If there’s one thing that riding the rails has over flying, perhaps it’s comfort: Train passengers have a bit more legroom than on planes, and can get up and walk around at any time. We all may need to stretch our legs a bit more if Amtrak decides to pack in more seats. [More]
amtrak
Delivery Man Brings Pizza To “Hangry” Passengers On Stalled Amtrak Train
By 5.16.17
In an act of pizza heroism that earned him $32 in tips, a delivery man brought grub to hangry — hungry and angry — passengers stuck on a stalled Amtrak train. But while his move was met with cheers from Amtrak riders, the train operator is warning against walking that close to the tracks. [More]
Long Live Inflight Shopping: United Airlines Brings Back SkyMall For A Limited Time
By 12.7.15
There has been an inflatable movie screen-sized hole in our hearts ever since SkyMall announced in January that it had filed for bankruptcy protection, essentially ending 25 years of inflight shopping entertainment. But that void for all things you-never-knew-you-needed-until-you-had-nothing-better-to-do-than-flip-through-the-pages-of-the-kooky-retail-magazine will soon be full: SkyMall will once again by flying high on United Airlines. [More]
Amtrak Allowing Pets On Busy Northeast Regional Trains For $25
By 10.9.15
Nearly a year and a half after launching a pilot program in Illinois that allowed train travelers for the first time to bring along their small pets – much like they do when traveling by plane – Amtrak will expand this option to one of its busiest routes. [More]
Amtrak Will Now Start Enforcing Baggage Limits
By 9.29.15
If you’ve been hopping on trains with big loads of luggage and gleefully stowing it Amtrak’s baggage compartments, you’re going to need to curb your tendency to over pack: starting Oct. 1, Amtrak will start enforcing its baggage weight limits, handing out fees to those hauling more than their fair share onboard. [More]
Amtrak Extends Service That Allows Passengers To Walk Bikes Onboard
By 9.14.15
When you’ve already cruised the highways and byways of your hometown, the idea of a bike trip in another state can certainly be appealing — there are new hills to vanquish, deep forests or vast deserts waiting to be discovered on two wheels and long stretches of road to zoom on. To help folks who need to travel to hook up with popular bike trails and routes, Amtrak is expanding its service that lets passengers bring their bikes onboard trains. [More]
Five Airlines Being Probed For Price-Gouging Following Amtrak Accident
By 7.24.15
Five airlines are at the center of a newly opened federal investigation into price-gouging for their actions in allegedly raising airfares following the May derailment of an Amtrak train in Philadelphia that killed eight people and injured 200 others. [More]
Delaware Becomes The Only State Without Commercial Air Travel After Frontier Airlines Flies Away
By 6.30.15
While flying is often the easiest and quickest way for travelers to get from one place to another, the nearly one million residents in Delaware will have to find a different mode of transportation in their home state — unless they want to fly privately. That’s because the state’s lone commercial airline servicer quietly exited the market last week. [More]
Amtrak WiFi: So Slow It Might As Well Not Exist
By 4.23.15
If you’ve ever had the misfortune to sit next to me on an Amtrak train while I was trying to write, you’ve probably heard me mutter things about the state of onboard WiFi service that — were they fully audible — would have made Larry Flynt blush. Sometimes I wondered if it was just me, or if there was something wrong with my computer (every single one of them that I’ve ever used) that made it allergic to AmtrakConnect. It turns out, the service is just plain awful for everyone. [More]
Amtrak Funding Bill Approved By House Includes Provision Allowing Pets On Trains
By 3.5.15
After embarking on a trial allowing dogs and cats to travel on some trains along with their owners last spring, it seems Amtrak could soon have pet cars on all its trains nationwide. In a bill passed by the House that approved Amtrak funding, legislators rewrote the rules regarding furry companions riding the rails. [More]
Amtrak Hands Out Doritos & Pizza After Train Leaves The Station Without Its Passengers
By 8.4.14
You know that feeling you get when you leave the house, like maybe you left the curling iron on, or didn’t remember to lock the back door? That’s annoying enough, so I can’t even imagine what it’d be like to leave an entire trainful of passengers behind at the station, like one Amtrak train did over the weekend. [More]
Amtrak Allowing Pets On Certain Trains In New Trial Program
By 4.28.14
Trains! Such adorable little vestiges of a golden era gone by, so rich in quaint customs like not allowing pets onboard, even as those young upstart airlines have accepted furry friends for decades. But Amtrak is possibly going to change that, with a new trial policy of allowing dogs and cats on trains — but just on certain routes for now. [More]
Amtrak Is Now Officially Taking Applications For Its Writers’ Residency Program
By 3.10.14
What a difference a few weeks and a bunch of writers who want a free roundtrip train ride can make: After Amtrak’s initial writers’ residency stirred up interest at the end of February, Amtrak has officially unveiled its program and is now accepting applications. [More]
Amtrak Giving Free Roundtrip Rides To Writers Because Everyone Loves Writing On Trains
By 2.24.14
There is perhaps no other idea so entrancing to the writerly-mind than setting out to write during a cross-country trip. And there’s no smoother way to write about the amber waves of grain rolling endlessly past than on a train, says anyone who has written on both a train and in a car. So it’s not surprising that Amtrak’s plan to give free, roundtrip rides to writers (riders and writers!) is turning out to be a popular idea. [More]
Snow Traps 500 Amtrak Passengers On Trains Overnight — So How Were The Toilets?
By 1.7.14
As you’re snuggled up to your cubicle space heater and dreading that icy walk home, sure, you’re allowed to feel the cold and be grumpy about it. But imagine being stuck on an Amtrak train for hours, overnight, huddled in your coat and hungry, with flooded bathrooms and nonworking toilets. Those are some of the conditions passengers stranded on three trains in Illinois said they faced before their rescue this morning. [More]
Amtrak Train Headed For NYC Ends Up In Philly Suburbs Because Aren’t Surprises Fun?
By 11.20.13
Passengers aboard an Amtrak train that departed Harrisburg, Pa. were probably looking forward to taking in the sights of New York City, considering that’s where everyone on the locomotive thought they were going (do they still call them locomotives or did my grandfather just take over my brain?). But never mind the Empire State Building, aren’t the Philadelphia suburbs charming? [More]
Report: 95% Of Amtrak Stations Have “Major Barriers” For Disabled
By 10.17.13
More than two decades after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a new survey of Amtrak stations around the country claims that the overwhelming majority of them still fall far short of being accessible for passengers with special needs and that some are still completely inaccessible to consumers who use wheelchairs and other mobility devices. [More]
