Washington Union Station Priority Boarding

[Bob Dylan]

Yep, Amtraks suits never seem to learn, they just keep re-inventing the wheel, repeating the same old tired mistakes over and over and expecting different results!( One definition for Insanity!)

Chicago and New Yorks Management definitely need to go to Passenger Train 101 School also, but since Amtraks Headquarters is actually located in Union Station, the 60 Mass Pubobs might need some remedial learning before they attend!

Hope Wick saw this and will take action when he assumes the throttle!

 

[williamn]

I think it's partly related to the fact there are no seat reservations. When you know you have an allocated seat there is no reason to line up. (but then again I also think it's nuts that Amtrak seems to be the only passenger railway in the world that doesn't do any specific seat reservations on long distance trains)

In the UK (where I'm from) the platform for a train gets announced 15-20 mins ahead of departure at a terminal station and people just make their own way there as and when they like. No queues (apart from perhaps at peak travel times like Christmas).

 

[wwchi]

I think it's partly related to the fact there are no seat reservations. When you know you have an allocated seat there is no reason to line up. (but then again I also think it's nuts that Amtrak seems to be the only passenger railway in the world that doesn't do any specific seat reservations on long distance trains)

In the UK (where I'm from) the platform for a train gets announced 15-20 mins ahead of departure at a terminal station and people just make their own way there as and when they like. No queues (apart from perhaps at peak travel times like Christmas).

you are exactly right. Part of the problem is they put passengers going to the same/similar destinations in the same car so you can't have those people picking seats all over the place. But that's coach. Earlier in this thread I made a similar comment. Since all of Business Class is in one car it doesn't matter what your destination is. You should be able to click on the train seating map like on airline sites and just pick where you want to sit. It's not hard to put that on the site/in the app! You can pick which room/roomette for sleepers right?

 

[jis]

Actually even when you have specific cars assigned to specific set of destinations it is not hard to do. You just have to get off of the seat of the pants operations approach and do some up front planning to set things up.

 

[wwchi]

Actually even when you have specific cars assigned to specific set of destinations it is not hard to do. You just have to get off of the seat of the pants operations approach and do some up front planning to set things up.

you're right...but they can't even seem to get our accounts sync'd up between the app and the website! LOL! Hard to imagine it could be that hard to get that all to work properly!

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

You cannot reserve a specific room on the sleeper ONLINE. You must call a voice phone number to request a specific room number or letter. If you make the sleeper reservation online you will get a room assigned to you by the computer and not necessarily the one you would like. And now a days, it very difficult if not impossible to call and get your room assignment "modified" or changed without a change in the price.

 

[wwchi]

You cannot reserve a specific room on the sleeper ONLINE. You must call a voice phone number to request a specific room number or letter. If you make the sleeper reservation online you will get a room assigned to you by the computer and not necessarily the one you would like. And now a days, it very difficult if not impossible to call and get your room assignment "modified" or changed without a change in the price.

see again, so inefficient. If they just focused on technology in a bigger picture view they could get a lot of things running pretty smoothly, easily and consistently! It certainly doesn't encourage rail travel now does it! LOL!

 

[SarahZ]

Actually even when you have specific cars assigned to specific set of destinations it is not hard to do. You just have to get off of the seat of the pants operations approach and do some up front planning to set things up.

I'm not a programmer, but I would imagine this would be possible:

(I'm using the Wolverine as an example, as it's fairly consistent in its boarding process.)

"Pax to Detroit and cities east of Detroit are in Car A, Ann Arbor pax are in Car B, Kalamazoo/Battle Creek pax are in Car C, and everyone west of Kalamazoo is in Car D. Business class pax are in BC."

So then the program has a train consist (lots of hand-waving here because I don't know how you'd code this).

When the program sees a passenger is going to Kalamazoo, it generates an image of Car C (like picking seats on a plane), and the passenger picks their seat in Car C. Same for other cities. Handicap seats are blocked unless you are disabled, just like the airline seat maps. Certain blocks of seats are reserved for groups/families until, say, seven days before the trip.

Is this way more difficult than it needs to be? Too simple? I'm imagining a lot of "if/then" type stuff.

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

Well, it certainly has not discouraged me from traveling on Amtrak. I find the AGR reps to be helpful and excellent in providing this service.

 

[SarahZ]

Well, it certainly has not discouraged me from traveling on Amtrak. I find the AGR reps to be helpful and excellent in providing this service.

Ditto. Perhaps I'm lucky, but I've always had friendly, knowledgeable reps when I've called AGR, even when they're in the middle of a "service disruption" maelstrom and wait times are close to a half-hour or more. They're the only customer service line that doesn't make me cringe when calling them.

I would actually love to work there, if I had any plans to move to Riverside or... what's the other location?... Philly?

(Edit: Apologies for going off-topic. I forgot this is the WAS thread, not an AGR thread from earlier.)

 

[wwchi]

Actually even when you have specific cars assigned to specific set of destinations it is not hard to do. You just have to get off of the seat of the pants operations approach and do some up front planning to set things up.

I'm not a programmer, but I would imagine this would be possible:

(I'm using the Wolverine as an example, as it's fairly consistent in its boarding process.)

"Pax to Detroit and cities east of Detroit are in Car A, Ann Arbor pax are in Car B, Kalamazoo/Battle Creek pax are in Car C, and everyone west of Kalamazoo is in Car D. Business class pax are in BC."

So then the program has a train consist (lots of hand-waving here because I don't know how you'd code this).

When the program sees a passenger is going to Kalamazoo, it generates an image of Car C (like picking seats on a plane), and the passenger picks their seat in Car C. Same for other cities. Handicap seats are blocked unless you are disabled, just like the airline seat maps. Certain blocks of seats are reserved for groups/families until, say, seven days before the trip.

Is this way more difficult than it needs to be? Too simple? I'm imagining a lot of "if/then" type stuff.

I think you've pretty much hit it on how it could work. It doesn't have to be difficult and what you describe is totally doable. Now if they could just do it!

 

[Ryan]

The hard part is convincing Congress to give them the money to do it.

 

[Bob Dylan]

The hard part is convincing Congress to give them the money to do it.

Especially since much of the IT Dept.is now in Atlanta, and wizards like Anthony are gone on to better jobs!

 

[Ryan]

Right.

If only Anthony hadn't left, Congress would have fully funded Amtrak with everything they needed.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Right.

If only Anthony hadn't left, Congress would have fully funded Amtrak with everything they needed.

It was a joke with a tip of the hat to Anthony Ryan, guess you missed it!

 

[ScouseAndy]

I think it's partly related to the fact there are no seat reservations. When you know you have an allocated seat there is no reason to line up. (but then again I also think it's nuts that Amtrak seems to be the only passenger railway in the world that doesn't do any specific seat reservations on long distance trains)

In the UK (where I'm from) the platform for a train gets announced 15-20 mins ahead of departure at a terminal station and people just make their own way there as and when they like. No queues (apart from perhaps at peak travel times like Christmas).

Clearly you havent travelled with Virgin from Euston, in their infinate wisdom they are now copying Amtraks logic of announcing a gate, then queuing at said gate to have tickets checked (but with no priority boarding for anyone)

 

[jis]

Coming to think of it Euston also resembles an American station more than any other in London that I can think of

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

When the program sees a passenger is going to Kalamazoo, it generates an image of Car C (like picking seats on a plane), and the passenger picks their seat in Car C. Same for other cities. Handicap seats are blocked unless you are disabled, just like the airline seat maps. Certain blocks of seats are reserved for groups/families until, say, seven days before the trip.

Is this way more difficult than it needs to be? Too simple? I'm imagining a lot of "if/then" type stuff.

My "if/then"...

So, what happens when Car C is full, and a passenger going to Kalamazoo wants to make a reservation? Do you tell them to "get lost" (who makes up that lost revenue?), or offer them one of the hundred empty seats in Car A and Car B? If you're willing to put the additional Kalamazoo passenger(s) in Car A or Car B, why even attempt to keep them separate in the first place?

 

[HP_Lovecraft]

I think the new "line" is a good idea.

Whenever I've boarded with my kids at WAS, it was total, absolute chaos. Hundreds of people cram into the tiny waiting area. They would make an announcement for priority boarding but its pretty much impossible to control because of the crowd rush. Its really a terrible system.

Usually we would redcap since it was so useless to count on priority boarding. On a related note, the WAS Club Acela has never let me use the side door to board early. I know lots of people hear have been allowed, but I've always been told thats its specifically forbidden.

 

[Carolina Special]

I'm at the WAS Club Acela today and it looks like the LD trains and the Acela passengers are allowed to board out the side doors, but the Regional passengers are sent out to the gate to board in the regular cattle manner.

I'll find out for myself in a couple of hours when 19 boards.

 

[SarahZ]

When the program sees a passenger is going to Kalamazoo, it generates an image of Car C (like picking seats on a plane), and the passenger picks their seat in Car C. Same for other cities. Handicap seats are blocked unless you are disabled, just like the airline seat maps. Certain blocks of seats are reserved for groups/families until, say, seven days before the trip.

Is this way more difficult than it needs to be? Too simple? I'm imagining a lot of "if/then" type stuff.

My "if/then"...
So, what happens when Car C is full, and a passenger going to Kalamazoo wants to make a reservation? Do you tell them to "get lost" (who makes up that lost revenue?), or offer them one of the hundred empty seats in Car A and Car B? If you're willing to put the additional Kalamazoo passenger(s) in Car A or Car B, why even attempt to keep them separate in the first place?

Valid points. That happens pretty often, and the conductors just tell people to be sure to "walk two cars forward" (or whatever) when they stop in that person's city.

So I suppose an open train diagram would be best, but then the conductors would be spending more time herding cats (so to speak) at each stop.

This would be moot if all of the doors opened at every stop, but we both know that isn't the case.

 

[Carolina Special]

I'm going to amend my comment above because I see an NER to NY boarding out of one of the side gates of the Club Acela lounge right now.

 

[jis]

When the program sees a passenger is going to Kalamazoo, it generates an image of Car C (like picking seats on a plane), and the passenger picks their seat in Car C. Same for other cities. Handicap seats are blocked unless you are disabled, just like the airline seat maps. Certain blocks of seats are reserved for groups/families until, say, seven days before the trip.

Is this way more difficult than it needs to be? Too simple? I'm imagining a lot of "if/then" type stuff.

My "if/then"...
So, what happens when Car C is full, and a passenger going to Kalamazoo wants to make a reservation? Do you tell them to "get lost" (who makes up that lost revenue?), or offer them one of the hundred empty seats in Car A and Car B? If you're willing to put the additional Kalamazoo passenger(s) in Car A or Car B, why even attempt to keep them separate in the first place?

Valid points. That happens pretty often, and the conductors just tell people to be sure to "walk two cars forward" (or whatever) when they stop in that person's city.
So I suppose an open train diagram would be best, but then the conductors would be spending more time herding cats (so to speak) at each stop.

This would be moot if all of the doors opened at every stop, but we both know that isn't the case.

Not necessarily. You give them an open reservation with no assigned seat, seat to be assigned later. Airlines do this all the time. Just because some pre assignment of seats is allowed does not mean everyone gets it.

 

[ScouseAndy]

There is nothing stopping seats being allocated 30 minutes or so before departure and customers being emailed/texted their seat and coach number prior to boarding (and even charge customers extra to be guaranteed to sit next to each other).

One of the main reasons why I hate flying is because passengers are treated like cattle, train travel doesn't and shouldn't be like this

 

[MARC Rider]

I'm going to amend my comment above because I see an NER to NY boarding out of one of the side gates of the Club Acela lounge right now.

They allow boarding for the Regionals out the side door, but they don't announce the trains. They only announce the Acela and LD trains. Also, if your Regional is boarding from the lower gates, track 21-28, they may not let you go out the side doors and bypass the cattle lines. I think you're allowed to claim priority boarding, but it's a pain to work your way to the front of the line.