Why I prefer to take the train over the plane

Just came back from a trip from DC to Vermont. I decided to take
Amtrak, even though it's a 10+ hour trip vs. flying (about 4 hours, if
you count dealing with travel to the airport and check in and security
BS.) And the price was reasonable: ~$130 r/t vs. $178 r/t on
Southwest BWI-Manchester. (Those touted $39 one way fares are actually
$49 after they add various taxes and service charges, and they're not
always available.)

Both trains were 100% on time, the seating was nice and roomy. (On the
northbound trip, they put some coaches normally used for bisiness class
for the coach passengers.) And despite some funky track, slow speeds,
and a weird reversal of directions north of Springfield, Mass., the
trip was actually faster than I usually drive it.

But the best part of the rip was my homeward journey. Strapped to my
belt I had my trusty 6-inch Bowie knife that I had forgotten to take
off when I got out of the woods. On boarding the train -- no taking
off my shoes, no TSA security weenies treating me like I was some kind
of criminal. Heck, the conductor even helped me with by bag and skis,
even though I think I was slightly over the Amtrak carry-on limit with
the size of my bag. I just climbed into the train stowed my gear and
found a seat. And also, there's enough room so that someone stowing
stuff overhead isn't blocking the passage of 100 other fellow
travelers.

The it was lunch time, and I went to the cafe car, bought a bottle of
Cabernet, took out a nice chunk of genuine Vermont cheddar cheese and
started hacking at it with my knife, eating Vermont cheese with
California wine, watching the scenic countryside roll by.

Now, can you imagine doing such a thing on an airplane, unless you
actually owned it? At best, my trusty bowie knife would be
confiscated, at worst, because my accent slightly resembles that of
certain other middle eastern nationalities, I might have gotten an
intense 'secondary" inspection or even been detained. At worst, on
Amtrak, sometimes the conductor briefly inspects your driver's license,
and if you buy the ticket at a ticket machine with a credit card,
nobody insepcts any ID when you buy the ticket.

Unfortunately, next week, I have to travel somewhere for business
that's too far to justify taking the train. So I'll have to endure the
TSA, the narrow seats, the bumpy ride, and the pressure changes that
give me gastric distress. Yucchhh! Curse you Orville and Wilbur!

"Abe Kouris" wrote in message
oups.com...

And despite some funky track, slow speeds,
and a weird reversal of directions north of Springfield, Mass.,

Can you provide more details on those three things?

Abe Kouris wrote:

Yucchhh! Curse you Orville and Wilbur!

Well, with all due respect to you, I don't think it makes ANY sense to
curse Orville & Wilbur. Plane trips were once very pleasant.

Better to curse, first, Mohammed Atta and his henchmen, now thankfully
dead, who did such a number on the US via planes; and second, the
stupid, idiotic airlines, that seem to think the more unplasant they
make flying, the more people will fly.

"sechumlib" wrote in message
...
Abe Kouris wrote:

Yucchhh! Curse you Orville and Wilbur!

Well, with all due respect to you, I don't think it makes ANY sense to
curse Orville & Wilbur. Plane trips were once very pleasant.

Better to curse, first, Mohammed Atta and his henchmen, now thankfully
dead, who did such a number on the US via planes; and second, the stupid,
idiotic airlines, that seem to think the more unplasant they make flying,
the more people will fly.

More realistically blame the travelling public who want the lowest
ticket price no matter how crappy the service. Those airlines
that have done best are the low cost airlines who cram more
seats in and cut services to make the op profitable.

Keith



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Please distinguish between airlines. I fly an enormous amount and think
that JetBlue and Southwest provide excellent service. JetBlue gives me
plenty of legroom (I am very, very tall), a console to watch the news,
regular tv program or sporting events at no cost, lots of beverages and
snacks and extremely friendly folks. Southwest is a little barebones,
but still very good on the customer service side of the house, and it
does not put my knees up against my chin. The real problems lie with
the 'legacy' carriers who have suffered from awful and greedy
management, hub-spoke systems that are dreadfully hard to sustain, and
visions of customer service based on a 'transportation' rather than
'customer service' philosophy (sounds like a passenger rail carrier I
can think of). Oh, and go back 20-30 years and today airports are
cleaner, offer endlessly more service, etc. Sure, security can be a
joke (like so many things our government does these days) but I must
say I have never been inconvenienced, treated rudely or seriously
delayed.

On 21 Feb 2006 20:02:13 -0800, "Abe Kouris"
wrote:

Just came back from a trip from DC to Vermont. I decided to take
Amtrak, even though it's a 10+ hour trip vs. flying (about 4 hours, if
you count dealing with travel to the airport and check in and security
BS.)

More like 13 hours from DC to Burlington.

And the price was reasonable: ~$130 r/t vs. $178 r/t on
Southwest BWI-Manchester. (Those touted $39 one way fares are actually
$49 after they add various taxes and service charges, and they're not
always available.)

Both trains were 100% on time,

Is that the usual situation, or were you lucky?

[...]

The it was lunch time, and I went to the cafe car, bought a bottle of
Cabernet, took out a nice chunk of genuine Vermont cheddar cheese and
started hacking at it with my knife, eating Vermont cheese with
California wine, watching the scenic countryside roll by.

Now, can you imagine doing such a thing on an airplane, unless you
actually owned it? At best, my trusty bowie knife would be
confiscated, at worst, because my accent slightly resembles that of
certain other middle eastern nationalities, I might have gotten an
intense 'secondary" inspection or even been detained. At worst, on
Amtrak, sometimes the conductor briefly inspects your driver's license,
and if you buy the ticket at a ticket machine with a credit card,
nobody insepcts any ID when you buy the ticket.

Of course, if you had taken that four hour flight you would have
been in Vermont by lunch time instead of near bed time and could
have had wine and cheese al fresco in beautiful Vermont.


************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Is that the usual situation, or were you lucky?

I reckon it's the usual situation; I've only used the Vermonter once
(before they cut the Thruway bus to Montréal *sniff*) but have heard
others describe it as super comfy (yep, they were Metroliner coaches)
and scenic. It's a nice little corner of the network that's worth
exploring, possibly more beautiful than the 'adjacent' Adirondack. In
an ideal world, of course, they'd both run through to Montréal, but I
guess that would hardly make sense.

*j*

Ron wrote:
Please distinguish between airlines. I fly an enormous amount and think
that JetBlue and Southwest provide excellent service. JetBlue gives me
plenty of legroom (I am very, very tall), a console to watch the news,
regular tv program or sporting events at no cost, lots of beverages and
snacks and extremely friendly folks. Southwest is a little barebones,
but still very good on the customer service side of the house, and it
does not put my knees up against my chin. The real problems lie with
the 'legacy' carriers who have suffered from awful and greedy
management, hub-spoke systems that are dreadfully hard to sustain, and
visions of customer service based on a 'transportation' rather than
'customer service' philosophy (sounds like a passenger rail carrier I
can think of). Oh, and go back 20-30 years and today airports are
cleaner, offer endlessly more service, etc. Sure, security can be a
joke (like so many things our government does these days) but I must
say I have never been inconvenienced, treated rudely or seriously
delayed.

And what about security measures BEFORE boarding your vaunted JetBlue or
Southwest flight?

What about them? Five or ten minutes to get through. And, why the
cynicism about 'vaunted'. Do you work for United?

/r

Ron wrote:
What about them? Five or ten minutes to get through. And, why the
cynicism about 'vaunted'. Do you work for United?

No, I work for myself (when I work).

Cynicism because of all the bad stuff I've read about the security
checkpoints, which just confirms my resolve not to fly again until there
is a radical change.