I have lifetime free travel on American Airlines, as does my spouse. I would rather pay and ride Amtrak.
Apparently there are a lot of folks who like train travel - try booking a seat next week.
It will never be as nice as it was in the six axle heavyweight era, but it could easily run a bit faster. I wish we could have double-tracked the coast line and aligned it for 80 mph between stops, instead of wasting billions on the bullet train to Modesto.