Originally Posted by
ou81two
i boarded the pacific starlight just now from PDX going to Seattle. The train was supposed to leave at 420 but was late due to a track issue. I went to the dining car immediately on boarding and was told that they were completely full for the next ~4 hours until Seattle.
is it normal to have no food options ona. Train like this? They have the snack car but It seems like, you know, boarding at dinner time should at least give a chance for dinner
Let me know how I'm doing at parsing this. I assume you boarded the
Coast Starlight yesterday at Portland to go to Seattle. It was scheduled to depart Portland at 1556 but actually departed at 1813. On boarding, you attempted to make a reservation in the diner and were turned away, because it was full until closing time.
Are you saying that the dining car personnel should have turned away passengers already on board in order to save a place for you, just in case you wanted to eat in the diner? I assume not, but some people feel they are that entitled. Probably you are saying that the train should have sufficient capacity to offer the opportunity to eat in the diner to someone who was scheduled to be on board during meal time. I agree with that sentiment (and your indignation), and I encourage you to write to your representatives in the Senate and the House and ask them to fund new and more equipment and more personnel for Amtrak, so that you and others might avoid this situation in the future. It appears that you were a victim of Amtrak's success.
You started a thread about the "snack car" running out of desirable food. Again it appears that you were a victim of Amtrak's success. (In both cases, you also could have been the victim of Amtrak's management, but the solution in any case to write to your representatives and ask for more money for Amtrak, and perhaps better leadership.)
In answer to your question about whether it is normal to run out of food, my experience is that it is all too normal. What to do? You guessed it. Write a letter to your representatives in Congress. I sincerely encourage you to do so. Complaining on FlyerTalk will not solve the problem.