Originally Posted by DCAview

Personally, I find Regional Coach more comfortable than Acela Business. I find that the Regional seats are cushier and seem to have more legroom (though I do like the Acela footrests and the bigger windows). Having said that, Acela First beats them all, but it's absolutely not worth a $163 premium over Regional Coach.

Regional Business varies dramatically. When your train is equipped with a club car (in which Business Class is 1 x 2 rather than the standard 2 x 2), it's almost certainly worth the fairly modest premium over Regional Coach. When your train is not equipped with a club car, then Business Class looks a lot like Coach (essentially 2 x 2 with somewhat better legroom and occasional footrests) and is absolutely not worth the premium. Problem is, there's no way to know what quality Business Class you're going to get until the train pulls into the station.

(Of course, you could have the worst outcome, which is when you buy a Regional Business class ticket only to find that the "Business Class" car is a standard Coach Class car with paper signs taped to the door noting that it's supposedly Business Class.)