Originally Posted by
javabytes
There's no doubt Amtrak is more comfortable. Even the regular Amtrak seats are better than Delta's First Class seats... except for the part where you have to spend two and a half days in them to make a trip you could fly in 8 hours. Some people enjoy the journey and some people just need to get where they're going, but air is often a quite reasonably priced way to travel compared to driving or taking the train (especially if you're used to paying for sleepers).
It depends on which version of Amtrak coach you're talking about
:
-With Amtrak's LD seats I'll agree (I'm reminded of Amtrak having a serious discussion about there being so much legroom on the Superliners that folks were having trouble using their laptops on the tray tables and that moving seats in a bit would actually improve the passenger experience...something I would actually concur with).
-If you're thinking NE Regional coach seats (i.e. the ones I go through insane acrobatics to avoid for want of recline)...well, let's just say that if that turns out to be the case my interaction with the airline industry may remain rather sporadic for cause. There are some very good reasons I am excessively careful about which train I pick on certain routes.
At least with me, it's one part enjoying the journey, one part the lack of a humiliation conga to go through (not having to worry if there's a bottle of water in my bag, for example), and one part, in many cases, a lack of "lost" time: I live in Virginia, so taking an overnight train to Florida really only "loses" either a few hours the evening of departure or the morning of arrival and quite possibly saves a night in a hotel one way or both (on my return I can usually get a late enough train that I can have most of a day at Disney before boarding).
Edit: As a sincere question, how does Delta Domestic First compare with American, United, and/or Virgin? I really have no benchmarks for comparison on this front.