A Major Expansion Could Occur if Amtrak only did this.

[PRR 60]

A bunch of off-topic posts have been moved to a new Lounge topic that can be found here:

http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/71708-types-of-republicans/

 

[cpotisch]

It is said that it pays to advertise and that's what Amtrak needs to do right now. We are at a period in air travel where the seats have shrunken to as little as 16" wide and the legroom decreased to as little as 28". There is zero comfort sitting in a seat that small and sitting that tight for an extended period greatly increases the chances of a blood clot. Time for Amtrak to exploit this additional abuse of airlines passengers and advertise that people have comfortable seats on its trains. They should show what it is like for a heavy set person to be squeezed into an airline seat and show the same person sitting at his/her Amtrak seat with plenty of room, looking out the window while the scenery goes by and sipping a pina colada . The airlines has given Amtrak and opening and its time for management to exploit this violation of human rights with an advertising campaign. Slogan- " Don't travel like an animal on the airlines, travel in comfort as ladies and gentlemen do on Amtrak"

A couple things:

• I don't think dlagrua meant to say that people who fly are animals, but rather that the airlines treat them like animals. That said, that phrasing could very easily be taken as saying that the passengers ARE animals, so it is rather risky for an advertisement trying to attract those people. That problem is exacerbated by the 'ladies and gentleman' line, as that really does seem to imply that civilized people only travel Amtrak, and comes across as somewhat smug/superior. It sort of says "You the airlines, so you're not a proper gentleman", you know?
• Additionally, Amtrak doesn't offer drinks like pina coladas, and while the message you're going for is 'just sit back and relax', it could be misleading as to the type of service one gets on Amtrak.
• Showing a 'heavy set' person squeezed into an airline seat could be taken as offensive and downright bizarre, and in some ways might indicate that Amtrak is focused on overweight people, as opposed to just accommodating them.

Just my thoughts.

 

[jis]

It is doubly bizarre because airlines actually do serve complementary alcoholic beverages in First Class and Business Class, Amtrak does so only in First Class in one corridor.

At the end of the day Amtrak's real competition is the automobile, and planes only in short to medium corridors. Until Amtrak realizes that and act accordingly there will be no redemption. It will be a long time coming before most people would sped 6 days of their short vacation traveling from coast to coast by train rather than doing so in 6 hours each way and getting R&R time at their vacation destination in the time saved by flying. It is even more galling when it is equal in cost or cheaper to save 2.5 days of your time.

 

[SarahZ]

At the end of the day Amtrak's real competition is the automobile, and planes only in short to medium corridors. Until Amtrak realizes that and act accordingly there will be no redemption.

It will be a long time coming before most people would spend 6 days of their short vacation traveling from coast to coast by train rather than doing so in 6 hours each way and getting R&R time at their vacation destination in the time saved by flying. It is even more galling when it is equal in cost or cheaper to save 2.5 days of your time.

Once again for those in the back.

I fail to understand why so many people cannot seem to grasp this concept.

 

[Ryan]

I don't think dlagrua meant to say that people who fly are animals,

You're new here. He very much means to say that. It's kind of one of this things. We're apparently boot-lickers too, for submitting to violation by the dreaded TSA.