Status of Business Class on Lake Shore Limited?

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Joined
Jan 21, 2020
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Does anyone have an official status on if business class is going to continue on LSL?. Amtrak staff says it was supposed to go in Sept, Oct, but it's still here in May. I am a regular who enjoys the service for the extra money.
 
As of September, it was still part of the Boston consist in the cafe/business configuration. South of Albany's just coach/sleeper service.
 
It would seem there's no 'official' plan for LSL business class. At the moment, it can still be booked Boston <--> Chicago, and not available from New York (until Albany). But....the current Lakeshore Ltd timetable (11/11/2019) shows no business class available for the train.

So will it be there for when you desire to travel? It's anybody's guess.
 
Who can guess what stupid idiocy will come out of Amtrak next? Maybe they'll be dumb, maybe they won't, who knows?

The business class car (half cafe) was highly profitable, generally filling up between Boston and Albany. The cafe car tables never fill up on the LSL, so the only reason to remove business class would be if there were a shortage of business class cars and it was even more profitable somewhere else. I can't think of any route which would do better.
 
I have booked BC for a trip from BOS to ALB in April. So it’s still around. (Just booked last week.)

It does not show from NYP, because there is no BC between NYP and ALB. But you still can book coach from NYP to ALB, then switch to BC from ALB to CHI.
 
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Can anyone provide an update on how #449 Business Class is looking on passenger counts? Heavy or light from Boston to Albany?
 
Good to see it returned. One other possible theory is that they planned to go with the rumored “single food service car” concept serving both Coach and flex dining meals out of the VL2 diner and just outright eliminating the Amfleet cafe/business. But Boston - Albany would be a long way to go without offering any food service so this is not the train to peruse that on. I suppose if they really wanted to they could just use the cafe to serve between Albany and Boston and go to a single food service car Chicago - Albany.
 
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