed them my roomette and an empty bedroom.

As they and I passed our SCA, she challenged them as she knew they didn't belong there. When I explained I was jst showing them the layout and that they were not staying, she was fine. Common sense ruled.

Now if they were staying there, that would be different story.