Originally Posted by
staehpj1
IME long rides on either can be an ordeal. I was kind of surprised just how uncomfortable I found the Amtrak seats. At least you can get up and walk around, but I felt pretty beat up and tired after a long amtrak ride, worse than a similar length flight. Also a train ride will inevitably be MUCH longer. I have tried to use amtrak mostly because I want to like train travel, but somehow it manages to disappoint even on shortish routes. I can only imagine what an ordeal 3 days on a train to get coast to coast would be unless you spend $$$ for a roomette.
Complete opposite comparison for me on Amtrak seating vs airline seating.
This past summer I took a trip to Timor Leste where each direction was ~23 hours of flying time on four hops (Austin/LAX/Manila/Bali/Dili) + layover time. Timor-Leste has the world's shortest average population (
https://www.insider.com/shortest-peo...country-2019-6) and airline seats on flights to/from were literally spaced too close for me to sit without slanting my legs (I'm 6'4"). Fortunately flight crew noticed this and moved me to an exit row. Fourteen hours in a window seat across the Pacific fits but is a lot more claustrophobic when everyone slants down the seats.
I would much rather have 23 hours of train travel where I can walk around, and seats are both wider and spaced far enough apart that I can have use the tray table if person in front reclines. Not the most comfortable sleep, but I can also sleep better in a train overnight than I can on an airline flight. Often some of the train route parallels a ride I've either done or am about to do - so during the daytime interesting to see the landscapes again or get out a book and read.