posted
birdchops, there is something about riding the rails in a sleeper that is better than Viagra. Remember Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint in "North by Northwest" on the Century? Some of us 60-somethings still got it going on, I guess.
-------------------- Ocala Mike Posts: 1530 | From: Ocala, FL | Registered: Dec 2006
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My question is did you get on the first flight you listed for? Any chance that you were upfront? We rarely see that side of the curtain domestically anymore even with 38 years seniority. Too many "throwups".
Frank in gorgeous SBA.
Posts: 2160 | From: Santa Barbara, CA, USA | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
we have jumpseat agreement with southwest so i rode wn sea-smf-las, stayed the night, got to the airport and was able to ride the jumpseat on a delayed flight two hours before i intended to. it is virtually impossible to sit in first class EVER because its become nothing but upgrade class. drx's are so rampant at my airline (drx=book a 1pm flight, then show up for the 8am and screw the employees trying to nonrev) that its hard to gage the loads. flying in an unused jumpseat is all we got right now lol. i have said for years that first should cost and the product be a f/c product, and stop the constant upgrades..
Posts: 54 | From: Saint Louis | Registered: Jan 2008
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posted
I guess the idea behind upgrades (barring overbooking) is simply to tempt the free upgraders to be so tempted by the product that they pay for an upgrade next time.
Geoff M.
-------------------- Geoff M. Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
Off topic at a railforum, but as Ms. Birdchops, as well as if I recall properly Mr. Frank @ KSBA have noted, it appears that airline employee nonrev travel has become a fringe benefit that is fast depreciating in value.
Case in point; two daughters aged 22 and 19 of an AA F/A with 26 years traveled overseas this past June; since both are in college (Connecticut College and LSU) they certainly qualify for non rev. However, I learned from their Father that they were paying for travel KORD-EGLL-KORD - on UA!!!
Trading with the enemy???
Finally Ms. Birdchops, when we refer to the "jumpseat', perchance do we mean such on the Flight Deck? That is an experience I have had once in this life - during 1957.
Posts: 9977 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Oh for those college days when students qualified for a 50% standby fare. Usually wound up sitting in first class as that was long before FF miles and upgrades. First class was truly first class.
Even in the last days of Eastern Airlines, the wine glass was never empty on my frequent Balt-Atl-Jax flights.
But I'd still rather take the EB (to keep this on topic).
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
An airline employee rarely gets to travel in first class anymore. At my airline, you have to pay for first class, regardless where you are flying. Coach is free but only after 5 years of seniority, and only free to latin america, hawaii, alaska, continental u.s. (including mexico and canada) and the carribean. You still have to pay for all taxes however. I dont know how amtrak pass travel works, or how their commutters get to/from work but would like to know. I had one guy say he just rode in the crew sleeper when he commutted from PIT to CHI to start his trip. I can jumpseat in a Flight Attendant jumpseat, but never in a cockpit jumpseat (nor can a pilot sit in mine) as its all about the union aggreements. Frankly, its so crowded i dont want a pilot in my jump seat as he wouldnt care to fan the toilets for 4+ hours like we have to do and his back would kill him so much I frankly dont want to hear him moan and groan (pilots are THE biggest winers outside MD's that I know). Moreover, first class is just upgrade class now, the food sucks, and the service is poor because the stew has already served 3 meals in the last 12 hours, and is on her 4th leg that day working a 14 hour duty day and has to do it again tomorrow..and the next day...because we've all taken such huge pay cuts one cant afford this job no more. Anyway, back to trains. Why cant first class be a bit more nicer on board Amtrak??? Would it really cost that much more to have a dining car without 4 tables stacked high with boxes, silverwear and lets talk those plastic plates shall we, even on the EB !!!
Posts: 54 | From: Saint Louis | Registered: Jan 2008
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posted
Birdchops, you're so right about all those tables being used as storage bins. It's unattractive and inefficient. But:
There is NO other place on a long distance diner to store those things. If you ever were able to go down into the kitchen to see how things were done, you'd think you were aboard a World War II submarine just setting out on a sixty-day war patrol. Boxes and boxes of provender are stashed every which way, including right in the middle of the working area. There's barely room for the cooks to do their thing.
I'm not sure a dining car redesign would solve the problem of where to stash things. Food and its appurtenances take up remarkable amounts of room. Perhaps the space of one table could be turned into a locker with shelves and walls from floor to ceiling. It would look a lot better.
First class on Amtrak would be nicer if they brought back the wine-and-cheese boxes that used to be given to each passenger on departure. That'd be a start.
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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posted
It would also be nice if they brought back the juice and at least one soft drink in the "foyer" of each car.
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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how did they do it in the 50's when apparently dining cars had class??? maybe it was all a farce and it was just as nasty as it is now.
Posts: 54 | From: Saint Louis | Registered: Jan 2008
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posted
Ms. Birdchops, take it from one who likely has ridden more miles pre-Amtrak than post, the Diner on any name train had "class". Think of such as Emirates Air apparently is today.
posted
Perhaps one reason there is so much junk in the diner is there is that so much of today's Amtrak kitchen is disposable packaged food containers, disposable utensils, drink containers etc. In 'the old days' most everything was consumed on board and all tableware was washed and returned to its designated place.
Regardless, Amtrak's next generation cars need to find a solution - along with keeping the diners and lounges from becoming a crew lounge area.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
I do envy those of you who experienced true first class train travel. Both the meals and the accomodations could be so much nicer with a little bit of effort. Rather like they are trying to do, without much success per Smitty, on the CS.
By the way Henry, I just wrote this on my iphone from the deck of the Zaandam while sitting in the Hilo harbor. Lovely day in Hawaii!
-------------------- Vicki in usually sunny Southern California Posts: 951 | From: Redondo Beach, CA | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
Thank you Mr. Norman for the picture of the UP dome diner. I remember in the 60's having dinner upstairs on the City of Los Angeles, and it was a wonderful experience dining at that elegant linen-clad table with real glass ware and genuine silver utensils, not stainless steel that is often referred to as silver. About the nearest you can find in North America to "the good old days" is Via's Canadian that still has an elegant dining car with linen and real glass ware. Alas, although Via says you will dine with silverware, in fact they removed the genuine CPR silver many years ago and it is now just stainless steel flatware.
Posts: 524 | From: Toronto Ont. Canada | Registered: Mar 2001
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