Amtrak Acela First Class

I took the Amtrak Acela from DC to New York for Thanksgiving and the experience of sitting in a wide leather seat watching the Northeast Corridor blur past at 150 mph while eating a mediocre turkey sandwich from the cafe car was genuinely better than anything I've experienced on a domestic flight. First class ticket was $180, more than the regional train but less than a last-minute flight. Seat reclined far enough that I napped for 45 minutes between Baltimore and Trenton. Power outlets work, the WiFi is slow but functional. Legroom isn't even comparable to an airplane because you can stretch fully and still not touch the seat in front of you. Amtrak is slow and unreliable compared to trains in Europe or Asia, and the Acela barely qualifies as high-speed by international standards. Within the context of American transit options it fills a gap that nothing else occupies. Driving takes 4 hours in good traffic and 6 in bad traffic, and flying involves an hour at the airport on each end plus the actual flight. Acela does it in 2 hours and 45 minutes, city center to city center, and you can work the entire way. New Acela trainsets arriving in 2025 could make the service genuinely competitive, if the scheduling holds up.