Current Condition of the Coast Starlight

[Jarrod DellaChiesa]

Hi,

I was on the #14 last Monday and was very disappointed with what we found.  This was my sister and brother in law's first trip on a long distance train and I was embarrassed on how much the on-board experience differed from the standard we know this train should have.

• There is no longer china in the diner.  All beverages were served in paper cups.
• Salads with both lunch and dinner are now a $3 upsell, but are larger than before.  There are now only 2 salad dressing options.
• At both lunch and dinner, coffee and dessert are no longer offered to sleeper passengers after their entree at.  I had to inquire about both.
• There is no longer china in the Parlour Car for any meal.
• Flowers, newspapers and welcome beverage are no longer available (this has been in place for a while now).
• The wine tasting is now $7/passenger.  As a result, instead of the normal 1/2-full car participating, there were 6 of us.  The tasting is now 3 instead of 4 wines with a smaller pour.
• There is no longer a "wine and cheese" tasting, just wine.  When I inquired about this, I was told that the cheese tasting is sorely missed on a daily basis and that you can now purchase the cheese for your tasting at a $5 upsell.  A few passengers went ahead and purchased the cheese plate and were disappointed to find that it's simply the same cheese platter sold in the cafe car.  Serving Babybel cheese wheels at a wine tasting is just a joke.
• I was happy to find that all sleepers had the fruit, coffee and juice back out during the day.  However, all items were put away by the time dinner was over and with a note that they'd be back the next morning.

The Parlour Cars will be removed from service in January, supposedly for 4 months for restoration.  Every time this happens, I fear that the cars won't come back.  It is unknown at this time if diner-lounges will be running in their place, although I doubt it because the are planning to place the Parlour attendant back in the normal diner pool.

By no stretch can you call this train "first class" any longer.  In no way is Amtrak and the new long distance train managers working to show that this train can be more profitable with amenities in place.

Being a hospitality professional, it's so frustrating to see that Amtrak just doesn't understand this.  There's so much I'd do differently!  Urrrrgh!  Unfortunately, a lot of what Amtrak implemented out of the white paper has been removed... not because it didn't work, but because it was not executed properly... It's all about the full experience, accounting, etc.  Solving one piece doesn't work - but taking a comprehensive look at the train does.

Unfortunately that's the mentality that will develop at Amtrak when they view their most profitable / successful routes in the NEC, a direct competitor to the airlines.  Rather than looking at what sets Amtrak apart from the competition, they are mimicking them.  

Let's compare the Coast Starlight between other modes of transportation with similar regional end points:

• Flight:  The cost for two flying from LAX to SEA via Southwest this Friday is $472.
• Cruise:  The cost of an all inclusive Princess cruise from LA to Vancouver, BC for two is $488 with only a slightly longer travel time.
• Amtrak:  The cost of a bedroom for two between LAX and SEA this Friday is $1,099.    It is going to be hard to justify the cost of this when almost all amenities are removed.  Even the hotel basics, such as shampoo, have been removed...

There is something very wrong with this picture.

- Jarrod

  Jarrod DellaChiesa
  510.258.9799  |  jarrod.de...@gmail.com

[Charles Hoover]

Couldn’t agree more.  Since we travel between Portland and LAX on a regular basis on Amtrak, this is not news.  These changes were made some time ago.  Traveling sleeper is no longer “first class”.  It’s just a place to lay your head down at night.  The CS is now kind of a Motel 6 on rails. 

However, with the takeover of the Senate by the Republicans, I don’t think we won’t be complaining much longer, as I don’t think Amtrak, at least as we know it, is long for this world. The Republican backed anti- Amtrak measures (all aimed at killing long distance trains, like banning dining car service that does not make money, eliminating long distance routes that don’t make money, etc) we have seen out of the House for the last 6 years now have a great chance of passing in the Senate as well. The long distance trains will all be gone by the next budget session. The state sponsored corridor routes and the NE corridor will probably survive, but that’s about it.  My advice is, don’t keep too many Amtrak Rewards points in your account, as there may not be any trains left to use them on.  Internal scuttlebutt from Amtrak itself pretty much acknowledges this likelihood.  Amtrak has really not had a CEO since David Gunn who would stand up to congress and fight for the long distance trains. If they won’t fund Amtrak completely, then it needs to be shut down completely.  To carve out the NE and a few measly corridor trains will freeze any government backed long distance trains out of the private rail routes forever.

Meanwhile $200 million subsidies for the Essential Air Service (providing per passenger subsidies for commercial air routes serving small airports), the TSA’s $7.5 billon budget (of which only $2.5 billion comes from user fees, the rest, of course, from the general fund- i.e. a subsidy). and only about 50% of the Federal highway program expenditures from from gas taxes (frozen since 1989 and NOT indexed for inflation) and user fees (the rest is from the general fund, i.e. a subsidy).

And, of course, doing away with Amtrak would be (what else is new) regressive.  If you are rich, you fly - those who make > $100k per year are 10 times more likely to fly than those who make < $50k.  Good review of the metrics and dollars at http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/03/07/sequester-presents-opportunity-for-airline-fliers/FVRqVXemYPliaSZoBv74IO/story.html?p1=Well_BG_Links

So, burn those points before you have no trains left to use them on.

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[Naia]

Blame this on the tea-bags and Republicans who cut Amtrak's budget.  Some of them don't thing there should be a public passenger train service at all.