The new reservation system (including points redemption) is now up, and at first glance it looks like an improvement, save for the current lack of mobile app. You can not only select seats on the Corridor, you can select rooms on some sleeper trains (it seems to work on the Ocean, but the Canadian just shows your assigned room and shows the others as unavailable). Amtrak should take note of this - they do already have online seat selection on the trains with assigned seats…
Also, the points redemptions seem to be perhaps better than before in a lot of cases, even if you account for having to pay taxes separately. The short trip I thought was a *good deal* maximizing the length of the 550 point short corridor redemption would be about half that on the lowest fare days. Of course, part of this is the temporary 30% reduction in points fares, though without that it still doesn’t seem horrible. Perhaps I’m missing some redemptions that would be significantly worse. Also, you can do all points redemptions online.
The new baggage policy is also in effect, but it seems they’re waiving fees for the time being for additional large baggage (at least if you add it online). Though I figure that’s coming (probably around the same time they remove the 30% points discount). I am taking VIA back to Windsor (and then over the border back home) from Aldershot on Monday, so perhaps I’ll get to see how some of this works…