Want airline food? Take Amtrak
I have traveled Amtrak quite a lot - across the country on the Empire Builder, Southwest Chief, and California Zephyr.  And many other routes.<p>I think the food is usually decent - the veggie burger is reliably edible.<p>What I can say is terrible - and what has caused me to cease using Amtrak - is the presence of the DEA.<p>In case you haven&#x27;t experienced this, the DEA sometimes raids specific sleeper cars at a station, demanding money, guns, or drugs.  I had <i>no idea</i> about this until it happened to me.<p>It was absolutely, positively terrifying.  I (and my partner) were repeatedly threatened with violence if we didn&#x27;t allow our bags to be searched (which of course we didn&#x27;t).  Our 2.5 year old was screaming in terror the entire time.<p>They refused to tell of their names or let us see the numbers on their badges - they only flashed their badges for  250ms at us.<p>We recorded them on both of our phones and a camera.  At one point, a DEA agent physically tried to swat my phone out of my hands.<p>They told us that we had been selected &quot;randomly&quot;, but I found out soon after that a colleague of mine, seven cars back, had also been &quot;randomly&quot; selected.  I later found out from an Amtrak employee that we were the only ones on the train who had been raided and that it was never random - they research people in advance and select who to raid.  Apparently being involved in any way in crypto-blockchain tech is enough to trigger such an event (indeed their primary questioning to my colleague was about his hardware wallet, which they took the majority of their time with him to inspect and photograph).<p>The Amtrak employee further told me that she and others are terrified of these agents - that there had been times when they themselves had been subject to their antics and also to unwanted advances at their departing stations.  She said that they have learned to just leave the train and stay out of the way and also encouraged me to complain to Amtrak or file a lawsuit, saying that if we were able to get the DEA off Amtrak we&#x27;d be doing Amtrak employees a big favor.<p>If Amtrak can&#x27;t protect me against armed thugs coming into my sleeper car and terrorizing my family, they are simply not a viable solution for transportation IMO.<p>I encourage you to reconsider Amtrak - if you ride often enough, this will happen to you.<p>A quick google search will show you that this is a common, if largely unknown practice.  Here are some links:<p>* <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.usatoday.com&#x2F;story&#x2F;news&#x2F;2016&#x2F;08&#x2F;10&#x2F;dea-travel-record-airport-seizures&#x2F;88474282&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.usatoday.com&#x2F;story&#x2F;news&#x2F;2016&#x2F;08&#x2F;10&#x2F;dea-travel-re...</a><p>* <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theatlantic.com&#x2F;politics&#x2F;archive&#x2F;2016&#x2F;10&#x2F;the-perils-of-going-west-on-amtrak&#x2F;500651&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theatlantic.com&#x2F;politics&#x2F;archive&#x2F;2016&#x2F;10&#x2F;the-per...</a><p>* <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.usnews.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;articles&#x2F;2016-09-29&#x2F;dea-bribed-amtrak-workers-for-free-rider-information-long-after-exposure-paid-single-source-30m-report-says" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.usnews.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;articles&#x2F;2016-09-29&#x2F;dea-bribed-a...</a><p>* <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;the-watch&#x2F;wp&#x2F;2015&#x2F;05&#x2F;12&#x2F;another-asset-forfeiture-outrage-2&#x2F;?utm_term=.aaeb5d526a22" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;the-watch&#x2F;wp&#x2F;2015&#x2F;05&#x2F;12&#x2F;...</a>