Amtrak LD Dining Car Rules on Electronic Devices

[jmbgeg]

On train 14 this weekend the, LSA was very stern each meal in warning passengers that no electronic devices of any kind were allowed in the dining car. Interestingly, the PPC made no such pronouncements. In the past, I have heard announcements that discretion should be used to conduct cell phone calls away from dining cars or coach seats where they may disturb other passengers, and similar warnings about Ipods, etc.

Granted, I don't want my fellow community seating passengers gabbing away on the cell phone, listening to an Ipod that others can hear, or playing noisy games on an electronic device during meals. On they other hand, I don't think it is unreasonable for passengers to respond to a text or e-mail on a phone that is set on vibrate.

Was this LSA stating current Amtrak policy or her own version of the rules?

Editorial Comment: As I was just sitting here thinking, this may have occured on Southbound 11 and not Northbound 14. Funny how it all blurs together in 70-80 hours of train travel... :blink:

 

[amamba]

That sounds like a strange policy. I used my iPhone on my trip in March to take pictures of the dining car and send post updates to facebook as well as my blog during meals in the dining car. I don't think it impacted other pax - in fact, some were quite intrigued by the idea of me blogging about my experience and posting pictures of the food, etc.

 

[roomette]

I have always wondered why is it some people are not offended by over-hearing BOTH sides of a conversation, but when they over-hear only ONE side of a conversation, it offends them? If someone is on the phone you only hear one side of the conversation.

You would think they'd be doubly upset when they hear BOTH people in a conversation and would prefer NO TALKING in the diner.

Isn't a pacemaker an electronic device? I think the LSA made up their own rule.

 

[Peter KG6LSE]

BY THERE DEFINITION a watch a pacemaker a flashlight a O2 pack a hearing aid .

is not allowed in a dining car ..

I may seam off the hook but its Employees that make up the rules as they go that need the boot and Never serve any company any good .

This is how it should be done ..

" this is the LSA speaking as we have very little room in the dinning car we ask you do not bring in any personal entertainment devices or big cameras as to make the trip a more enjoyable one for you fellow PAX If you must bring in a cell phone please be considerate of your fellow PAX and put it on vibrate . also we do community seating .............."\\

See its not to hard to get a good set of rules and be POLITE !

EDIT Romette JINX on the pacemaker !

Is a O2 Pack electronic ? I think so !!!

So now legally speaking the LSA has BANNED people with O2 concentrators from dining .

I smell the ADA act .

EDIT again ..OP added more info .

 

Yup the coast starlight where the conductors make up there own baggage policy

I ll Never EVER see why people consider this the jewel of amtrak .

Its the worst LD train I have bean on consistently and I have bean it many times and each time its just as bad .

Look the CZ and SWC have way more nicer staff . I don't know why but after a " ground breaking study "

of 3 years of riding over 10000 miles I can say My data is reasonable .

Peter

 

[user 683]

With the exception of the quiet car, I'm not aware of any established Amtrak rules that limit use of electronic devices on the train. However, I think folks should consider fellow passengers when using phones, toys, etc. I'm not against folks taking calls or texting in the dinning car or any where else on the train as long as doing so does not disrupt others. Unfortunately, this concept is foreign to many people. So, there are times when I wish the conductor or LSA would step in to tell folks to lower their voice, for example.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

... on a phone that is set on vibrate.

Why do so many people think that "vibrate" is completely silent?

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

I have always wondered why is it some people are not offended by over-hearing BOTH sides of a conversation, but when they over-hear only ONE side of a conversation, it offends them? If someone is on the phone you only hear one side of the conversation.

At least from my experience, people talk much louder on the phone (which is what, 1" away?) than they would talk with someone who is a few feet away. I guess it is just human nature that if you talking to someone who is miles away, that you feel a great need to talk VERY LOUDLY for them to hear you.

I guess there is also the time, due to the communal seating, that you get seated with some strangers. As you sit, the stranger says "Hi!", and you respond back with a "Hi!", only to find out that they are not saying "Hi!" to you, but rather are on their in-their-ear bluetooth headset talking to someone else.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

I wonder how much of this, is due to passengers asking the dining car waitstaff to wait, while they finish a long winded conversation on their cell phone, or need to finish a game on their DS, before giving them their order.

I know that during meal times, the waitstaff has to hustle, and being asked to stop and wait, really throws off their timing.

 

[Ryan]

I think the LSA made up their own rule.

Agreed.

... on a phone that is set on vibrate.

Why do so many people think that "vibrate" is completely silent?

Why do you think that people think that?

At least from my experience, people talk much louder on the phone (which is what, 1" away?) than they would talk with someone who is a few feet away. I guess it is just human nature that if you talking to someone who is miles away, that you feel a great need to talk VERY LOUDLY for them to hear you.

There's a technical reason for that - when you talk on a landline telephone, whatever is picked up by the mic is played back at a low level into your ear (called sidetone). In cell phones, the amount of sidetone is much reduced (or non existent), so it's a natural response to speak more loudly to compensate.

 

[jis]

I think the LSA made up their own rule.

Agreed.

Even on the Canadian, where IMHO any wait staff on an average day provides better service than on Amtrak train, including the CS, they are quite happy to allow electronic devices in any of the multiple Diners that each Canadian carries.

 

[AlanB]

I wonder how much of this, is due to passengers asking the dining car waitstaff to wait, while they finish a long winded conversation on their cell phone, or need to finish a game on their DS, before giving them their order.

I know that during meal times, the waitstaff has to hustle, and being asked to stop and wait, really throws off their timing.

You don't need to ban electronics to fix that problem. You just don't take their order if they're not ready and you make them wait. And if you have to wait too long before the order can be taken, then when you finally do get them to give it to you, you process it as a to-go order so that they can eat in their room/seat and you can turn the table.

Trust me, next time they'll be ready to give their order. And this way the staff doesn't need to punish everyone else on the train.

And punish is what it is. I use my phone for many other things besides phone calls. It also serves as my camera and I use it to record calling times at stations and take notes about the trip. Seeing as how there is no rule that I must talk the entire time to my table mates, I'm sure that that they can tolerate my looking away for a minute to record a time in my phone or for me to take a picture. And I have no intention of leaving my iPhone sitting in my room unprotected. Yes, theft is rare, but I'm not gambling with my iPhone.

You want to ban taking calls, that's one thing. But the entire phone, NO! And to my knowledge, there is no official Amtrak policy either that permits, much less suggests that LSA's should enforce any ban.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Why do so many people think that "vibrate" is completely silent?

Why do you think that people think that?

I was wondering the exact same thing.

At least from my experience, people talk much louder on the phone (which is what, 1" away?) than they would talk with someone who is a few feet away. I guess it is just human nature that if you talking to someone who is miles away, that you feel a great need to talk VERY LOUDLY for them to hear you.

There's a technical reason for that - when you talk on a landline telephone, whatever is picked up by the mic is played back at a low level into your ear (called sidetone). In cell phones, the amount of sidetone is much reduced (or non existent), so it's a natural response to speak more loudly to compensate.

There's that. There's also the additional complication of the other person being in a much noisier environment than the speaker next to you. It could be a poor reception area where the speaker assumes speaking loudly will help get through the static. And I'm sure we could come up with several more reasons or excuses if we really wanted to. What I think it all boils down to is lack of common courtesy though. You may not immediately realize you're shouting through your phone in public, that's a very human mistake. But over time it should become easy enough to connect the dots and realize we might be speaking too loudly on our own phones. I've been able to train myself to keep my conversations soft enough and short enough that they're unlikely to cause much of a problem for others. There is no reason most folks couldn't have done the same just by using their own brains. I've said in similar threads that in Japan everyone on the metro was using their phone, but nobody was talking. This is because they had the balls to make it an actual rule. Only voice calls and other noisy uses were banned though. Text messages, reasonably quiet games, vibration notifications, and such were still allowed and encouraged so folks could continue to enjoy themselves or maintain contact with work or family or whatever. If this is what Amtrak wants to do that's fine with me.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

I have always been of the belief when you are at the table, it is social time with your table guests and in this "modern" world, that means cell phones, texting machines, video games and whatever get left behind and you socialize with your guests and perhaps pick up a new friend or 2 in the meantime. A camera doesn't bother me, especially on a train where you never know when a prime shot will present itself, as taking a moment or 2 to grab a quick pick and enjoy the site usually doesn't distract from the conversation.

 

[jis]

I have always been of the belief when you are at the table, it is social time with your table guests and in this "modern" world, that means cell phones, texting machines, video games and whatever get left behind and you socialize with your guests and perhaps pick up a new friend or 2 in the meantime. A camera doesn't bother me, especially on a train where you never know when a prime shot will present itself, as taking a moment or 2 to grab a quick pick and enjoy the site usually doesn't distract from the conversation.

What about the case where the cell phone is the camera and the library of 10,000 photos and dozens of videos that enable and support a social interaction regarding train travel, and also is the GPS device that shows where we currently are and at what speed we are moving?

At least in my case, almost without an exception, my Smartphone proves to be an integral part of the socialization. people love to see pictures of trains and train travel, and even just other travel in distant places, and they ove to know where they are and at what speed they are moving. So I guess ones mileage may vary, as the saying goes.

 

[PRR 60]

I have always been of the belief when you are at the table, it is social time with your table guests and in this "modern" world, that means cell phones, texting machines, video games and whatever get left behind and you socialize with your guests and perhaps pick up a new friend or 2 in the meantime. A camera doesn't bother me, especially on a train where you never know when a prime shot will present itself, as taking a moment or 2 to grab a quick pick and enjoy the site usually doesn't distract from the conversation.

Those people are not "my guests." I don't invite them to my table. I have no choice, they just sit down.

I've had some nice conversations in dining cars, and some truly wacky one's. With the later, having a diversion is a huge plus. It's hard to fake sleeping when you also have to eat dinner.

 

[jis]

I have always been of the belief when you are at the table, it is social time with your table guests and in this "modern" world, that means cell phones, texting machines, video games and whatever get left behind and you socialize with your guests and perhaps pick up a new friend or 2 in the meantime. A camera doesn't bother me, especially on a train where you never know when a prime shot will present itself, as taking a moment or 2 to grab a quick pick and enjoy the site usually doesn't distract from the conversation.

Those people are not "my guests." I don't invite them to my table. I have no choice, they just sit down.

I've had some nice conversations in dining cars, and some truly wacky one's. With the later, having a diversion is a huge plus. It's hard to fake sleeping when you also have to eat dinner.

Besides, at least I go to the Diner primarily to eat. If socialization happens that is a nice extra, but I generally have zero expectation of a reasonable company randomly showing up at my table. I just thank my stars when the company is not outright obnoxious, which unfortunately happens more often than I care to remember, and of course even once is more than is desirable. Don't get me wrong, the flip side is that quite often I get some delightful co-gastronomists in the Diner.

 

[chandj]

I have always been of the belief when you are at the table, it is social time with your table guests and in this "modern" world, that means cell phones, texting machines, video games and whatever get left behind and you socialize with your guests and perhaps pick up a new friend or 2 in the meantime. A camera doesn't bother me, especially on a train where you never know when a prime shot will present itself, as taking a moment or 2 to grab a quick pick and enjoy the site usually doesn't distract from the conversation.

Those people are not "my guests." I don't invite them to my table. I have no choice, they just sit down.

I've had some nice conversations in dining cars, and some truly wacky one's. With the later, having a diversion is a huge plus. It's hard to fake sleeping when you also have to eat dinner.

Besides, at least I go to the Diner primarily to eat. If socialization happens that is a nice extra, but I generally have zero expectation of a reasonable company randomly showing up at my table. I just thank my stars when the company is not outright obnoxious, which unfortunately happens more often than I care to remember, and of course even once is more than is desirable. Don't get me wrong, the flip side is that quite often I get some delightful co-gastronomists in the Diner.

I agree completely. However, if I see a gastronome in the Amtrak diner I assume he/she is lost! :lol:

 

[me_little_me]

I have always been of the belief when you are at the table, it is social time with your table guests and in this "modern" world, that means cell phones, texting machines, video games and whatever get left behind and you socialize with your guests and perhaps pick up a new friend or 2 in the meantime. A camera doesn't bother me, especially on a train where you never know when a prime shot will present itself, as taking a moment or 2 to grab a quick pick and enjoy the site usually doesn't distract from the conversation.

Those people are not "my guests." I don't invite them to my table. I have no choice, they just sit down.

I've had some nice conversations in dining cars, and some truly wacky one's. With the later, having a diversion is a huge plus. It's hard to fake sleeping when you also have to eat dinner.

Besides, at least I go to the Diner primarily to eat. If socialization happens that is a nice extra, but I generally have zero expectation of a reasonable company randomly showing up at my table. I just thank my stars when the company is not outright obnoxious, which unfortunately happens more often than I care to remember, and of course even once is more than is desirable. Don't get me wrong, the flip side is that quite often I get some delightful co-gastronomists in the Diner.

What kind of weirdos do you attract? In all our trips, we have never sat in the diner with anyone who wasn't nice, friendly and a definite plus to our trip. The closest to failure was one guy who didn't respond to our two attempts to be nice so we just ate and talked quietly. Then when we were close to finishing, my wife said something and he suddenly opened up. We had a wonderful conversation with this businessman from the Caribbean!

When the diner isn't crowded enough to be "forced" to share a table, we are disappointed.

 

[jis]

What kind of weirdos do you attract? In all our trips, we have never sat in the diner with anyone who wasn't nice, friendly and a definite plus to our trip. The closest to failure was one guy who didn't respond to our two attempts to be nice so we just ate and talked quietly. Then when we were close to finishing, my wife said something and he suddenly opened up. We had a wonderful conversation with this businessman from the Caribbean!

I have occasionally had absolutely non-communicative table mates. Usually they are always scruffy looking males. Women tend to always want to talk and that is fine be me

The worst was on the EB at breakfast in Montana (eastbound), a guy who came in with a huge chip on his shoulder, and immediately proceeded to try, try and try again to pick a fight with the LSA, who was one of the nicer LSAs that I have come across. Finally he ordered some food and then promptly left never to return, which was IMHO good riddance to bad rubbish. Fortunately the other two at the table were nice people and all three of us were equally stumped about what happened.

But the original point I was trying to make is that as long as my primary need for reasonable food in Diner is satisfied I am a happy camper. Any additional goodies like good company is just a bonus. I suppose this is in line with how I deal with everything else in life. There is a primary goal to be met, and then there are possible enhanced experiences associated with it to strive for but not to feel too disappointed if those don't materialize.

 

[buckhouse2006]

While on Train 14 last thanksgiving weekend, you got the impression that you couldn't even use your cell phone at all. Was in the last coach. Weather wasn't good and people were calling about connections, etc. The train crew got really upset about cell phone use. I used mine anyway.

 

[The Journalist]

What kind of weirdos do you attract?

I'm pretty sure i WAS the weirdo at my table the last time I was in an Amtrak dining car... h34r:

 

[amtrakwolverine]

Wonder if they will start putting metal detectors and x-ray machines in the diners to see if your bringing any electronic devices into the diner with you.

 

[GG-1]

Aloha

Neither my still or video camera are small and no LSA has ever objected.

 

[George B]

Didn't we cover all of this about a month ago with the topic about the gal that got kicked off of #14 for talking on her cell phone?

 

[nolatron]

I have always been of the belief when you are at the table, it is social time with your table guests and in this "modern" world, that means cell phones, texting machines, video games and whatever get left behind and you socialize with your guests and perhaps pick up a new friend or 2 in the meantime.

That might be your cup of tea, but not mine. I go to the diner to eat, not socialize with strangers. You don't sit at table with strangers when you go out to a restaurant do you? If I had the choice I'd dine alone in the dining car if I could.

But regarding the topic, I've ate several times in the Dining cars on my last trip with my iphone in hand so I could chat with my wife or email. Sometimes I sat down with my iPad to eat and work at the same time. None of the attendants on any train (CNO, Crescent, CL) had any problem with this.