SCORE! With the horrible air travel news from over the weekend, it's time for great news on the train travel front. Amtrak just announced yesterday that they've added WiFi on 12 more east coast routes, bringing the percentage of riders who can access it up to 60%.

The WiFi service is called AmtrakConnect and before now, passengers opting for the train over the plane only found it on the high-speed Acela and the normal-speed Pacific Cascades trains. The new routes are short and limited to the east coast—no New York to Chicago or DC to Chicago routes with WiFi yet—and where available, AmtrakConnect will make use of 4G connections.

And the new routes with on-track WiFi are: ]]> JetSetCD 2011-11-01T10:00:30-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/9/8/102947/5700

In another great "duh, why wasn't this done years ago" movie, travel search site Hipmunk.com is now displaying Amtrak train results alongside airline flights when you search. It's official too; Amtrak is literally and figuratively onboard with the whole thing, and heaven knows any extra oomph thrown on their side to help fight for passengers with the airlines is bonus.

So here's what's up: search for flights like usual on Hipmunk. If there are Amtrak options between them, then the Amtrak trains will appear in the results, very much like regular flights do now.]]> JetSetCD 2011-09-08T11:53:29-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/7/26/13410/9762

In yet another argument for improving the rail network of the USA, we turn to the impressive Union Station in the Chinatown section of Portland, Oregon. Even if you aren't arriving by the Amtrak Cascades, Coast Starlight or Empire Builder trains and you flew in to this here town, the station is worth a visit for its historical and architectural significance (not to mention that sweet Romanesque clock tower).

As you can see in the above image, the stations is undergoing something of a refurbishment. Sadly, this won't be to add more train services—oh how we'd love to see some hi-speed trains making stops here—but to add housing in places where railroad track used to be. ]]> JetSetCD 2011-07-26T13:41:00-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/7/12/17258/3731

We love Tuesdays. Why, you ask? Because the day brings many travel tips and quips as "Travel Tuesday" on Twitter, and we're going to share our favorite with you. Got an avid travel twitterer we should follow? Let us know.

Thank You, @PeterShankman for giving weight to one of our favorite arguments: always join the loyalty program for whatever airline/train line/boat line/restaurant chain/grocery store/smoothie shop on which you're spending your hard-earned money. Specifically we advocate signing up for travel-related frequent guest programs (United Mileage Plus, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, Cathay Pacific AsiaMiles, and JetBlue TrueBlue to name just a few of the airline offerings), but a free smoothies after buying ten is pretty great as well. ]]> JetSetCD 2011-07-12T17:25:08-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/2/21/141836/094

Everybody's talking about Chicago-O'Hare Airport this week and, for once, the jibber-jabber isn't all negative. Sure, most of their flights both yesterday and today were cancelled due to winter weather, but the news that they'll be seeing more airline options with the coming addition of Virgin America routes is good stuff. What's possibly just as nice as the talk that O'Hare could get more rail connections in the future, if a proposed plan meets with approval.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Illinois' governor is talking to Amtrak regarding the possibility of providing "fast, nonstop passenger rail service between Chicago Union Station and O'Hare." This could mean far easier connections to the airport for those coming up from towns and cities deeper in the state. ]]> JetSetCD 2011-02-21T15:01:29-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/2/9/8427/83028

We may talk about airplanes quite a bit here on Jaunted, but trust that our love is strong for trains, too. It just sucks that we can't be as proud of Amtrak as Europe and Japan can be of their awesome train systems, but at least Amtrak is making headway in the on-board connectivity departments. In addition to the Acela trains and select stations having WiFi, the west coast Cascades train now has free WiFi.

The Cascades, which travels between Vancouver, British Columbia and Eugene, Oregon, has thus far relied on its awesome scenery to do the majority of the entertaining for its passengers. But now, thankfully, people can get a little work done while enjoying the ride, as the WiFi network will allow passengers to log into VPN networks as well. Of course, just as with in-flight wifi, don't put all your hopes on hooking into on-track WiFi as a signal isn't guaranteed. ]]> JetSetCD 2011-02-09T08:43:04-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/1/20/22732/0662

Yesterday we told you about the mistakes we made in taking the train from LA to San Diego. Today, it’s time for something a little lighter. Specifically, the guy in the buffet car who made all our days happier.

We were pulling out of LA all stressed and hassled from our Union Station experience when first the conductor came on the intercom to tell us about the journey ahead, and then handed over to the buffet rep to tell us what was going on in food land.

Nobody seemed to be taking any notice (even though he seemed very happy), because we guess few people on that route are going to be up for hot dogs or M&Ms, but then the whole carriage pricked up its ears when he launched into song about the joys of riding the rails. Here’s where we caught the tail end on camera:]]> juliab 2011-01-20T09:48:40-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/