New dining options (flex dining) effective October 1, 2019

[ScouseAndy]

These tickets were purchased in January and traditional dining was shown on their menus and charged for. Really ticks me off and if this trip for wife and I which includes 10 day cruise NYC to Quebec City and tour of QC, Montreal & Niagra Falls before returning to NYC and home I would cancel but would need another place to live if I did that at this point. I will not schedule another Amtrak again though if this is what they will be offering.

You dont even know what they are offering is the same, comparable, better or worst because no announcement has been made. Wait until you have made your trip and tried the food before jumping to conclusions.

If it is worst then pick up the phone after you have travelled and complain to them until they refund a portion of your ticket costs.

 

[seat38a]

Seat38A... is united club available to domestic first class passengers?

I'm a United Club member. It is only available if your flying business class on premium transcon nonstop routes: LAX - EWR, SFO - EWR, SFO - BOS

 

[seat38a]

Holiday inn express offers hot eggs and either hot sausage or bacon, hot oatmeal, hot cinnamon rolls, pancakes from a machine, and maybe hot waffles as well.

Hampton Inn offers 2-3 hot Items (I usually see scrambled eggs, potatoes and either sausage or bacon... a couple other options rotate around too) and then make your own waffles and a pot of oatmeal.

Yeah but those hot eggs at HIX were definitely not cooked fresh in the back. Just reheated.

 

[CAQuail]

I'm a United Club member. It is only available if your flying business class on premium transcon nonstop routes: LAX - EWR, SFO - EWR, SFO - BOS

Or if you purchase a membership or a day pass.

 

[seat38a]

Or if you purchase a membership or a day pass.

But the original question was if domestic FC has access with ticket purchase which they don't except for the 3 routes I listed.

 

[scrollmaster]

I guess we'll find out in October. If they're no better than my experience of the City of New Orleans they can keep that.

I wish I could offer a solution for you. I had made many reservations made prior to the announcement for times after October 1 on the Silver Meteor. I have not tried to cancel because I still want to travel. I understand that the menu offerings will be different (improved?) than the meals currently offered on the the CL and LSL.

 

[flitcraft]

I agree that cold hard-cooked eggs are vastly preferable to reheated hot eggs, especially those made from powdered eggs. Yuck!! My preferred breakfast would have some kind of low sugar protein; flavored yogurt doesn't fit the bill, but hard-cooked eggs would.

 

[seat38a]

Personally, I wouldn't mind the whole dining changes if they rolled out what the've been doing on the PDX Empire Builder. The food is prepared and brought to the train my a local caterer.
DSC00941 by B H, on Flickr

DSC00943 by B H, on Flickr

DSC00945 by B H, on Flickr

Fried Chicken Dinner. Loaded In Havre Montana. Might have been Shelby. This was being sold to coach passengers, but I decided to buy and try it.
DSC01137 by B H, on Flickr

DSC01142 by B H, on Flickr

 

[Devil's Advocate]

You dont even know what they are offering is the same, comparable, better or worst because no announcement has been made. Wait until you have made your trip and tried the food before jumping to conclusions. If it is worst then pick up the phone after you have travelled and complain to them until they refund a portion of your ticket costs.

Good luck getting any portion of a completed trip refunded back to you. In my experience the best Amtrak will do is provide a credit towards future travel, which probably wouldn't mean much to someone who is uninterested in boxed meal service.

 

[seat38a]

I have had some remarkably good food on US domestic trans-continental First Class. For example, here is the Tandoori Chicken item that I selected to have on United on a IAH - SEA flight in December last year.

View attachment 14671

I had this exact same meal on my flight from IAH - LAX. I just wished I had some naan and mint chutney to go with it instead of the pretzel roll.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

I'm a United Club member. It is only available if your flying business class on premium transcon nonstop routes: LAX - EWR, SFO - EWR, SFO - BOS

Same as Delta. Just wondering what the competition is like... I've pretty much only flown Delta, unless you count Southwest!

 

[crescent-zephyr]

The Big Sky Chicken Dinners were available for purchase when I rode the empire builder 20 years ago. While the box meals loaded up for the Sleeper passengers are pretty good for what they are (I've had them twice I think), they really don't answer the big problems with the Contemporary Dining. You are locked into a box of food that you may or may not want or be able to eat all of. In a full service dining car, there are some reasonable substitutions that can be made. If you can't eat mashed potatoes, you can order a baked potato for example. If you can't eat cheesecake, there is a gluten free pudding you can order. None of that is possible with Contemporary dining, Airline style dining, or the box meals on the Empire Builder.

 

[jis]

None of that is possible with Contemporary dining, Airline style dining, or the box meals on the Empire Builder.

I have done plenty of substitution, mixing and matching specially in International Business Class, and even some in domestic First Class. So I have no idea why you claim such is impossible in airline dining.

In International Business Class actually the dessert trolley comes by separately and you pretty much get to choose what you want including specialized prep of the ice cream sundae should you prefer that. Similarly the salad and appetizer comes out separately and you get to choose what you want or not. Of course it also depends a lot on the airline. My experience is on various Star Alliance Airlines - United, Lufthansa, Singapore, Thai etc.

The one differentiator in train Diner Dining is the availability of the Grill which enables more local prep of food, but that is where the cost of labor comes in big time. In terms of mixxing and matching from stuff that is on board, there is little difference.

As far as at seat service goes, there are airline services that one can get in International B/F Classes Amtrak has never come even close to, in the last ten years. As DA has explained elsewhere the true comparison between Amtrak Dining and Airline Dining is really with International Upper Class in terms of the fares paid.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

I have done plenty of substitution, mixing and matching specially in International Business Class, and even some in domestic First Class. So I have no idea why you claim such is impossible in airline dining.

In International Business Class actually the dessert trolley comes by separately and you pretty much get to choose what you want including specialized prep of the ice cream sundae should you prefer that. Similarly the salad and appetizer comes out separately and you get to choose what you want or not. Of course it also depends a lot on the airline. My experience is on various Star Alliance Airlines - United, Lufthansa, Singapore, Thai etc.

The one differentiator in train Diner Dining is the availability of the Grill which enables more local prep of food, but that is where the cost of labor comes in big time. In terms of mixxing and matching from stuff that is on board, there is little difference.

As far as at seat service goes, there are airline services that one can get in International B/F Classes Amtrak has never come even close to, in the last ten years. As DA has explained elsewhere the true comparison between Amtrak Dining and Airline Dining is really with International Upper Class in terms of the fares paid.

Impossible in the term of it's not possible for a passenger to do. Not impossible to achieve such a feat. In my limited experience (only one airline..) on domestic first class there are a couple of entree choices and everyone gets the same salad and the same dessert.

It's physically possible to let amtrak passengers mix and match side dishes and desserts with Contemporary Dining, but that is not currently how it is set up for lunch and dinner.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

But regardless... I was talking about mixing and matching the entree plate. The example I gave was being able to order a baked potato or rice if you couldn't eat the mashed potatoes etc. That's not possible, as far as i know, on airlines. Even if the airline does give you a choice between cake and ice cream.

 

[jis]

But regardless... I was talking about mixing and matching the entree plate. The example I gave was being able to order a baked potato or rice if you couldn't eat the mashed potatoes etc. That's not possible, as far as i know, on airlines. Even if the airline does give you a choice between cake and ice cream.

And yet mysteriously I have successfully done so. Have you actually flown in International B/F recently?

 

[seat38a]

But regardless... I was talking about mixing and matching the entree plate. The example I gave was being able to order a baked potato or rice if you couldn't eat the mashed potatoes etc. That's not possible, as far as i know, on airlines. Even if the airline does give you a choice between cake and ice cream.

While jis has had luck mixing and matching meals inflight, you have to also remember, the need to eat inflight on international flights is really diminishing with preflight dining in the lounge. For example, United has Polaris Lounges with a full buffet and also sit down restaurant dining. Same with Star Alliance lounges, with their buffet.

Pictures of EWR Polaris Lounge.
IMG_3334 by B H, on Flickr
IMG_3360 by B H, on Flickr
IMG_3359 by B H, on Flickr

After eating here, I was not hungry during my flight.

You know, it might even be better if Amtrak just did lounge dining or something at Chicago Union Station for the Eastern Trains. Setup a buffet or something with access for sleeper passengers only. Not sure if it would work going westbound but with the Chicago Hub, it could possibly work.

Nevermind, I forgot about the intermediate stops. It would have been great to have Amburgers with french fries instead of chips all the time.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

And yet mysteriously I have successfully done so. Have you actually flown in International B/F recently?

I've never flown International period. I've said that in multiple posts now. I'm talking about domestic first class.

You were able to substitute side dishes that accompany an entree? That's an extensive menu for a flight, but of course at international first prices they can afford to stock up. ha.

 

[user 14106]

I’ve said this before, there is an easy logical solution that I wish they’d consider. Duplicate exactly or close to what they’re doing for Acela First on the eastern LD trains which is more similar to airline first class.

 

[yarrow]

2 questions. i had heard that the dinner provided to sleeper pax on the eb out of pdx(which we always enjoyed)had been downgraded. anyone ridden recently and have a report? second question, we are traveling sleeper on the eb spk to msp in early october. i understand this thread is dealing with changes east of chi but has anyone heard of any changes to western ld trains(specifically the eb)as of october 1? thanks

 

[user 14106]

2 questions. i had heard that the dinner provided to sleeper pax on the eb out of pdx(which we always enjoyed)had been downgraded. anyone ridden recently and have a report? second question, we are traveling sleeper on the eb spk to msp in early october. i understand this thread is dealing with changes east of chi but has anyone heard of any changes to western ld trains(specifically the eb)as of october 1? thanks

Shouldn't be any changes to EB. RPA said in a post a while back that Amtrak has acknowledged that the two night trains would demand a different approach so this contemporary program is likely designed primarily for the eastern trains. Not saying that they have "good intentions" ultimately for the western trains only that they would be looked at separately and differently. It should be noted that it appears the Auto Train is getting special treatment. Although its coach diner is going away, the sleeper diner appears to be remaining a more traditional diner.

 

[the_traveler]

2 questions. i had heard that the dinner provided to sleeper pax on the eb out of pdx(which we always enjoyed)had been downgraded. anyone ridden recently and have a report? second question, we are traveling sleeper on the eb spk to msp in early october. i understand this thread is dealing with changes east of chi but has anyone heard of any changes to western ld trains(specifically the eb)as of october 1? thanks

The reason the EB has boxed meals between SPK and PDX is that the Dining Car goes on the SPK to SEA section. The PDX section only has the SSL (no Dining Car at all). East of SPK, the EB has a Dining Car.

 

[yarrow]

The reason the EB has boxed meals between SPK and PDX is that the Dining Car goes on the SPK to SEA section. The PDX section only has the SSL (no Dining Car at all). East of SPK, the EB has a Dining Car.

i am aware of that. i had heard somewhere that the caterer for the dinner out of pdx was going to change to a source with not as nice a meal. was wondering if that had happened and, if so, what it was like.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

The photos that were just posted looked like comparable quality to what they had earlier.

 

[yarrow]

The photos that were just posted looked like comparable quality to what they had earlier.

yes, the meal is from "outakes" who was the caterer but i note that the box has a date of 5/19 so i wonder how recent the picture of the meal is