Frankly I would not even expect a "Welcome To Business Class" greeting by any of the Amtrak staff. On two of my three Business Class travels I was not provided with any of the advertised amenities. Neither the Conductor or the Car Attendant advised me of amenities when boarding the train. One of the trips was a short run on the Surfliner from Fullerton to LAUS. The other trip was from NYP to New London. In the case of the Surfliner the attendant walked by after departing FUL with no acknowledgment that I was a new passenger.In many cases "business class" on Amtrak doesn't seem to mean much if anything, and even when it does mean something it's not guaranteed in writing from one train to the next. Based on what I've read it's a bit of a gamble at best and little more than a free soda at worst. I'll be riding in business class on the Missouri River Runner later this week. I have no idea what that gets me but I'm not going into it with any preconceived notions of superior service. If there's a huge seat with fancy meal service and constant attention so much the better, but I'm not expecting anything beyond a can of soda and maybe a newspaper.
Are the BC toilets better maintained? For our next trip, we are considering BC for that alone.She did bring me a soda and apologized.That was my thought too. As long as one got the BC amenities (a soda), what's the harm?For the Palmetto, I'm not sure that a downgrade to coach means much if the OP was placed in an Amfleet II coach car seat. As long as the eticket said business class, could still get the free sodas in the café car as well.
Ridership for the Palmetto is up +3.5% for the first 9 months of the fiscal year. So it is not seeing an overall big increase, it may be that the OP took the Palmetto on a busy day of the week or busier summer travel period.Overbooking happens, but Amtrak should do better to prevent it. Is the Palmetto getting more popular? I would love to see a couple more coaches added.
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