Cutting out various amenities and providing only a bare-bones roomette or bedroom, for what already strikes most passengers as an exorbitant amount of money, just looks cheap. It isn't generous, it doesn't offer customers something extra. I mean, really, how much does a newspaper or a small box of cheeses and/or a tiny bottle of wine cost? No matter what it costs, what percent is that of the total cost of a ticket? For goodness sakes, it's better to raise ticket prices by $3 or $4 and look generous, then to be Scrooge-like and begrudge. What would be next? The bag of ice at the end of the sleeper? The plastic cups?
The train is already a few hours late; is it too much to ask for a complimentary newspaper to read as we sit here in the hole waiting for the freight trains to pass us by?
Also, the free popcorn could be sold to Congress as generating beverage sales. The free hot chocolate chip cookies..........sell some healthy milk for change?
dakotafred Read Friday's newswire story about cuts to some of the amenities, including complimentary wine and newspapers for First Class on the Builder and Starlight, down to flowers in the dining cars. Looks penny-wise and pound-foolish to me.
Read Friday's newswire story about cuts to some of the amenities, including complimentary wine and newspapers for First Class on the Builder and Starlight, down to flowers in the dining cars.
Looks penny-wise and pound-foolish to me.
There are cheaper amenities if the folks at Amtrak would look at what others are doing in the transportation space.
1. How about free popcorn in the lounge car?
a. Apparently Amtrak people on board can't plug in a hot air popcorn maker and use $1
a bag popcorn without generating a significant loss? They could serve most of
the train with a $1 bag of popcorn.
2. What about fresh baked chocolate chip cookies after a meal?
a. American Airlines is doing this now for First Class Passengers now that Midwest
Express is out of business. All they do is pop the cookie in the Micro same way they
do the cocktail mixed nuts (warm mixed nuts taste a lot better than cold). A little more
expensive here with the ingredients but not as expensive as wine.
Two examples of amenities at far less cost than Wine and Cheese and Flowers (BTW, can you really tell the difference between a fresh flower and a silk flower these days?).
oltmannd Looks penny-wise to me. How is it pound-foolish? The standard mantra of the NARP et. al. is that Amtrak needs more sleepers because they are "always full". Think there's anyone out there who will say "No USA Today? That's it! I'm flying now!"?
Looks penny-wise to me. How is it pound-foolish? The standard mantra of the NARP et. al. is that Amtrak needs more sleepers because they are "always full". Think there's anyone out there who will say "No USA Today? That's it! I'm flying now!"?
Although newspapers (if they do it, at least have the NYT or WSJ?), wine and cheese parties and flowers may be nice, they really contribute little to passenger service and cutting them at least gives the appearance of concerns with costs.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
Amtrak does not always obtain the generic newspaper for its sleeper passengers. Through March, you should still have the Centralia, Illinois, paper delivered to your room when you ride #58. There are a few other cities where Amtrak has bought the local paper. As I recall, Memphis is one, for passengers on #59. Also, Omaha, for passengers on #6.
However, I certainly would not make any change for the sake of the generic newspaper.
Johnny
Most of the amenities being eliminated are really small potatoes but they do provide Amtrak with some cover when Congressional critics start complaining about costs.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
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