AlanB

Actually, IMHO, the staggered seating is only bad from a revenue point of view, since you're not maximizing every table. But from a passenger's point of view, when the crew is doing it right, it is actually better than the old way. The old way when you filled up the entire diner all at once, the staff was overwhelmed. Even in a regular restaurant, generally no waiter has all 5 or 6 tables in their section arrive all at once.

Normally one table just sat down, one is on salads, one is on the main meal, one is on desert, etc. But with the filler up method, you've instantly got 5 or 6 tables, all wanting things at exactly the same time. I find that generally, yes there are crews that are hopeless, with staggered seating that I'm not waiting for things as long as I used to wait for things.

So while I lament the loss of revenue for Amtrak because of the staggered seating system, I like it from the customer side of things.

I do agree about the plastic/glass thing, and as I pointed out many years ago in a post on Amtrak Unlimited, all Amtrak did was rearrange the deck chairs; the ship is still sinking. Congress wanted food service costs cut. Amtrak pulled that off by cutting staff and charging other departments for costs that didn't use to existing; namely trash hauling. But that's not part of the food service budget. So they met the Congressional mandate.

Stupid, but then so was the Congressional meddling that led to the plan.