Amusingly (to me, at least) this took place on March 16, the same day it took me 13 hours to get from NYC to DC.
I flew on the 15th, where because there were clear skies in the NE, I was delayed six hours.
I just learned a week ago that "business class" and "first class" are two different things.
I dunno, if that's the worst it gets for a pilot, I'd say that the passengers get the short end of the stick. Sure, bad conditions and delays are stressful for the pilot, but their seats are larger and their time is getting compensated. The element of control and greater knowledge also makes these massive delays easier to endure.
That must've been absolutely brutal for the economy-class sardines.
Oh, it definitely sounds like it's at least a little better for the pilots, for the reasons of control and information you mention. It's just interesting to see what it's like up front. And, wow, am I so glad I wasn't on that flight.
Try and be the flight attendants. No control, and you're locked in a metal tube with about a hundred people getting madder and madder at you, and you don't have any more pretzels to give them.
Mom used to come home from flights like this wrecked.
"I am not taking my passengers to Cleveland!"
Great moment.
I rarely fly but I have to say I have never had a delay of more than a few minutes. Also, for all the hate Salon gets I really do love AtP.
Tangential: in a few weeks I'm heading up to DC for a weekend spent hanging out with a friend and his wife before they go on a foreign service assignment. I'm considering taking Amtrak for the simple reasons that I've never taken the train in the US and that it would be awfully nice to spend that morning playing Gameboy and reading a book rather than driving through pine forests in Virginia and paying for parking in DC and all that associated junk. Is Amtrak, I dunno, tolerable? A high risk for significant delay? Terrible? More comfortable than a plane? Sketchy? The particular train I'd be taking tends to run a little late but not hours upon hours and I don't particularly care about a minor delay if it saves me the effort of having to navigate DC streets all weekend.
I have never had a delay of more than a few minutes
You are so banned.
Amtrak is much more comfortable than a plane. It's pretty tolerable -- they have power outlets at the seats for you to use your laptop and stuff and you have a better chance of having a row to yourself and being able to stretch out. Unless it's a busy route, in which case "Unreserved Coach" can mean you're standing the entire trip (done that!) The risk of delay is high (I've never been on a train from NYC to DC that didn't miss its expected arrival time by at least an hour) but it's comfortable so I mind less than delayed flights. Also, to DC, it drops you off right on the Metro line so it's easy to get where you're going from there. Try to get in the Quiet Car or you might end up spending four hours listening to someone talking to their wedding planner on their cell phone (don that, too!)
6: I can only imagine. At least the pilots are cordoned off from the irate passengers. It must be brutal for the flight attendants who are staying on their feet and dealing with every asshole.
And, apparently, it's perfectly fine to watch semi-pornographic movies on your laptop in full view of other passengers, if my train ride last weekend is of any guidance. So that will help the time fly.
Being a flight attendant has always seemed to me such a brutal job. But then, I'm sort of constantly motion sick. Still, tough job.
Let me preface by saying that the tales of my travel woes are legendary in my family. If I drive, the car will break down. Twice, this has been the transmission. If I fly, the plane will either be late (longest mishap so far is 20 hours, three-five is more common), fail to show up (New York to Ottawa), and pretty much 85% of the time, my luggage doesn't show up with me. If I take the train... well, the last time I did, we were delayed by four hours. The rest of the trains that week got in on time or early.
This makes me a very nervous passenger, and the sort of planner who tends to say, "Gee, I have to be at the conference on Saturday, so I should leave on Thursday and make sure I'm not on the last flight out. That way they'll have time to get my bags to me."
All that said, if you're making a short hop on Amtrak, and that hop is on the Eastern seaboard, it's not bad. Except that anything that comes out of DC is late. If that hop goes further west than Harrisburg, forget about it. And either way it's probably more expensive than renting a car and driving if the trip is just for a weekend.
Back in the day it was pretty sweet. Through the sixties, seventies, and early eighties Mom's job was to fly to Europe Sunday night, hang around with her friends and go to nice restaurants Monday and Tuesday, and then fly home Wednesday. Good hotels, free travel on our own vacations, no problem with bringing the family along for a free couple of days in Rome (no airfare, no hotel room).
But since the late eighties, it's been pretty hellish.
12: Sweet. Amtrak it is! If there's a delay it'll just give me more time to finish.
14: Oh, my car would be fine to get up there and back in (knock wood) but I'd have to pay for gas in DC on the way out and I'd have to pay for parking for the whole weekend and and and. The way I figure it, the train knocks $70 off my trip easy. And I'd be stopping at Union Station, so I figure I'm good to go on delays. Every anecdote I've had so far has been either the 80 Carolina having a terrible time getting from Richmond to Durham or the 92 Silver Star getting delayed when they (a) have to switch engines north of DC and/or (b) run into water over the tracks between DC and Baltimore.
Becks has it right in 10. The Silver Star and the Silver Meteor are the worst in terms of lateness, but really, most of the ones that come out of the south (originating in Miami, Savannah, etc.) are late. Meaning, 60+ minute delay is not uncommon.
The Quiet Car is awesome. The club car does not have good food. It's all prepackaged, but it's still gross. Bring your own.
And if you're paranoid about your laptop, bring a single-unit surge protector -- a good friend of mine had her laptop fried by a power surge on Amtrak.
17: Right, it's the engine switching that has caused the delays I've dealt with.
Plus, there are some decent places to eat actually IN Union Station, if you're stuck there for any reason.
Plus, it's Union Station. I kind of love Union Station (I've been there to see people off but never taken the train in or out myself). It's where I'd be ending the trip and starting it back and I have no problem with hanging out in Union Station on a Sunday afternoon waiting for the train to depart rather than sitting on 395 and cussing.
I think Amtrak does itself a disservice by displaying the amount of time by which a train is late instead of the new arrival time on its boards. They could display "Miami - Now: 11:50 PM" but instead they display "Miami - 11:30 Hours Late" (a real example from last weekend).
"if you're making a short hop on Amtrak, and that hop is on the Eastern seaboard, it's not bad"
East coast elitist! The Pacific Surfliner completely rules. Comfy seats, million dollar views, okay food, great beer for somewhat resonable prices. And in business class ($10 upgrade) you get a free glass of wine. Teh awesome.
Admittedly it takes two or three times as long as driving, but who cares?
If that hop goes further west than Harrisburg, forget about it.
What does this mean?
What does this mean?
If your destination is farther inland than central Pennsylvania, don't take the train. I don't actually know if that's true, not having taken the train anywhere other than from DC to NY, but it makes sense, as the non-NE corridor routes run pretty infrequently and don't have a great reputation.
Aha, that's what I thought. Having only taken the train from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg, which takes at least 6 hours, plus a 1.5 hour delay before you start, plus an unspecified number of unscheduled stops so that cargo trains can zoom past you (by comparison, driving or the Greyhound bus are both about 4 hours or less), it's hard to imagine anyone enjoying it. I was actually under the impression that Amtrak was being systematically defunded and turned into a laughingstock nationwide, but I guess that's not true for the routes that go up and down the coasts.
It means the Pennsylvanian sucks ass as a way to get from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, Ned. Eight hours if everything runs properly, usually around ten or eleven. The big slowdown is right after Harrisburg.
I guess that's not true for the routes that go up and down the coasts.
No, those routes will be sold off to the highest bidder.
The big slowdown is right after Harrisburg.
And since Harrisburg-->Pittsburgh is a much longer part of the trip than Philadelphia-->Harrisburg, it's a problem when the phrase "the big slowdown" can be taken to refer to more than half of the experience.
Much like how in the movie "The Black Dahlia" the big slowdown starts when the boxing match is over. God, that movie was terrible.
26, 27: And can I just point out that Amtrack is using the very tracks of the mighty Pennsylvania RR, once one of the world's great lines/near-monopolies? It would be like landing in the future and finding out that Mercedes had become the equivalent of Trabant.
I've taken the Empire builder from Portland to Minnesota and back a dozen times, and I love it. You get a much better feeling for the landscape than you do driving or flying, especially because the rightaway isn't junked up with billboards and shit.
I believe intercity rail travel will return to greater heights of efficiency and comfort than it ever had, and not just on the NE corridor. But by the time it happens, institutional memory and infrastructure will need to be reinvented, compared to what might have been developed at much less cost even as late as twenty years ago, let alone fifty.
IDP, do you mean in the future low-carbon world? My impression is that currently, trains become much less objectively useful outside of megalopolises. Even the train-crazy Japanese switch to air for longer hauls, like Kyushu to Hokkaido.
When I came back from Australia my flight from LAX to IAD had to hold because of a T-storm that was just over Dulles. We burned through our reserves and had to go to BWI to refuel. We then flew back to Dulles. That was a short leg. I was totally exhausted from being in transit so long. But I never felt out of it because United lets us listen to ATC. The flight crew did a good job of making announcements, but the radio gave more context. The ATC channel is fun and helps a long flight pass quickly.
I did a train trip from the Bay Area to Denver, Denver to LA, LA back to the Bay Area a while back. The Denver to LA run stopped in Las Vegas at 6 AM and pulled up behind (I think) Circus Circus. For a while beforehand you could see the lights off on the horizon as the sky went all desert-pretty from the sunrise. So cool. Also, Union Station = awesome. Monument Valley = way awesome.
The SF-Denver leg was a killer, though, at least in a coach seat -- 36 hours if your train was running on time, and ours was several hours late.
I like riding the train to Philly (often) or NYC (rarer). Delays are, IME, not that common, especially northbound. Going south, the problem always seems to be between Trenton and NYC, or Boston I guess. So if I get on 20 minutes late in Philly, I get home 20 minutes late, no more.
How much you're going to save is going to depend on how you're going to get around in DC.
The train from Detroit to Chicago is fun because you get to see Detroit's version of The Wrong Side of the Tracks. (The right side ain't too hot either.)
I used to take the Lake Shore Limited from Boston to Chicago fairly regularly. It's about 20-21 hours, and was generally close to on time. There was that one time it was running 10+ hours behind and then lit on fire near Utica, forcing Amtrak to put everyone up for the night in hotels, but that was unusual (and for all the frustration, a free hotel room was involved, plus a free trip on the train anywhere we liked in the future, and a glorious morning ride down the Hudson valley from Albany to New York, so.) Going out was hard, as the train left mid-afternoon with an arrival time of the next day around noon, meaning a lot of time on both days spent awake. Leaving Chicago was better: get on the train in the early evening, read for a few hours, then go to sleep and awake to a reasonable day's ride.
Does Amtrak still use the slogan "Ride Amtrak and see America"? What they don't tell you is, from the train window view, most of America looks like a ditch. Enlivened somewhat by all the KKK graffiti you see spray painted beneath overpasses in Ohio.
I'm contemplating taking the train from Tampa to Providence in April. With a layover in either DC or New York, I think it's about thirty hours. We'll see.
I took Amtrak from the BWI airport stop to Providence once in college; I arrived two and a half hours late, with one gratifying point when the train (having left... Hartford, I think) actually went backwards for several minutes, back to the station. I can only assume they forgot the Colombian coffee.
That reminds me of my last train experience, in France, where the local train we were taking stopped in the countryside between stations for about fifteen minutes... and then proceeded to go backwards for forty-five minutes. I couldn't believe it. Can a train take a wrong turn?
41: Actually, it's probably because they had to switch tracks. I'm not quite sure how they schedule which trains are on which tracks, but if you were running far behind schedule, there's a good chance your track was going to be busy, and so they backed you up to a switch and routed you onto a track right next to it.
40: That's definitely true. See America? America doesn't build nice things next to train tracks, for obvious reasons. It's only nice in the areas where there isn't anything around at all; anything bigger than a farming town, and you have charming views of trash and clutter.
42: They were informed at the last minute that a philosophy class needed a train to push a fat man under.
40: Might be true in the East, but the three trains in the West that I took were pretty for almost the entire route.
Hey are any of the Unfogged computer people around and feel like answering a question about ssh, either over e-mail or here ATM?
I can help you with your ssh connection ATM. Fire away.
Well here's the deal: I have a computer at my office which is accessible over the internet, call it peepshow.mineshaft.com -- so I can ssh peepshow.mineshaft.com from my home. The computer I do all my work on however is lapdance.mineshaft.com which is not accessible from outside the office lan -- so to get to it I have to ssh to peepshow, then ssh to lapdance. I was wondering if there is an easy way to combine these steps so I can get to lapdance with a single command. Complicating the matter is that peepshow is running Solaris with an ancient sshd. lapdance is running up to date Linux.
You could run "screen" (or whatever that program is) on peepshow, and keep an open lapdance session on one of the screen screens.
screen does not appear to be installed on peepshow. Do you know where to get it?
Being a flight attendant has always seemed to me such a brutal job.
Here you go. This has been your Sociology recommendation for the day.
Using screen is the right thing to do, but there are other ways which I could help with by email in case you find it unsatisfying.
mcmanlypants, take the train. trains are awesome. you should listen to the stones song 'sliver train', also, and on the way back 'hey porter'. but do bring your own food. I always try to fry chicken the night before, maybe some devilled eggs. you can make a lot of friends on the train with cold fried chicken. or ham sammiches. if you really get stuck there is one edible thing on the train: an assortment of cheese and crackers.
How much you're going to save is going to depend on how you're going to get around in DC.
Metro! My hotel is a block from DuPont Circle (it's where the Embassy of Gaybonia could get me a good rate) and everything I want to do or see, including the friends I'm going to see, will be within five blocks of a metro station or a longer but extremely beautiful walk. I love to walk in DC. I sure as shit walk more in DC than I do at home, because I am lazy. In DC I feel energized and want to take my time with things.
You'll see me; I'll be the guy with a trucker hat that says SHOOT ME I'M A TOURIST in huge foam letters.
If the GNU mirrors don't have Solaris packages, and you don't want to have to compile it yourself, you can always download screen from the freeware for Solaris site.
Not accusing 57, but the use of "freeware" to mean "open source software" really really bugs me.
Robots are notoriously sensitive about things like that.
58 is kinda right. Though I know people who think "freeware" and "shareware" are the same thing, which is much worse.
Admittedly [Amtrak] takes two or three times as long as driving, but who cares?
On long trips, like San Francisco to Seattle, it can be faster than driving, because the train keeps moving while you sleep.
A couple of my coworkers (programmers) are vaguely aware of the difference, and I think conflate them through carelessness just to bug me.
(programmers) are vaguely aware
Jeebus, time to call on Mecha-Shiva!
I was taught by a good friend that the right way to get from London to NYC is to fly to Philadelphia and then take the train. This may be the single best travel trip I have ever been given; also the train from NYC to Boston is more fun -- at least if you are staying in Manhattan -- than flying.
If you enjoyed that Salon column, you should check out PPRUNE, the Professional Pilots' RUmour NEtwork.
also the train from NYC to Boston is more fun -- at least if you are staying in Manhattan -- than flying.
This is generally true, unless the train is extremely crowded and (as I think Becks noted above of the DC-NYC line) you end up standing the whole (or most) of the way. And the long stop in New Haven. Movement is what makes being on train great; stopping for long or longish periods of time stinks. Screw New Haven.
Mecha Shiva! Awesome.
Can you believe we have to wait a whole 'nother year for Ventrue Bros. season 3?
I took Amtrak from Mpls. to Beantown once in the mid-1990's. It was pretty fun. I kinda liked the scenery too. There was plenty of greenery, and all those little, square, hip-roofed houses along the tracks were interesting from an vernacular architectural viewpoint.
The thing that really bugs me is that you can't ride a passenger train from the Twin Cities to Omaha anymore -- despite both locations being served by Amtrak -- unless you want to go through Portland.
So what's wrong with Portland? Hmph. Like there's anything in Omaha anyway.
More seriously, service has been terribly reduced. Amtrak terminals have maps showing all the routes, and they're very few. Greyhound and Trailways have reduced service too. Without a car of your own, renting a car is often the only option. Poor people who can't drive just stay where they are.
like there's anything in Omaha anyway
This seems like as good a place as any to insert my customary recommendation of the book Good Company by Douglas Harper. It is a fine, fine book and I have not mentioned it here in too long a time.
67: Can you believe we have to wait a whole 'nother year for Ventrue Bros. season 3?
We do? Fuck.
Well, at leason season 2's been pretty awesome.
Can you believe we have to wait a whole 'nother year for Ventrue Bros. season 3?
What? That's criminal.
Like there's anything in Omaha anyway.
I was gonna say there's always Ross' Steakhouse, but I see it closed in 1996. Damn shame.
"I always try to fry chicken the night before, maybe some devilled eggs"
I hadn't realized Alameida was my maternal grandmother.
In any case, a fine repast for any jourrney, until you die of a coronary at 41.