Travel by train from Ann Arbor, MI to Denver, CO?

[tcsenter]

I'm thinking of requesting a train ticket instead of a plane ticket to Denver and leaving a day early. Says it's a 26 hour train ride, so I'd apparently be sleeping on the train.

26 hours on the train isn't bad if you're reasonably young and have no arthritic conditions. You can get up and move about when you want, go to the snack/concession car and or observation car (if they have one, pretty sure that route will), get some coffee (which is not too good so bring some of your own adulterants like flavoring oil, creamer, a shot of fav liquor). Anything more than 36 hours in coach seating, you start to get a little cabin fever syndrome.

The coach seats only recline so far, about like a business class seat on commercial flight so if you have any problems sleeping like that then maybe you should rethink it. I don't think the trip is long enough to justify the cost of a sleeper/roomette. But the sleeper/roomette does include meals in the dining car (subject to the times that you board and deboard), which is decent enough food. But pricey, too.

 

[RossMAN]

26 hours on the train isn't bad if you're reasonably young and have no arthritic conditions.

I would consider doing a 26 hour train ride if:
1) I had plenty of buffer time, let's say 2 days just in case something goes wrong or if you have to go with plan B.
2) Sleeper car.
3) WiFi.

 

[KMFJD]

I've been wanting to do Toronto to Vancouver through ViaRail with the old man, takes 4 days and just under $1600

 

[Wordplay]

Just make sure to avoid Spirit and Frontier.

Too bad Frontier has started to suck. I enjoyed the flights when I used them to go from Detroit to Colorado and the return trip back.

 

[Gooberlx2]

I've been on a train once from Ann Arbor to Chicago, but that was just a couple hours through the boring Michigan country-side.

Take your couple of boring hours and multiply by 13. Fun.

 

[AmdEmAll]

Just fly Delta out of DTW

 

[mmntech]

Seriously? Have you no concept of distance? We have national parks(your country does to)bigger than countries in Europe.

You do realize I mentioned trips less than 400mi right before making that statement. I'm not talking transcontinental trips, but like Toronto-Montreal, LA-San Francisco, etc.

 

[Exterous]

Yeah, I checked the prices... just under $1000 for a 2-bunk sleeper. On the other hand, there are a bunch of round trip flights for less than $300.

Looks like I'll be flying through the air in a sardine can.

Honestly thats probably for the best. Sure they say its 26 hours but Amtrak has terrible on time ratings west of the East Coast. You'd probably be on the CA Zephyr with an amazing 34% on time rating. Hell AA to Chicago is only 57% on time

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/07/10/the-sorry-state-of-amtraks-on-time-performance-mapped/

If you're flying out of DTW then I would look at Delta and Southwest. United has some nonstop flights there too but in a tiny\cramped 2-2 seat config CRJ-200. Its also a United Express flight which typically has a much worse on time rating than Delta.

I think most delta flights are on the MD 90s which is nice if there are two of you and you can snag the right two seats as the 90 is a 2-3 configuration. There will be the occasional 737-800 on this route though which is the traditional 3-3 config. I think the seats are slightly narrower on the 738 as well.

Southwest runs an aging 737-300 in the morning non-stop. With 100% on time its fine mechanically but the interior will be worn and its unlikely to have wifi or free TV. The non-stop in the evening is a newer 738 with wifi and likely free TV if that matters

If it were me I'd try for the MD 90 on the 2 seat side price depending. Also remember if you use the Big Blue Lot and fly on Delta you'll need to take the shuttle to the McNamara terminal. (Pretty much everyone else is out of the North Terminal which is connected to the Blue Lot) There is parking over by McNamarra but the daily rate is expensive $21 vs $11. My company won't pay for the difference so Blue lot it is for me. They typically run every 15 min or so

Edit: I forgot to mention that overhead storage on the MD 90 might be an issue due to smaller overhead bins. The plane will likely be louder as well. Delta's 738 on this route doesn't currently have seatback In Flight Entertainment but they are upgrading those planes. Depending on when your trip is it might have been upgraded and may include a fairly substantial inventory of free movies to watch in a back of the seat screen

 

[glenn1]

You do realize I mentioned trips less than 400mi right before making that statement. I'm not talking transcontinental trips, but like Toronto-Montreal, LA-San Francisco, etc.

Between the costs to obtain right-of-way to lay tracks, the time delays in getting environmental clearances, and having to deal with the retarded politicians and voters of California, LA-SF high speed rail won't ever get built and still wouldn't be cost-competitive with a commercial airline flight.

 

[Thump553]

Back in the eighties-with the spirit of trying something new-I took a train from Milwaukee to Boston. Assuming they are somewhat the same now DON'T DO IT. Amtrak trains are held together with spit and bailing wire. At best expect broken facilities (like heat or AC), at worse expect repair delays. Also you have to reserve well in advance to get a sleeper berth and pay high prices for it. The tracks are in horrible shape so the trains run slow.

Finally although the rules say different, I swear they give freight trains the priority over passenger ones.

On the positive side it was neat cruising through the country-you don't see the tracks so nature is right outside the window.

If you are really paranoid about flying, and won't/can't drive, I'd suggest riding the dog-it's better and probably faster than the train in the USA.

 

[alkemyst]

I was taking a train just back and forth to Orlando from West Palm Beach for about 6 months when I was dating a chick that lived there. The drive is about 2.5-3 hours, the train about 5ish I think GOING UP.

The problem is that train starts in the upper Northeast and works it's way down to Miami and then back up. The train heading north was usually always on-time or just 5-10 mins late at most. However; the train coming back down would usually be 2+ hours late with more than a few times having Amtrak send a bus to drive us down. I averaged about 4 hours behind schedule every time.

The cool thing about trains is you can mingle and sit wherever you like...if you are looking for a 'friend' to pass time with, it's pretty easy to do.

 

[cabri]

3 years ago, I used SouthWest from DTW to DEN every month between my wife and myself.

No problems with scheduling and delays. Booking 2 weeks in advance and decent prices.

 

[RossMAN]

Southwest.com sale which may not matter if your employer is paying for it.

$196.20 roundtrip DTW to DEN in a flying sardine can, not bad.

Just noticed the itinerary I picked is non-stop.

 

[Exterous]

Southwest.com sale which may not matter if your employer is paying for it.

$196.20 roundtrip DTW to DEN in a flying sardine can, not bad.

Just noticed the itinerary I picked is non-stop.

FWIW Delta is the same price for the same dates

 

[RossMAN]

FWIW Delta is the same price for the same dates

Good to know, is it also a direct flight?

Personally I'd pick Southwest due to the 2 free checked bags and I have a FF account.

 

[KMFJD]

I never thought about how long the trip would be, of course air travel would be faster, it's about the journey, the skycars through the Rocky's are supposed to be pretty amazing

 

[cabri]

I never thought about how long the trip would be, of course air travel would be faster, it's about the journey, the skycars through the Rocky's are supposed to be pretty amazing

If coming from the East, Denver is 15 miles before you hit the Rockies.

 

[Exterous]

Good to know, is it also a direct flight?

Personally I'd pick Southwest due to the 2 free checked bags and I have a FF account.

Yep. 3x daily. If he flies during the winter that might be a reason to avoid Southwest. We'll see how Southwest does this winter but they had some serious problems last winter with getting people to their destinations on time. (and last fall and this spring and this summer and some this fall....but last winter was really (really) bad...)

They had the worst on time rating of any major airline and they won't deal with any other airline when things go wrong. In some cases airlines like United or Delta will put you on a competitor's flight to get you to your destination but Southwest will never do that. Also because they lack the hub and spoke network not only do delays compound throughout the day but they have less flexibility to move and re-position flights to deal with passenger backlog. So when you encounter delays they are likely to be much longer on Southwest than any other major airline right now.

I flew Southwest (and Delta for that matter) quite a bit last winter but have moved all my winter flights this year to Delta because of how terrible Southwest is at winter operations compared to Delta. Exactly 0% of my Southwest flights left or landed on time out of some 15 flights on Southwest

He might not care since its for business and it sounds like he doesn't fly much but that gets old real fast

 

[cabri]

SouthWest ran into problems this past year by trying to up their load factor without increasing flights/planes.

Scheduling did not change as needed.

as stated above, one delay starts to cascade through a tail number during the day.

 

[Anubis]

it would be faster to walk there than take the train

 

[alkemyst]

it would be faster to walk there than take the train

We don't all have your awesome primal sneakers.