Posted by Seth on May 23, 2012 under News | 
Just how do the multitude of trains crossing the East River in NYC deal with navigating the labyrinth of tracks? Turns out some guy named Harold is responsible for it all. From the NY Times this week:
For decades, a standard response to delays and disruptions on passenger trains in New York City has been to blame it on Harold.
That would be the Harold Interlocking, a century-old intersection of 14 train tracks in Queens, where hundreds of trains traveling between Pennsylvania Station and points east and north are sorted out each day. The central role it plays in the life of the city is invisible to almost all New Yorkers. At least until something goes awry.
Then it could be poor Harold’s fault. Harold was incriminated again this week when officials of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said that connecting the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal would take six years longer and almost $2 billion more than originally estimated. Harold again was the culprit. Tunneling beneath it and rearranging the spaghetti-like web of overhead wires and other equipment there is proving more daunting than expected, they said.
As for who Harold really is, no one knows. Poor guy.
Posted by Seth on November 3, 2011 under frequent flyer, News, points |
Continental and Amtrak have been partners for many years, offering the ability to earn OnePass miles on certain routes in the Northeast Corridor as well as the ability to move points between both programs at a 1:1 rate. There are a number of incredibly attractive awards in the Amtrak Guest Rewards program and the fungibility of points between the two programs was a great benefit for members of both. That relationship is coming to an end at the end of the year.
The move is tied to the expiry of the OnePass program as the new United Airlines moves to their new MileagePlus program. Not too much of a surprise there as the partnership is with a program that will be dying. According to Amtrak, they are trying to keep the relationship alive with the new MileagePlus, but that deal has not yet been finalized so they are warning members now of the impending change according to UnRoadWarrior.
This announcement opens as many new questions as it provides answers.
Currently there is reciprocity between the Amtrak and Continental lounge memberships. But that is ending in February and there is not yet a finalized agreement to continue it. Amtrak’s top tier elites also get the lounge benefit and there have been many issues getting it honored in the newly re-branded United Clubs.
There’s also the relationship between Continental and Virgin Atlantic. Back when they didn’t have access to Heathrow the partnership was great for Continental. Now that they do have access to Heathrow – and flights from 6 US gateways – the value of that relationship is certainly lessened. And United has never had that partnership as they had the Heathrow slots. The two carriers both had arrangements with Emirates but both killed them. There’s also Eva on the Continental side (though they’ve applied to become a Star Alliance member) and Qatar on the United side.
Lots of open questions that still need answers. Perhaps this move with Amtrak is a hint. Or not. Nothing like the joys of speculation with minimal data to support a claim.
Posted by Seth on September 11, 2011 under Flying, News, Trip Reports, TSA |
I remember standing in the door way of a partner’s office at the client site I was at, watching the news unfold that fateful Tuesday morning. I remember a few hours later walking out to the river in Georgetown and seeing the smoke rising up from the Pentagon. I remember trying to figure out how to go home to NYC on Wednesday and being relieved that eventually Amtrak started operating. I remember seeing the smoke rising from the rubble as the train rolled past. I remember that thousands died needlessly. I remember weeks later, when the airports reopened, flying over for the first time and leaving my seat even though the seatbelt sign was on and there were strict rules so that I could get to the other side of the plane to see the damage. I remember many days, likely weeks, where the 1 train wasn’t running, leaving my basement apartment eerily quiet when I was quite used to the mild rumble of the trains rolling by.
These are memories seared into my brain. They are memories that I will never lose and that I have no desire to lose, despite the pain they occasionally cause. I must remember them because they are a part of my life.
But I also remember much more than the events of that day.
I remember what life was like in the days, months and years prior to the attack. I remember living in a country that wasn’t governed by a pervasive threat of unspecified and likely unrealistic threats. I remember a country not afraid to stand up as a leader in the global community rather than a country so afraid that it will kill itself whilst pretending it is still in control. And I wonder why we allowed ourselves to succumb to the fear rather than to rise up and defeat it.
Sitting in an airport lounge this afternoon, getting ready to fly just like I have some 800 times in the past 10 years I hear the talking heads on a news channel drone on and on about the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and I’m more than just a bit disgusted. There is no doubt that the events that day were a terrible tragedy. There’s no reason those folks should have died. But not event, tragedy or otherwise, justifies the results that the past 10 years have seen.
Maybe my disgust is because I wasn’t sufficiently personally affected 10 years ago. Of the nearly 3,000 who died I don’t have a personal connection to any. Maybe that means my views on the topic don’t really count. But I don’t think that’s really true.
A rational response to an attack, particularly right when it happens, is hard to demand. And we most certainly did not see one. After ten years, however, demanding a rational approach is way past due. Sadly, it will almost certainly never come to pass. Instead we got the TSA, a war, tens of thousands more dead, trillions of dollars wasted and nothing to show for it.
Even though the security screening on that fateful Tuesday actually did nothing wrong the TSA was foisted upon us. The need to perform a virtual strip search of every passenger or grope them to ensure that they aren’t carrying a weapon which would most likely be detected by the same metal detectors that have been in use successfully for decades is just one of the many debacles that this tragedy engendered. There are plenty more stories of TSA idiocy (say your name out loud to pass through security, agents carrying a gun to work, agents stealing from passengers, etc.) and that’s just one of the many burdens that we now suffer with as passengers.
Even worse than the TSA, however, we have each other to deal with. No longer are we all passengers working together to survive the hours confined to the same metal tube hurtling through the air at 500+ miles/hour. Today we have passengers who have deputized themselves as part of the security apparatus, reporting that an other passenger looks suspicious for almost certainly no good reason. We have folks who are no threat to anything being removed from flights, interrogated and embarrassed because another passenger decided their own personal comfort was more important than the rights of someone else.
I read this line today and I’m surprised at just how angry it made me:
Since 9/11, I have taken it upon myself to be a vigilant American…I’ve said something about someone looking nervous, out of place, or otherwise causing alarm for me. 1 out of those 5 times I said something, the person was removed from the flight. Whether or not they were actually a threat, someone else agreed with me that they were out of place with their otherwise alarming actions. …I do know that I don’t feel bad if my judgment and the flight crew’s judgement were made in error.
There is a difference between being vigilant and being a vigilante and it is way more than the letter e. The past 10 years have served to blur that distinction for all too many making us less safe, not more. Less safe because that vigilante might just decide to respond directly against a perfectly innocent individual. Less safe because folks are ignoring real threats and focusing on imagined ones. Less safe because the concept of security is horribly misappropriated. Suggesting that someone else be removed from a plane because you are uncomfortable is quite high on my list of ludicrous behaviors that passengers have taken to in the past ten years. It is way worse than any of the air rage incidents that have been reported.
We’ve wasted billions upon billions of dollars. We’ve destroyed all too many civil liberties. And we’ve killed tens of thousands of people. All in the name of security. Sadly, what we’ve actually provided is anything but.
The events of September 11, 2001 were a tragedy in every sense of the word. The response to them as evidenced in the policies we see today is an even greater tragedy. We should all remember the events that transpired that day. And we should remember that we were a strong, proud people prior to that and we still can be, even while mourning those who were murdered.
I continue to fly. A lot. I put up with the bullshit foisted upon me by the TSA, airlines, flight crews making up security regulations as they go and other passengers. I do so because I love to travel and there’s nothing that will ever beat that love out of my system. But that doesn’t mean I have to respect the faux authority position from which these policies are handed down.
Flying today (I’m writing this on the afternoon of the 10th) or tomorrow (I will be) is not something I’m doing to make a political statement like so many others claim to do. I’m flying this weekend because I love to fly and because I really wanted to visit both Alaska and Hawaii this weekend and flying is the only way to do so.
I’m still living my life as best I can. That’s the only statement worth making.
Posted by Seth on May 13, 2011 under News, TSA |
For a guy who sees so many of his constituents benefit from a program, New York Senator Charles Schumer doesn’t really seem to care too much for the organization. Indeed, the Senator has been making noise in the past couple weeks that will likely cause irreparable harm to Amtrak, destroying one of the few small advantages America’s national rail company has over air travel. Oh, and just for good measure, the rules he wants to apply are ridiculously unfair to all passengers.
The word is that, among other "security" efforts, Schumer wants to see the Department of Homeland Security expand their Secure Flight program to cover rail travel as well. Secure Flight is the rather un-American program that maintains a secret list of folks considered a threat to air travel. The people are never told that they are necessarily on said list. The details of how one gets listed or, more significantly, how one proves they should not be listed are not public and what little information is available suggests that the process doesn’t really work to help make anything or anyone more secure. Nonetheless Schumer wants to see the program expanded to cover rail travel as well as air travel.
Never mind that one of the justifications the TSA and DHS have used in the past to justify their overly-invasive passenger screening policies is that the passengers always could take a train if they didn’t like the rules. Never mind that the effort would essentially require the creation of TSA-like checkpoints at rail stations, increasing the boarding time and generally making a mess of the process. None of that is important because Schumer sees a potential threat that he believes can be exploited to drive both spending and fear, the latter being the more fun way for folks in charge to stay that way and screw over the public.
So instead of investing money where it can be used to help rail travel in the USA. Instead of working to increase high-speed rail for regional inter-city transport. Instead of investing in actually providing security to any part of the travel experience we have this ridiculous plan. Instead of identifying actual security threats we have this list of names that may or may not mean anything related to security, other than job security for the folks who compile, maintain and perform checks against the list. This plan that does nothing for security. This plan that doesn’t actually identify the people who are really threats because they might find out we know about them. This plan that unduly subjects citizens and visitors alike to a screening process that completely circumvents the principles of our justice system. This plan that will destroy the one last chance we have to make intercity rail travel a legitimate alternative to air travel in the United States.
Thanks, Senator Schumer. Thanks for distracting attention from the real problems. Thanks for fear-mongering instead of providing meaningful and functional plans.
In short, thanks for nothing.
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Posted by Seth on March 23, 2011 under points |
Amtrak has launched another great spring bonus program for its Amtrak Guest Rewards Program. Members who register will earn double AGR points on all travel from March 21 through May 6, 2011. Starting on National train Day – May 7, 2011 – and continuing through May 21, 2011 AGR members will earn triple points.
This promotion pretty much matches last year’s spring promo and it is a good one. AGR points are pretty valuable and they have a number of very cool award options in their program above and beyond the typical stuff.
Remember that registration is required for this promo.
UPDATE: Stupid Amtrak not permitting direct links to the registration page. Go here (http://register.myamtrak.com/home/index) and look at the bottom of the page.
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Posted by Seth on March 9, 2011 under News, TSA |
It is a bit complicated to fire someone that does not really work for you. Just ask Cosmo Kramer about getting fired from a job: "I don’t even really work here!" To which the boss replied, "That’s what makes this so hard." So when Amtrak‘s Police Chief John O’Connor caught wind of an apparent rogue screening checkpoint set up by the TSA at the Amtrak station in Savannah, Georgia, firing them was all that much more difficult. But that didn’t stop the Chief. Amtrak stations are currently off limits to TSA personnel until "a firm agreement can be drawn up to prevent the TSA from taking actions that the chief said were illegal and clearly contrary to Amtrak policy."
Apparently a TSA Visible Intermodal Protection and Response ("VIPR") team showed up at the Savannah Amtrak station, posted a note that anyone entering the building was subject to search and then proceeded to make good on that promise. Skipping over the fact that one can apparently board or depart trains in Savannah without ever entering the station, it is not clear who authorized or even requested the search. It is clear, however, that the actions were not in compliance with Amtrak’s policy regarding security.
“When I saw it, I didn’t believe it was real,” O’Connor said. When it developed that the posting on an anti-TSA blog was not a joke, “I hit the ceiling.”
The TSA’s comment on the event is, typically, a non-comment that avoids the issue. They actually come close to suggesting that they might have done something wrong, but do not go so far as to acknowledge that the VIPR action apparently violates Amtrak policies.
However, after looking into it further, we learned that this particular VIPR operation should have ended by the time these folks were coming through the station since no more trains were leaving the station. We apologize for any inconvenience we may have caused for those passengers.
Chief O’Connor is on record as believing that the TSA’s intrusive searches are excessive for his organization’s needs and possibly unconstitutional. The VIPR searches in Savannah affected all passengers, not a random sampling as Amtrak policy dictates. The VIPR searches also included the "wanding" of passengers and isolation of "sterile" and "non-sterile" environments, a policy that Amtrak does not implement at any of their stations.
It looks like the TSA has once again messed up. Not really much of a surprise there, but certainly depressing. Watch the video. And cry a little. Next time the TSA agent groping you at the airport suggests that you have other options if you do not want to fly, remember that you really do not.
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Posted by Seth on September 21, 2010 under All You Can Jet, AYCJ, Trip Reports |
Getting to a meeting in Seattle shouldn’t be too hard. Thanks to the JetBlue All You Can Jet pass I managed to schedule a meeting that otherwise likely would not have happened so I’m pretty excited about that. Any opportunity I have to help share the knowledge of frequent flyer programs’ inner workings and the myriad of ways to calculate the value of the points I see as a great thing. But I also needed to actually figure out how I’d get to Seattle for the meeting.
Sure, there is the option of the non-stop JFK-Seattle but that’s not really very creative. There’s a flight via Boston but I have not had a ton of luck with those so far this month. And then there’s the Dulles – Long Beach – Portland – Amtrak option. Yeah, that’s right up my alley.
For no particular reason I’ve always wanted to ride the Amtrak line between Seattle and Portland. I tried to schedule it during AYCJ last year but I couldn’t get a flight out of Seattle. This year I managed to get that seat so I booked the train, too. I even splurged and spent the extra $15 for the business class seat. After all, I’m on my way to a meeting. Actually, I did it to avoid potential lines at the station in Portland in the morning. 
Turns out there were no lines but I did get a great seat – a solo on the double side of the train so there was plenty of room to spread out and work. I also got a great recommendation for breakfast from Jerry, the Amtrak guy at the counter. Turns out that the post office across the street from the train station has a cafe on the 4th floor that is open to the public and that serves up pretty good, cheap food. I put my Voodoo donuts aside, had the chicken-fried steak and then headed back down to board the train.
We pulled out right on time and I was then treated to some phenomenal views as we rolled north towards Seattle. The train ride was smooth, on time and mostly uneventful, other than the fact that the cafe car apparently didn’t receive the correct catering so they did not have breakfast available. They responded by offering up everything they did have for free which was a nice touch. At the second stop en route they finally got some of the catering resolved: a delivery of fried chicken showed up on the train. Needless to say, the announcement of “Last call for free chicken in the cafe car” made over the PA system was rather entertaining.
The portion of the ride around Olympia was probably the most scenic section of the ride but the whole thing was pretty impressive.
And then it was off to the meetings (more on that later) and back to the airport for my first AYCJ trip to the Caribbean. I’m flying three new lines today, from Seattle to Long Beach to Ft. Lauderdale to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. It is a beautiful day for flying.
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Posted by Seth on July 2, 2010 under frequent flyer, News, points |
Amtrak has announced two new bonus miles promotions for their Guest Rewards program this summer. For passengers traveling in the northeast corridor there are bonus points available for both Acela and Northeast Regional trains. The promotions are valid between July 1, 2010 and September 4, 2010.
Acela
For every 3 roundtrips (or 6 one-ways) you take on Acela, you’ll earn 3,000 bonus points. And keep on riding – you can earn up to a maximum of 9,000 bonus points. These bonus points are in addition to standard rail points you will already earn. Register online or by calling 1-800-307-5000 using registration code 70110.
Northeast Regional
For every 2 roundtrips (or 4 one-ways) you take on Northeast Regional, you’ll earn 1,500 bonus points. You can earn up to a maximum of 4,500 bonus points. These bonus points are in addition to standard rail points you will already earn. Register online or by calling 1-800-307-5000 using registration code 70210.
For the Acela trips the minimum qualifying fare for bonus points is $80 each way. For the Northeast Regional the minimum fare is $40 each way.
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Posted by Seth on May 10, 2010 under News, Trip Reports |
I certainly understand Amtrak’s efforts to promote rail ridership in the United States. Even if the offerings are relatively poor compared to many other countries, it is important to keep awareness up and try to attract more riders. For the third year now, Amtrak has run a National Train Day promotion, with events around the country to promote their services.
The festivities this year started in New York City a day prior to the actual event, with Taye Diggs launching a kick-off party for the weekend. Also present was the crew from the Cake Boss show on TLC. They were filming an episode for the show based on the fact that there was an enormous cake display set up in New York’s Pennsylvania Station. They had a model train set and a “city” made of cakes. There were about 30 buildings and roughly 3000 pounds of cake making up the model, not to mention two trains running on different levels in the model. I didn’t stick around for free cupcakes, mostly because the TLC folks apparently weren’t happy with the initial crowd reaction to the cake unveiling so they were going to take the shot again.
Next up on the schedule was actually riding the rails. We were in Philadelphia this weekend and decided to ride the rails rather than a bus this time a round. Between rush hour travel and the general comfort factor that Amtrak offers, plus a pretty good sale on advance purchase fares, the train just made more sense. Given the 6:30pm departure time and uncertain dinner schedule on arrival in Philadelphia, we decided to go for a bit of a picnic on the train. A block of cheese, some pretzel crisps and a bottle of champagne, decanted into water bottles made for quite the enjoyable ride. The pressure in one of the bottles of bubbly built up enough that it sounded like a firecracker going off when I opened the bottle on the train, but no one really seemed to mind too much in the end. And apparently consumption of private-stock alcohol isn’t permitted in the train on a regular basis but we didn’t have any troubles. All in all, a quite enjoyable commute down to Philadelphia.
The third bit of National Train Day that we celebrated was in Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, part of the main celebration event. It was a zoo. There were way more people out and about celebrating than I expected to see. We actually got shut out of a few of the exhibits – most notably the antique rolling stock – because the lines were too long. Still, it was nice to see so many avid train buffs taking advantage of the things Amtrak had on offer. Not quite as much history of the rails as I would have liked to see, but I can understand them trying to celebrate the future of rail travel more than its past. After all, that’s what is going to help them ensure their existence.
And, finally, for your foaming pleasure, a short video of part of my ride from Newark to New York earlier in the day. I was riding in the space between two of the cars and poked the camera out through the gap between the heavy rubber pads that separate the cars from each other.
Posted by Seth on January 8, 2010 under points |
Amtrak is pretty good at keeping promos alive for their Guest Rewards program. They expire every few months but there is always another promo right behind it. This winter is no exception and there are two promos out there now for folks who ride in the northeast corridor (Washington, DC – Boston).
Promo number 1 is for Acela riders, a/k/a folks on expense accounts who don’t mind paying double to save minimal amounts of time. And, yes, I’ve done it, too. The promo is for one free round-trip Acela ride for three paid trips (or six paid one-ways). Not too terrible a deal as you also earn the regular AGR points on the rides. The freebie will be valid from June 1 – August 31, 2010 and is not valid for peak weekday trains. A minimum spend of $85 each way applies, a maximum of two one-ways can be credited per day and a maximum of 8 reward can be earned so there isn’t a huge arbitrage opportunity here, but for folks who are regularly riding on Acela the deal is pretty decent. Registration is here.
Promo number 2 is for non-Acela riders in the northeast corridor. The details are reasonably similar though the spend minimum is lower. Thanks to Gary for sharing the details on that one.
I do find it somewhat interesting that I got the Acela promo rather than the regional trains one. I guess they are mining their data pretty well to figure out who does what more often. I appreciate that.
Posted by Seth on August 25, 2009 under Uncategorized |
Forgetting for a minute that travel today was dictated by work (only the second time this year!) and that I was actually busy the entire day, it really was a great day to be out and about. Today’s trip was a quick one – a day trip from New York City to Washington, DC – but it was also two great travel experiences wrapped around a relatively normal work day.
The day started on the train out to JFK and a quick(-ish) flight down to Washington. Yeah, I flew out of JFK. LaGuardia has the shuttle flights, and I intended to fly US Airways to extend the expiration date on my miles there, but I put off booking the flights and by the time I got around to actually doing it the appropriately timed flights from LaGuardia were way too expensive. So I booked out of JFK instead. I was somewhat hoping to fly on American Airlines and catch a new airplane type, the ERJ-135 or –140, but again the fares were too expensive. So I booked on Delta and a CRJ-900 and accepted the relatively crappy seat 16-A that I was able to get during the booking and check-in process (one in the same since I was within 24 hours of the flight time).
The plane turned out to be pretty much empty – I think only one of the pairs of seats had two people in it – so I was able to self upgrade to the exit row seat 13-D. The seat is pretty much the same as the first class seats on that flight in terms of legroom, and I don’t really need the extra width, so as far as I’m concerned I got the good seat on the cheap. The in-flight “service” was questionable – the thought that a 40 minute flight is too short for beverage service is rather laughable considering that from LaGuardia I can have two drinks in that time and that half the plane was asleep – but I was (eventually) able to get a cup of water to enjoy with the yogurt that I liberated from the SkyClub at JFK so it wasn’t all bad, just mostly. But I was flying, and that makes up for a myriad of sins.
The flight was a first for me: my first JFK-DCA segment. Sure, it isn’t particularly exotic like the random flights to Korea and back that I’ll get next week, but it is still a new line of my version of a map of the world and that is always a good thing. Plus it meant getting to watch the climb-out from JFK which is one of my favorites.
And then, about 40 minutes later, I was on the ground at Washington National Airport. Another 20 minutes on the Metro and I was in the office putting out fires and smacking vendors around which is always a good time. Eight hours later and I was headed out of the office and over to Union Station to catch a train back up to NYC. Always a train in the evening. The actual time in transit when using public transportation to and from the stations is the same and the train back to NYC is WAY more reliable in terms of timing. Plus it means a few hours of open bar when sitting up front rather than racing to down two beers on the Shuttle flights. And I’ve done my best to ensure that I drink my fill. It is a bit annoying that the Amtrak lounges have no booze available – even if I wanted to pay for it – but such is life. The fact that the attendant just offered me a double so I’d stop asking for refills is a win in my book.
At the end of the day (which is rapidly approaching, as the sky grows dark outside the train windows) I’m reasonably convinced that pretty much everything went right today. I was out traveling, I wasn’t particularly delayed at either end of my trip and my total travel time round trip was about as good as it could be. Oh, and I had plenty of vodka on the ride home. All in all, a good day. These are the type of business travel days that I remember fondly when I think back to my days as a road warrior travel guy.
