Reviewing EVERY Amtrak Acela Lounge (in ONE DAY!)

People more familiar with Amtrak's lounges - let me know if I missed anything or got anything wrong! I'll add any corrections to this comment and potentially update the scores spreadsheet here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RrbmmyCEjfvZXRB8Cm…

fringlefrang

"Mom, can we go to a Pitbull concert?" "We have Pitbull at home" Pitbull at home: 8:45 Kudos to Aleena for sending quality pictures! Fringlefrang, this is some dedication! Says a lot about how much the DC lounge wants you out of there when they have advertisement for TAMPA BAY at 2:04. And of course Philadelphia has The Office on their TV because deep inside, they wish that they were the Electric City known as Scranton. On top of betraying our hearts with Rold Gold instead of holy Snyder's, Philadelphia's lounge is severely disappointing. Also, believe it or not, Philadelphia cream cheese doesn't ACTUALLY come from Philly! It originated in NEW YORK! So why is it called Philadelphia? Because Philly was once known for its quality dairy, so it was marketed Philadelphia to trick people into thinking it was a dairy product from Philly.

"So we're just gonna pretend it doesn't exist." Miles be like "There is no Wilmington in Ba Sing Se." The pre-Moynihan Club Acela used to be...pretty bad to say the least (symbolic of the pre-Moynihan modern Penn Station in general; the only thing good about it before Moynihan was it had the only Krispy Kreme in the entire state for a long time). So the Moynihan Metropolitan Lounge upgrade was much needed. Fun fact, DC's Union Station was designed by Daniel Burnham who also worked on the Flatiron Building and the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago! And while DC is famous for its cherry blossoms as shown on the walls at 1:23, Newark's Branch Brook Park actually has the most cherry blossoms in the US with over five thousand of them and 14 varieties!

BTW on the outside food an beverages thing, I've found that if you ask the attendant if you can bring something in, they're completely fine with it. Specifically speaking off of my DC lounge experience.

My wife and I have been in a lot of the Amtrak lounges, including the one at STL, and I give every one of them a five because they are so much better than the lounges we get with Airlines with our first class ticket. Of the ones that you went into we have not been into BOS and we like WAS the best. But we were in nyp before they built the new Lounge. I'll have to say that we did like PHL because of the fact that it was just stuck in an old part of the station, at least that's what it looked like to me. So anyway, with all of the traveling we have done on Amtrak and Airlines I have always been thankful for any Amtrak Lounge that I've been able to use.

I love how this is a genuinely useful video in addition to being entertaining. are there any other videos or articles on the internet that review all four lounges at once in this kind of detail?

As a frequent guest of the NYP lounge, there is a way to get down to the track and skip the line! Just continue straight after you get off the escalator to the main level, head down the steps to the mezzanine level, and you’ll have direct stairwell and elevator access to each track.

Amtrak is eternally full of Chex mix. Gotta give Acela passengers the emergency snack experience in the comfort of the lounge

In being Amtrak Select Plus for several years of weekly NEC trips (and one year of Select Executive when me and a friend did a few named trains end to end in a bedroom), and flying a hundred times a year, the very best line ever delivered to me by a customer service agent was at the Acela lounge at South Station... entered in, had ticket/ID checked, and then hear from behind me in a very loud, very Boston accent: "There's free wifi, but I wouldn't do any banking over it!"

The Metropolitan lounge in Portland, OR is pretty nice. No food but free drinks and good seating. There is a door that goes directly onto the tracks for early boarding.

I've used the DC lounge to go straight to the regional track. Using the lounge exit, you essentially merge with the masses, but in front.

I would have given Philly an extra boarding point for the direct to the platform elevator. I know it just puts you on the platform with everyone else but at least you don't have to wait in the long snaking line to get to the stairs where lots of people are trying to bring massive amounts of luggage slowly on the stairs.

The editing on this video is insanely good! Glad to have met you recently and hope to see more amazing content in the future!

I use the Philly lounge about once a month to go to BWI (I’m Select Plus anyway but I pay for Acela first class as a splurge). The priority boarding is nice for me because I get to sit and chill until they call me to the elevator instead of queueing in the main hall, but you’re right that you’re still waiting on the platform with everyone else. (Sometimes they even take us down AFTER the regular boarding starts!) DC and Boston are termini and I believe NYP normally has a long stopover / crew change, but Philly’s just a regular stop so they can’t wait until the train arrives to get people to the platform. Surprisingly, the lounge typically has ample seating on a Thursday or Friday afternoon when I usually am there even though it’s small. I’ll have to try taking over the TV when I’m there tomorrow!

I remember seeing your Twitter thread in real time, so glad this turned into a full vid

I used the Washington lounge a few weeks ago, and you're right about its disappointing food offerings. That could have been acceptable when Union Station had a lot of food options, but since many of those are gone now, the lounge ought to step things up. As for the Business Centers, I don't think color printing would be important to business people. If they wanted to print presentation materials using color, they'd upload the file to FedEx Office, have it printed and bound on high-quality paper in the destination city, and pick it up. Thanks for the informatative video.

I love the slow blinking tired Miles at the very end! 😂

Loved the editing on this video, Miles! Great work :)

what a fantastic 24-hour endavour, appreciate your work Miles, I will never use AMTRAK lounges unless I am in NY :D .... hope you collected tons of snacks.