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I had almost all my flex dining meals as take out...or did you mean actual take out served on the train? I meant, if the car is unavailable going out of Chicago--or has some kind of service difficulty before leaving and that can't be easily remedied without major repairs to the car.

Yes, this, exactly.

At least the Viewliner IIs are still rolling off the line new, the newest Superliner is older than Google. What I'm getting at is that we're likely to face a lot of equipment-related problems, car substitutions, increased sleeping car prices, etc. as these cars keep breaking down. If a dining...

But that's just the interiors, which doesn't address the average age of the cars (35 years) along with their degrading mechanical reliability. (Vacuum pumps for sewage, HVAC, etc.) It looks like they aren't entertaining a replacement order until 2025 at the earliest.

A Baofeng UV-5R, a programming cable and a decent antenna can all be had for $50 these days, and probably less if you crawl Facebook marketplace. You can program that Baofeng to "Dual Watch" the Amtrak "home" frequency and scan only the channels used on your trip.

The line plans talk about interior refreshes, but I'm guessing they'll wait for the Viewliner order to wrap up before even trying with the Superliners.

I've never found a Pullman nameplate and ever so occasionally do I find an original Bombardier plate on a Superliner when I travel. It's almost always a Beech Grove shop plate. What is a "proper" overhaul compared to what they've been doing? Did I also miss plans to replace that fleet?

Of course, since posting this, I managed to find some of these things. What I'm afraid of is them pulling it as the Delta variant increases. That being said, am I imagining things or does it seem better than it was before Flex dining?

It feels like there's increased chances of that happening, as the cars themselves age and the available replacement inventory dwindles. Most of the Superliner fleet is on its second/third overhaul already, isn't it?

I'm guessing now is not when I should ask if my CZ's SSL will be replaced by a CCC. ;)

When I started searching, I just saw rumblings that they went back to Flex Dining because of Delta. I'm hoping that was just the TE.

:oops: That is really quite scary.

The closest analogy is not actually Fannie or Freddie, it's the US Postal Service. Amtrak is not a government entity at all, it's a government-subsidized private entity. You bring claims against it like you would a normal entity, it's not subject to the Federal Tort Claims Act, and it's free in...

I've seen recently issued Visa/MCs without the EMV chips on them. Nothing is universal, even if they say it is. The raised numbers issue comes down to many different factors, most of which involve the network's need for security over the bank's need for marketing points. Almost all the EMV...

Has anyone seen Traditional Dining come back to the Western Trains? I'm guessing that this menu dated June 21 is not actually happening. A bit of a shame, since we're traveling in a few weeks as a family on the CZ almost the entire length of the trip.

For Visa/MC this was by design to try to force vendors to pre-authorize and cut down on bad debts. I believe certain AMEX cards retain this feature.

Never forget that Amtrak was a Federal bailout to the railroad industry. Amtrak is not government owned. It's a regular non-governmental corporation that has a huge and growing accumulated deficit. The common stock that was issued to the legacy railroads still exists, but is effectively...

In my experience, this means as a sleeper passenger for some weird reason, you cannot order and pay for a second portion for yourself. I usually leave a decent cash tip so on the second day, I can usually convince them to put in a new order for my "imaginary friend Bob" who is joining me for a...

They are responsible for the contract that sets the structure by which employees are managed, disciplined, etc. TWU values seniority over service and as such sets the tone and culture by which old staff who play the grievance system are the example and those who try to do right by the...

This is precisely the issue. Airlines have tighter supervision and more established management chains. Flight crews generally return to their base within 24-48 hours where managers can address issues. Airplane captains also take much greater ownership of what happens on their planes, and...