I'm making a plan to take a trip from Vancouver, BC to Seattle on Cascades on Sunday morning in October. Is it worthwhile to take business class or just taking coach class?
Vancouver, BC to Seattle- Business Class
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Maglev
Conductor
I book Business Class when I travel on the Cascades for the extra comfort. It is worth it for me.
Ditto for me.
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I recently did that trip from Portland to Vancouver. Going north I was in Business class, and going south I was in coach.
I don't think Business class has extra legroom. It does have 3 across seating instead of 4 across, so if you're a party of 1, you can score a seat by yourself if you'd like. You get a $3 voucher for the bistro car, and the bistro car is one car away, so those are small advantages. When I was booking, business class was actually cheaper than coach going north due to yield management.
Leaving Vancouver I had a 6AM departure. The advantage to business class there is that there's a separate line to go through customs, which could save you 20 minutes.
I don't think Business class has extra legroom. It does have 3 across seating instead of 4 across, so if you're a party of 1, you can score a seat by yourself if you'd like. You get a $3 voucher for the bistro car, and the bistro car is one car away, so those are small advantages. When I was booking, business class was actually cheaper than coach going north due to yield management.
Leaving Vancouver I had a 6AM departure. The advantage to business class there is that there's a separate line to go through customs, which could save you 20 minutes.
The most memorable parts of that trip for me were 1, all the girls in a trackside rooftop bar in Bellingham pulling their tops up and showing off and the totally naked guy running out the woods trackside in Vancouver and hearing the English woman in front of me say, "why, he is without a stitch!"
Just watch out for the Sikh taxi drivers in Seattle, they will take you for a good long expensive ride if you don't know where you're going. Fortunately I was paying with a voucher and boy was he p issued when he found out and had to double back about 15 miles.
ScouseAndy
Lead Service Attendant
Not sure what the guys religion has to do with anything, you get dodgy cab drivers of all creed, colour & religion who will take advantage of out of towners lack of knowledge and fleece them for a bigger fare all over the world. The vast majority of Sikh's (and every other religion) are honest citizens
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ScouseAndy
Lead Service Attendant
Sikh's by definition religion is Sikhism, the turban is a religious clothing just as the Hijab is a Muslim clothing and a Nun's habit is a Christian item of clothing.
TiBike
OBS Chief
That guy running through the forest must have been a Wiccan, then. 
ScouseAndy
Lead Service Attendant
Apologies every this is getting this thread totally off topic and this will be my last comment on this. Would you warn against all Nun's if one ripped you off like you did about Sikh's? You are coming across as a bigot which I'm sure you are not
the_traveler
Engineer
*** Moderator Note ***
Please keep the discussion civil. I know that was not the intention, but please do not head that way. Thank you!
Please keep the discussion civil. I know that was not the intention, but please do not head that way. Thank you!
greatcats
Engineer
About five years ago I was in business class northbound on the evening train, which was fine. An advantage in that direction was that the business car was unloaded first to go to Canadian Customs.
When I went to Vancouver, we took the ferry first to Victoria from Seattle stayed 2 nights at the Empress of India Hotel (a must see) then bus on the ferry to Vancouver with bus going from Port to downtown. Then the train back down to Seattle and flew home to Kauai. It was one of the best trips ever,
We took the train from Seattle to Vancouver and Vancouver to Seattle in May. We were the first car to load and detrain in both directions, making customs in Vancouver quick and grabbing a taxi in Seattle quick. The upcharge was pretty minimal for our tickets.
Thanks guys for helping me out! I'm leaning toward business class.
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