Email to GR Members RE: Acela Problems
Apr 22, 2005, 11:24 am
#1
In Memoriam
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: New York, NY, USA
Programs: HH Diamond, Amtrak Exec
Posts: 3,262
Email to GR Members RE: Acela Problems
This email will answer many of the questions about the double points and free ride promos currently running.
Dear Alan B,
As a loyal passenger of Amtrak®, your continued patronage is very important to us. On behalf of Amtrak, I want to reassure you that you can continue to count on us for your travel needs. As such, I am writing to you to provide you with an update of our efforts to provide you with safe, reliable service while we work to restore Acela Express® service.
First, we are returning our Metroliner® service in order to offer hourly premium service on weekdays from Washington to New York and to begin to offer premium service north of New York, as well. Here is a review of your service options over the next several weeks:
Washington to New York City
Effective Monday, April 25, Metroliner business and first class service will fill most of the Acela Washington to New York hourly time slots weekdays between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Metroliner service will be further expanded on May 2 covering all thirteen hourly departures. In addition, 20 Regional train round trips will be offered departing at five minutes past the hour from their origination point.
New York City to Boston
Effective April 25, nine weekday roundtrips will be offered on our Regional service. Beginning May 2, four daily weekday Metroliner departures will replace some of the Acela departures.
I also want to assure you that we are committed to our popular Acela Service. We are working diligently with the Acela manufacturer's consortium to develop a plan to safely restore the Acela train service. We are hopeful that a permanent resolution of the brake issue will allow for a gradual return of the service this summer. We will continue to keep you up to date on our progress.
In the meantime, when you choose to ride our Metroliner or Regional services, you will continue to earn Amtrak Guest Rewards® points, just as you had when you rode Acela Express. For instance, you will be awarded 500 or 750 points per trip based on service class for the duration of the time that Metroliner and Regional trains are replacing Acela trains. Regional trains between select city pairs will earn 500 points for coach and 750 points for business class. All other trips will remain at the standard earning structure.
Similarly, if you are registered to participate in our current Acela Express promotion, you will receive qualifying credit for your select city pair trips taken on Regional and Metroliner trains from April 15 through the end of the promotion. Qualifying trips paid for with any MasterCard® card will continue to earn double points. The free roundtrip voucher awards will now be valid on Metroliner and Regional trains, as well as Acela Express and may be used between June 15, 2005 and March 31, 2006.
Amtrak and Amtrak Guest Rewards would like to express our sincere apologies for any inconveniences you may have experienced. Rest assured, we are going to do everything we can to meet your travel needs. Thank you for your continued support and patronage.
Best Regards,
Barbara Richardson
Vice President, Marketing and Sales
As a loyal passenger of Amtrak®, your continued patronage is very important to us. On behalf of Amtrak, I want to reassure you that you can continue to count on us for your travel needs. As such, I am writing to you to provide you with an update of our efforts to provide you with safe, reliable service while we work to restore Acela Express® service.
First, we are returning our Metroliner® service in order to offer hourly premium service on weekdays from Washington to New York and to begin to offer premium service north of New York, as well. Here is a review of your service options over the next several weeks:
Washington to New York City
Effective Monday, April 25, Metroliner business and first class service will fill most of the Acela Washington to New York hourly time slots weekdays between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Metroliner service will be further expanded on May 2 covering all thirteen hourly departures. In addition, 20 Regional train round trips will be offered departing at five minutes past the hour from their origination point.
New York City to Boston
Effective April 25, nine weekday roundtrips will be offered on our Regional service. Beginning May 2, four daily weekday Metroliner departures will replace some of the Acela departures.
I also want to assure you that we are committed to our popular Acela Service. We are working diligently with the Acela manufacturer's consortium to develop a plan to safely restore the Acela train service. We are hopeful that a permanent resolution of the brake issue will allow for a gradual return of the service this summer. We will continue to keep you up to date on our progress.
In the meantime, when you choose to ride our Metroliner or Regional services, you will continue to earn Amtrak Guest Rewards® points, just as you had when you rode Acela Express. For instance, you will be awarded 500 or 750 points per trip based on service class for the duration of the time that Metroliner and Regional trains are replacing Acela trains. Regional trains between select city pairs will earn 500 points for coach and 750 points for business class. All other trips will remain at the standard earning structure.
Similarly, if you are registered to participate in our current Acela Express promotion, you will receive qualifying credit for your select city pair trips taken on Regional and Metroliner trains from April 15 through the end of the promotion. Qualifying trips paid for with any MasterCard® card will continue to earn double points. The free roundtrip voucher awards will now be valid on Metroliner and Regional trains, as well as Acela Express and may be used between June 15, 2005 and March 31, 2006.
Amtrak and Amtrak Guest Rewards would like to express our sincere apologies for any inconveniences you may have experienced. Rest assured, we are going to do everything we can to meet your travel needs. Thank you for your continued support and patronage.
Best Regards,
Barbara Richardson
Vice President, Marketing and Sales
Apr 22, 2005, 1:03 pm
#2
Join Date: May 2002
Location: South Park
Posts: 362
Very good response on the part of AGR. Making Regional eligible for Acela/Metroliner points is a nice token. The 3.5 month extension to the free roundtrips is also very generous. Thanks Amtrak and AGR.
Cheers.
Cheers.
Last edited by Cohiba; Jul 21, 2005 at 8:14 pm
Apr 23, 2005, 2:47 pm
#4
Join Date: May 2002
Location: South Park
Posts: 362
Originally Posted by NirajS
Does this mean that all AGR members travelling on Regionals will get 500 points???
WOW!! ^
^
WOW!! ^
^Cheers.
Last edited by Cohiba; Jul 21, 2005 at 8:13 pm
Apr 23, 2005, 8:28 pm
#5
In Memoriam
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: New York, NY, USA
Programs: HH Diamond, Amtrak Exec
Posts: 3,262
Originally Posted by NirajS
Does this mean that all AGR members travelling on Regionals will get 500 points???
WOW!! ^ ^
WOW!! ^
^I've confirmed this through several sources, in addition to Amtrak's official press release that I posted above.
Apr 23, 2005, 11:11 pm
#6
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: PDX
Programs: DL DM, AS MVP 100K, Amtrak peon, Colbert Lifetime Platinum
Posts: 4,534
Which are the qualifying city pairs for the bonus Regional points? I'm in NYC for the weekend and would love to do an MR before I return to the land of all-100-point trips. Thanks in advance!
Apr 24, 2005, 9:16 am
#7
Join Date: May 2002
Location: South Park
Posts: 362
Originally Posted by GoAmtrak
Which are the qualifying city pairs for the bonus Regional points? I'm in NYC for the weekend and would love to do an MR before I return to the land of all-100-point trips. Thanks in advance!
"Qualifying city pairs are: Boston - Stamford, Boston - New York, Boston - Newark, Boston - Metropark, Boston - Washington, Boston - Philadelphia, Route 128 - Stamford, Route 128 - New York, Route 128 - Newark, Route 128 - Metropark, Route 128 - Washington, Route 128 - Philadelphia, Stamford - Washington, New York - Washington, Newark - Washington, Metropark - Washington"
I really wish Washington - Philadelphia would be added. I've talked to AGR about this a couple times. I understand they don't want to (and shouldn't) give out 500 points for short rides, but look at the cost. A peak NY - Boston round trip is $218 now and used to be $198. A peak DC - Philly round trip is $230. I lobbied (one of many I'm sure) that not having Philly - Route 128 / Boston was an oversight and that eventually got fixed, so I'm not giving up!
Cheers.
Last edited by Cohiba; Jul 21, 2005 at 8:12 pm
Apr 27, 2005, 2:19 pm
#10
Join Date: May 2002
Location: South Park
Posts: 362
At times, if memory serves me right, there have been promotions that counted Providence - City A or City B as a qualifying trip for the 500/750 points. At all non-promotional times, Providence is not considered a valid origin or destination for select city travel.
I haven't been on the train since the Acela sidelining, but I don't see any reason why the Metroliners wouldn't be serving meals in F. If I find out that they are not, then I will go back to my original plan of buying air tickets!
Cheers.
I haven't been on the train since the Acela sidelining, but I don't see any reason why the Metroliners wouldn't be serving meals in F. If I find out that they are not, then I will go back to my original plan of buying air tickets!
Cheers.
Last edited by Cohiba; Jul 21, 2005 at 8:10 pm
Apr 27, 2005, 9:38 pm
#11
In Memoriam
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: New York, NY, USA
Programs: HH Diamond, Amtrak Exec
Posts: 3,262
Originally Posted by fastflyer
I thought Providence-New York was a valid ACELA bonus city pair.
Are the Metroliners serving meals in First? Same as was done in Acela?
Are the Metroliners serving meals in First? Same as was done in Acela?
The Metroliners are indeed serving meals in First Class, just like they've always done.
I'll be riding one this Saturday from NYP to Boston, so I'll confirm it then, but I'll be pretty upset if I don't get a meal for the extra 55 bucks I paid.
May 2, 2005, 11:33 am
#12
Join Date: May 2002
Location: South Park
Posts: 362
NYP - BOS Metroliners
So, I just read the May 2 service update e-mail and decided to take a peak at the schedules for some upcoming trips. While I'm thrilled about the plan to put a few Metroliners in service on the North End, couldn't they schedule a little time variation? Two afternoon trips NYP - BOS (15:00 and 17:00) and two morning trips BOS - NYP (06:00 and 06:55). What about an earlier day NYP - BOS and a later day BOS - NYP? I guess I shouldn't complain since there is at least some service and they are certainly playing to passenger loads, but some flexibility would be nice.
Cheers.
Cheers.
Last edited by Cohiba; Jul 21, 2005 at 8:03 pm
May 2, 2005, 12:16 pm
#13
In Memoriam
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: New York, NY, USA
Programs: HH Diamond, Amtrak Exec
Posts: 3,262
Originally Posted by AlanB
The Metroliners are indeed serving meals in First Class, just like they've always done. I'll be riding one this Saturday from NYP to Boston, so I'll confirm it then, but I'll be pretty upset if I don't get a meal for the extra 55 bucks I paid.
I'll be riding one this Saturday from NYP to Boston, so I'll confirm it then, but I'll be pretty upset if I don't get a meal for the extra 55 bucks I paid.Gone is the snack mix, returning instead to a bag of pretzels and a bag of goldfish from old Metroliner days. For lunch the choices were a cheeseburger, a chicken sandwich on a roll, and a Genoa Salami wrap. Instead of 750ml bottled wine, that one has to remove the cork from, I got the mini 167ml twist off cap bottles that one could buy in the cafe car for 5 bucks.
Still got real silverware and cloth napkin, but all glass was gone. No glass plates, no glass coffee cups, and no drinking glasses. Everything was paper and/or plastic.
It's bad enough that First Class customers have no choice but to return to the old equipment, and I do understand that it wasn't Amtrak's choice or fault that it happened. But now Amtrak seems determined to make the experience even worse for those passengers who remain loyal to Amtrak by delivering an inferior product, by comparison to that which was served on Acela and even on the Metroliners for the last few years.
Still costs just as much though for that inferior product. 
The one bright spot, aside from having one of my favorite attendants working the run, was that I did get to ride in one of those refurbished Club cars with the faux leather seats. That was quite nice.
Last edited by AlanB; May 2, 2005 at 12:20 pm
May 2, 2005, 12:41 pm
#14
Join Date: May 2002
Location: South Park
Posts: 362
Alan,
Has this Saturday trip been your only run on the returned Metroliners so far? Do you think this has something to do with it being a weekend? It was just odd that the press release and the e-mails only talk about weekday services. Then again, that is probably just a wording tactic since their bread 'n' butter comes from weekday traffic. That being the case, all service in Metroliner F will be as you described.
Even worse, in my opinion, is that the press release / e-mails brag about the availability of F. "Offering Metroliner service with both Business class and First class service, a popular amenity that had been offered by the Acela Express trains." Your report just makes that statement seem like an insult. Not good.
Cheers.
Has this Saturday trip been your only run on the returned Metroliners so far? Do you think this has something to do with it being a weekend? It was just odd that the press release and the e-mails only talk about weekday services. Then again, that is probably just a wording tactic since their bread 'n' butter comes from weekday traffic. That being the case, all service in Metroliner F will be as you described.
Even worse, in my opinion, is that the press release / e-mails brag about the availability of F. "Offering Metroliner service with both Business class and First class service, a popular amenity that had been offered by the Acela Express trains." Your report just makes that statement seem like an insult. Not good.
Cheers.
Last edited by Cohiba; Jul 20, 2005 at 10:34 pm
May 2, 2005, 3:56 pm
#15
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: BOS
Posts: 2,315
Like most of my business associates I have reluctantly given up on Amtrak until they restore Acela service. I'm not inclined to take an inferior product, and its unfortunate Amtrak hasn't taken extra strides to make the Metroliner service as close to the Acela's quality as possible, and gone out of their way to keep the premium customers riding the rails.
The bigger question will be how many customers they lose permanently.
The bigger question will be how many customers they lose permanently.