New CEO: Richard Anderson (ex-CEO DL)
 

Just saw this on Twitter and see it's also posted in the DL forum.

Richard Anderson, former CEO of DL, has been named CEO of Amtrak.

Amtrak press release here: https://media.amtrak.com/2017/06/amt...president-ceo/

Say goodbye to your AGR Points - Introducing AGR 3.0 - No points for you.

Richard Anderson, CEO of Amtrak
 

I don't know for sure this is not some joke, but yeah, that is what the Washington Post is reporting.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.659d93731c15

Is he bringing his desk?

I hope Amtrak passengers don't have to sit through an intro video of that blabbering fool. I was intentionally booking away from planes with video on them to avoid it when he was CEO of DL.

While we may see another devaluation of AGR points down the line, I hardly think that would be the first to-do to get Amtrak back on track (pun intended). If his time at DL was any indication, I expect that we'll see improvements to the overall customer experience, improved on-time stats, and more competitive pricing. I'm excited to see what changes he brings.

Folks, please follow this discussion in its new home, Amtrak | Guest Rewards.

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essxjay, the OMNIs co-mod

great news. If anyone can turn this mess around it's him.

hope he does messy this up and change the Amtrak guest rewards points

Say hello to AGRubles, a fitting name after SkyPesos.

"Wanna redeem a roomette. It will cost you... one million dollars (er, points)!"

Oh, and he will scrap together all the unwanted rolling stocks around the world to be put on the Amtrak fleet (getting us back to the rainbow era). I'm sure some of the DL regulars get this joke.

Goodbye free wifi. Goodbye free checked baggage.

Hello to ticket change fees. Hello to more seats squeezed into the same cars.

Anything that is provided free now will be subject to consideration for monetization.

I got a one-way roomette SOB-HFY for 14,000 points. Did I get a good deal? (The cash fare was $399.00).

I wonder if he'll bring any sort of airline style improvements to Amtrak.

One that I've been thinking about for a while is airline style lie-flat seating as a quick-and-dirty alternative to sleeper cars (or even a lower class of service below sleeper), or even just for red-eye trains on corridor routes such as train 65/66/67.

Another idea would be entertainment, either seatback or streaming.

Also, a center armrest would be nice. It feels really awkward to not have an armrest between seats on the Amfleets.

Hopefully he doesn't add slimlines and/or increase seat density.

The main problems with Amtrak are still going to be stuff that's outside of the CEO's control, unfortunately, regardless of who the CEO is (for example, freight having higher priority than passenger traffic).

That said, there are some routes where Amtrak is a decent option. Pacific Surfliner from San Diego to LA is one example. (Not so?) coincidentally, they happen to be shorter routes on the network.