I must admit I really have no idea what the difference is between these two options on planes or trains. Since the train will now be my main mode of transportation for vacations, I’m curious to know more about it. I took unreserved coach last week and was perfectly comfortable. Would Business be more comfortable somehow? Offer more amenities? Would it be worth spending more money?
The only place I’ve ever run into unreserved coach is in the Northeast Corridor on Acela, so I’ll answer from there. I, being a poor college student who uses the train to get to an airport from his middle-of-nowhere college, always wind up using the Acela Regional unreserved coach. Now, this has some good things and bad things. You can spend as much or as little time on layover as you want, depending, of course, of just when the next train leaves. It’s cheaper, quite comfortable, and good if you’re not traveling with much luggage. However, you are never guaranteed a seat, so you could be stuck for a while if everyone else got there before you. You can only take the unreserved trains, the Acela Regionals, which I think are slower and I know they make more stops overall.
I don’t know anything about business class. I’m a coach kind of guy–Southwest when I fly, even. I’d argue unless you need the reserved space, the fewer stops, and/or are going to a major city like New York, Philly, Boston, Baltimore, or Baltimore and not some smaller stop like BWI Airport, to go with the unreserved.
I went business class on Amtrak once (once before that, I had a business class ticket but didn’t realize what it meant, so I rode coach). The difference is:
- Wider seats (four to an aisle, not six).
- More legroom. I couldn’t reach the seat in front of me with my legs.
- Free non-alcholic drinks at the snack bar.
If your company is paying, it’s a nicer trip, but I doubt its worth the extra money for an individual.
Largely agree w/RealityChuck, only the regular trains have never (at least since 1991, when I started riding regularly) been six across (even local commutrer trains, like NJ Transit and LIRR, are only five across). The seats are a bit wider, though, but it’s pretty negligable.
Note also that since 9/11 you must have a ticket to board Amtrak. It used to be that you could buy a ticket on board in the unreserved cars - now you can’t. A side benefit is that there is now (at least in theory) a seat for everyone on the train, whereas before at holidays people would be sitting or standing in the aisles. So that destroys one of the former advantages of business class: a guaranteed seat.
On Acela Express - those are the new trains, which replaced the Metroliner - first class is quite cush, with three across instead of four, and IIRC table service. I’ve only taken it once, since even the regular AE seats (which I think are called “business class,” just to confuse things) are quite spendy. Comparison: during peak hours (Fridays and Sundays after 11 a.m., and during the holidays), one-way on regular Amtrak from NYPenn to Washington is $89. Acela Express is $146, I think, and first class is almost $200.
In general, I found the upgrades of any flavor Not Worth It.
In business class when they lose your luggage, you get a claim ticket and a smile. When in coach, you get a claim ticket.
I just used it to get to San Diego (not that far, but I didn’t want to drive there and around the city), and I paid $23 to go there and $17 to come back, in late December. It’s a Surfliner. I plan to use it again this year. I’m curious to see what business would cost but most likely wouldn’t use it.
Thanks for all the info.
In Business Class (at least on the Acela trains here in the Northeast Corridor) they have an area at the end of each car with pay phones & modem hookups.
And the deal breaker for me has always been that I’ve never seen kids in Business Class, which I find very peaceful. Granted, most of the kids I’ve ever encountered in Coach have been well-behaved, but avoiding the few that are allowed to run and jump and scream freely is worth the increased ticket price to me. In Coach I actually had a strange kid climb on top of me to look out the window and scream at the scenery, while his mom laughed and made some comment to me about boys-will-be-boys. Ugh, what a horrbile monster!
Yeah unreserved coach is great… until you try to travel the northeast corridor on a Friday afternoon. They keep selling tickets long after the seats are all gone. So have fun standing all the way to NYC! It sucks, I mean it really sucks to stand that long on the train.
I go up and down the northeast corridor almost every other weekend. I try to get on a reserved train. It costs the same as unreserved and you get a confirmed seat.