Amtrak

[Donut417]

My friend lives in Colorado. Next year probably around the end of July early August Im planning on visiting him. I am heavily considering taking the train, mainly due to the dumb assery of people that choose to cause issues on Airplanes. SMH. Plus my first time flying we flew Sprit airlines aka the school bus of the skies. 

 

I was wondering if anyone maybe was experienced with traveling by Amtrak trains? What was your experience like? I think the total travel time one direction will be like 23 or 24 hours, I was still thinking of doing coach, as they seem to give you tons of room. Hows the caffe's food? I know I can take my own but just incase I want something more substantial. How far in advanced do I need to book? Was planning on waiting till at least January to see how things go and to get with my friend on what days would be good for him. 

 

Any other considerations I need to make? 

[sounds]

Amtrak in most parts of the country has huge delays at very unpredictable times. If you're not bothered by 1-2 days of extra travel (as in, stuck on the train, not waiting in a hotel, stuck on the train), Amtrak can work.

 

The food is good, though expensive.

[Radium_Angel]

My main issue was the cost. For about the same price, (sometimes less depending) you could fly, non-stop, and get there the same day.

Train travel just isn't cost effective in the US.

 

Plus, every time I think about going somewhere via train, there's a train wreck making the news. 

[Montana One-Six]

Only used Amtrak once. From LA to Santa Barbara which took about 2 hours. Overall it was an OK experience but I wouldn't want to use it for longer trips than that as it is fairly slow. It is also very expensive for what it is and plane tickets are often around the same price but you are at least 4 to 5 times faster by plane.

 

 

[minibois]

While I am not from the USA, I did watch this video the other day which proved to be very interesting:

It's about a 42 hour trip (LA to Chicago, the full line?) with Amtrak and the experience it gave (including showing the cabin/food court/etc.). With its 57 minute length - the last 15 minutes being "no talking train footage" - it goes quite in-depth about the different aspects of the trip.

The video was from two months ago, so shares the experience at the time; which will likely (or hopefully) change by the same time next year.

 

While I don't have any experience with travel in the USA myself, it does seem like a trip with Amtrak is not something you do because it's faster than an airplane, you do it to avoid airplanes and cars it seems. It's something that seems very cool to me, but I can see why others might be negative about the thought of spending up to 42 hours on a train.

[Montana One-Six]

8 hours ago, minibois said:

While I am not from the USA, I did watch this video the other day which proved to be very interesting:

It's about a 42 hour trip (LA to Chicago, the full line?) with Amtrak and the experience it gave (including showing the cabin/food court/etc.). With its 57 minute length - the last 15 minutes being "no talking train footage" - it goes quite in-depth about the different aspects of the trip.

The video was from two months ago, so shares the experience at the time; which will likely (or hopefully) change by the same time next year.

 

While I don't have any experience with travel in the USA myself, it does seem like a trip with Amtrak is not something you do because it's faster than an airplane, you do it to avoid airplanes and cars it seems. It's something that seems very cool to me, but I can see why others might be negative about the thought of spending up to 42 hours on a train.

Yes there are routes (LA to Chicago is one of those) that are very interesting especially if you are interested in the landscape and the experience that comes with it.

 

But if your goal is to go from a to b Amtrak is not really a good option imo. Amtrak is nothing like Train services in Europe for example, it is not that reliable, the amount of trains available for one route is not that great (which limits your travel to certain times, more than going by plane) and it is expensive for what it is.

[Donut417]

12 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

Plus, every time I think about going somewhere via train, there's a train wreck making the news.

Every other day I hear about Airport Police pulling some jack hole off a plane in handcuffs. Been a lot of that in the last two years, which is why Im kinda leaning towards not flying. 

 

9 hours ago, Montana16 said:

around the same price but you are at least 4 to 5 times faster by plane.

According to what I have been reading prices are going up for air travel. They are also cancelling a lot of flights. I guess Ill check in January on prices. I just know Im not flying Sprit again. 

[Montana One-Six]

16 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Every other day I hear about Airport Police pulling some jack hole off a plane in handcuffs. Been a lot of that in the last two years, which is why Im kinda leaning towards not flying. 

 

According to what I have been reading prices are going up for air travel. They are also cancelling a lot of flights. I guess Ill check in January on prices. I just know Im not flying Sprit again. 

For Amtrak I don't think you need to book that much in advance. The one time I used Amtrak I booked the same day I traveled. It probably depends on the route but in my experience Amtrak isn't all that crowded. 

 

About prices for air travel: I haven't seen any big price jumps since the pandemic at least on the routes I'm interested in.

In and to the US I only use United or Lufthansa and never had any issues with them or the people on board.

[Donut417]

12 hours ago, Montana16 said:

United

Yeah would never fly with them. A few years back, they had some controversies happen. 

https://www.businessinsider.com/united-airlines-worst-customer-service-incidents-2018-3#when-it-dragged-a-passenger-off-a-plane-1

 

Im going to look at Delta as they have banned half the US population off of their planes for life. So likely would be less idiots on those flights. 

 

12 hours ago, Montana16 said:

About prices for air travel: I haven't seen any big price jumps since the pandemic at least on the routes I'm interested in.

Well they are canceling lots of flights. Im not sure if its fuel cost, lack of employees or they haven't brought all their planes back in to service. Many airlines shelved a lot of their planes because they didnt need them. This is going to drive up costs on the consumer. Also not to mention all the bull shit fees they like to impose. My sister flies out for Texas tomorrow and comes back next Thursday, so we will see how it goes. My mom thinks they are going to be stuck in Texas for a few days longer due to cancellations. 

[Cool Dude 101]

Amtrak can be a bit late sometimes but that is because Amtrak trains are running on tracks owned by BNSF, so when a BNSF train needs to pass they have the right away, BNSF is running up to 3 mile long freight trains. The food is good. The experience is also cool, because you get to see (depending on where you are at) stunning views. 

[Montana One-Six]

10 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Yeah would never fly with them. A few years back, they had some controversies happen. 

Yeah I know, but I personally haven't had any issues with them and my personal experience with united was pretty much the opposite of that, like I got free upgrades a few times to business or economy plus because economy was overbooked and things like that.

I mean if you avoid airlines because of controversies, bad news or things like that you probably aren't going to fly anytime soon. Delta and AA aren't free of those things either.

 

10 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Well they are canceling lots of flights.

Don't really know about cancellations as I haven't been flying all that much since the pandemic but prices aren't any different than before at least to my knowledge. There was a time where a lot less flights were available overall which is still true to some degree.

[Ashkii]

Hope I'm not too late, but Ironically I'm taking an Amtrak back to Colorado in a few days do go see family. It's my preferred way to travel, There's little to no headaches. The people are nice, it's fun to see the countryside and just chill, and overall it's a pleasant experience. I've taken the same train 6-7 times now. Every single time has been pleasant, and I've got no real qualms. For me though, it's just an overnight trip, further than that, may get dicey, but I can't see it getting too bad, especially if you book a sleeper room, which runs you about the same as a plane ticket, least where I'm going, and with that you get free meals, which are actual meals not shitty airliner stuff. Overall, I'd say go plane if you need to get there fast. Go train if you want to have a nice time getting there. 

[Donut417]

2 hours ago, Ashkii said:

if you book a sleeper room, which runs you about the same as a plane ticket, least where I'm going

From Michigan to Denver its about $700 for a sleeper. Delta does coach for like $139 each way. Im going to suck it up and do the plane and hope I dont have to round house kick someone in the face. 

[Ashkii]

56 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

From Michigan to Denver its about $700 for a sleeper. Delta does coach for like $139 each way. Im going to suck it up and do the plane and hope I dont have to round house kick someone in the face. 

Even if it's just a coach, I'd still rather go on the train. It's so much less stressful and way less cramped. 

[Donut417]

1 minute ago, Ashkii said:

Even if it's just a coach, I'd still rather go on the train. It's so much less stressful and way less cramped. 

I cant see me sleeping in a coach seat. Michigan to Colorado is about 24 hours, thats with a change in trains in Chicago. Potentially longer if we get stuck by a freight train. Flying should take a few hours. 

[GDRRiley]

On 11/16/2021 at 9:37 PM, sounds said:

Amtrak in most parts of the country has huge delays at very unpredictable times. If you're not bothered by 1-2 days of extra travel (as in, stuck on the train, not waiting in a hotel, stuck on the train), Amtrak can work.

you very rarely have delays that long and Amtrak build in some time to make it up, at the worse end expect to be a few hours late

 

On 11/17/2021 at 5:40 AM, Montana16 said:

Only used Amtrak once. From LA to Santa Barbara which took about 2 hours. Overall it was an OK experience but I wouldn't want to use it for longer trips than that as it is fairly slow. It is also very expensive for what it is and plane tickets are often around the same price but you are at least 4 to 5 times faster by plane.

the surfliner is great, most popular line outside of the NEC.  some changes are planned for it to become faster

 

their long distance trains need FRA rule changes to allow them to go faster than 80mph or the required signalling installed, the current Superliner (bi level) fleet could do 100mph with the single levels being good for 125mph

 

On 12/15/2021 at 2:54 PM, Donut417 said:

From Michigan to Denver its about $700 for a sleeper. Delta does coach for like $139 each way. Im going to suck it up and do the plane and hope I dont have to round house kick someone in the face. 

what typically makes a sleeper cheaper is when you share it with someone as they only pay a coach fee. which means 2 people get it for like 800$

 

amtraks long distance isn't cheap and it still loses them money.

 

On 11/18/2021 at 8:25 PM, Cool Dude 101 said:

Amtrak can be a bit late sometimes but that is because Amtrak trains are running on tracks owned by BNSF, so when a BNSF train needs to pass they have the right away,

BNSF isn't legally allowed to do that but they do pull that move

it was a lot worse a few years back then amtrak started giving out report cards