Liquor in coach

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*** NOTE THIS THREAD WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED TO AN 8 YEAR OLD THREAD ***

Hi all, I found this forum searching for HOW to sneak some liquor, use, and get away with it on my first train ride. I will be on The Pennsylvanian 42 and 43 trip to NYC. All of your ideas are helpful and make sense, mainly not be an asshat... out of sight, out of mind. I plan on bringing a couple plastic pint bottles of bourbon. I know this is an old thread, but I have to take a bus from Ohio to Pittsburgh to get on the train and I don't know if Greyhound is going to catch them or not. Please help!
 
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Hi all! I found this forum searching for HOW to sneak some liquor, use, and get away with it on my first train ride. I will be on The Pennsylvanian 42 and 43 trip to NYC. All of your ideas are helpful and make sense, mainly not be an asshat... out of sight, out of mind. I plan on bringing a couple plastic pint bottles of bourbon. I know this is an old thread, but I have to take a bus from Ohio to Pittsburgh to get on the train and I don't know if Greyhound is going to catch them or not. Please help!
You want help to break rules?
 
If you can't make it to NYC without desperately needing to drink bourbon, in a place you know aren't allowed to drink, you need help (AA).
 
Drinking in coach is pretty common. If you are going to do beer stick with Budweiser as they are guaranteed to have it on board. Buy the first from the lounge and the rest from your stash. For wine, take the bag out of the box and keep it in your bag. Again buy a little bottle from the lounge for your first cup.

On to liqour, the best suggestion I ever got on the forums was to pre-mix your cocktail in a large thermos. Stays ice cold and the contents are not visible. Ice can be scarce so this is pretty nice. Straight whiskey you could just put it in an ice tea bottle and nobody would know the better.

As long as you keep quiet and enjoy the view there won't be any problem. I've seen people openly drinking from 5ths of liqour on the Surfliners with conductors walking by.

There will always be naysayers & teatotalers but wouldn't you rather the drunks be riding on the train instead of driving?
 
Not an ultra frequent Greyhound rider in fact I've only been on it once :lol: but in my extremely limited experience they don't xray your bags like they would at an airport. Just roll your bag up to the side of the bus and it gets tossed underneath. Pre mixing into 20oz sodas would be your best bet I think, or get yourself a paper coffee cup in a convince store fill it with ice and mixer and enjoy i If you drink it straight then more power to you! Don't make a scene and you'll be good to go.
 
If you can't make it to NYC without desperately needing to drink bourbon, in a place you know aren't allowed to drink, you need help (AA).
This is a bit of an overreaction. The OP said nothing about "desperately" needing to drink. Many of us enjoy imbibing during a long trip. It doesn't mean we need to go to an AA meeting.
 
There's no "good way" to get away with it in coach. Transporting them shouldn't be a problem so long as they don't search through your bags (I've never personally experienced that, but I suppose they could.) However, trying to drink with them would be fairly obvious and probably wouldn't work.
 
There's no "good way" to get away with it in coach. Transporting them shouldn't be a problem so long as they don't search through your bags (I've never personally experienced that, but I suppose they could.) However, trying to drink with them would be fairly obvious and probably wouldn't work.
Even if they search your bags, as long as you are not tankering Moonshine you will be fine; Amtrak even says you can carry it in Coach; just do not drink it in Coach. Of course if you are low profile about it........
 
This is another area which we seem to depart from our European cousins. On board European trains, both overnight and daytime coach, there were never any issues with self-service of one own's alcohol. This was even permitted on trains where there was a restaurant/bar/bistro car which sold its own alcohol.

Seeing as Amtrak still allows consumption of beer, wine, and spirits, so long as they've been purchased from their own bar, one can only assume the policy is in place due to revenue protection. This, of course, also exists on airplanes, cruise ships, sports stadia, many resorts, and then other areas with captive audiences.
 
[Moderator hat on]

We should not advise people specifically "how to get away with it". Likewise, we should not tell people to drive 56 mph in a 55 mph zone "because everybody does it and you will not be caught". Both are against the rules. If someone wishes to do either, it is up to them but we should not say either is right.

[Moderator hat off]
 
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Why not just buy some bourbon on the train? I realize it's a bit more expensive, but them's the breaks. You don't bring your own food to a restaurant to save money.
 
With Greyhound it depends on the station whether they check or not. I had a couple of airplane bottles in my pocket I got at a party sponsored by a liquor company. At this station they patted down the passengers for whatever reason and found them. They made me put them in an envelope and put them under the bus. Swadian will probably have more current information. YMMV

No, I wasn't looking to drink any of it at 9AM on a one hour trip but I did find the experience off-putting.
 
Don't be drunk and obnoxious, though, or they will kick you off the train. :angry2:

I'm thinking of the scene from "Dogma": "No ticket." :help:

And no, you won't be getting a refund. :blush:
 
If you can't make it to NYC without desperately needing to drink bourbon, in a place you know aren't allowed to drink, you need help (AA).
Youre allowed to drink in coach so long as you purchase your liquor from Amtrak.

Trying to drink with them would be fairly obvious and probably wouldn't work.
Drinking alcohol discretely isnt that obvious in and of itself. Getting drunk is whats obvious.

Seeing as Amtrak still allows consumption of beer, wine, and spirits, so long as they've been purchased from their own bar, one can only assume the policy is in place due to revenue protection. This, of course, also exists on airplanes, cruise ships, sports stadia, many resorts, and then other areas with captive audiences.
In theory its a safety measure by retaining control over additional servings. In reality Amtrak will sell you enough liquor to put a horse to sleep.

We should not advise people specifically "how to get away with it". Likewise, we should not tell people to drive 56 mph in a 55 mph zone "because everybody does it and you will not be caught". Both are against the rules. If someone wishes to do either, it is up to then but we should not say either is right.
Says the member who routinely advised strangers on how to abuse every AGR loophole and oversight he ever came across?

Why not just buy some bourbon on the train? I realize it's a bit more expensive, but them's the breaks. You don't bring your own food to a restaurant to save money.
Im not aware of any bourbon sold by Amtrak. Which makes sense since Amtraks selection of liquor is minuscule and often sells out long before it can be restocked. I've even cleaned them out with one double pulling out of the train's first station. It's not always a cost issue either. For me the tiny selection is the primary issue. The liquor I buy is often double or triple the cost of anything Ive ever seen Amtrak stock.

Don't be drunk and obnoxious, though, or they will kick you off the train.
This is why I dont mind people drinking in coach on a train. Theyre not driving drunk or stumbling into traffic or disrupting a flight or causing trouble for a bus driver. If they overdo it while on the train Amtrak can simply stop at a crossing and hand them over to the police. Drinking on the train is probably the safest possible way to imbibe while on the move.
 
Seeing as Amtrak still allows consumption of beer, wine, and spirits, so long as they've been purchased from their own bar, one can only assume the policy is in place due to revenue protection. This, of course, also exists on airplanes, cruise ships, sports stadia, many resorts, and then other areas with captive audiences.
I've never been on a cruise ship but I have the impression that on airlines cabin staff often turn a blind eye if you're being low profile about it.

I once observed a party of noisy young men trying to share a bottle of whiky with the security agent. He said he couldn't drink any because he wasn't allowed to accept gifts. I would have thought not drinking on the job would be a more pressing reason. But maybe he was thinking, any excuse goes.
 
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Not an ultra frequent Greyhound rider in fact I've only been on it once :lol: but in my extremely limited experience they don't xray your bags like they would at an airport. Just roll your bag up to the side of the bus and it gets tossed underneath. Pre mixing into 20oz sodas would be your best bet I think, or get yourself a paper coffee cup in a convince store fill it with ice and mixer and enjoy i If you drink it straight then more power to you! Don't make a scene and you'll be good to go.
I've had my bags screened on entering the Greyhound terminal. I don't know what they were looking for thpugh. It definietly wasn't anything as strict as at airports.
 
Between the kindergarten walk, assigned seats, and liquor policy, it makes me wonder how Europe is called the nanny-state compared to the US!
 
I just got a ticket from a state trooper for "following too close" . I smiled, thanked the office and paid my fine. That's what life is all about. After 20 grateful years in AA I know what alcohol can do but what you do to with your life is your business as long as you don't make it mine. I often carried alcohol on, and was never questioned because it's not the alcohol but your behavior that Amtrak (big leap of faith here) is worried about. As mother, god rest her soul, used to say "If you can't be pleasant, don't be present." Enjoy your journey and Godspeed..
 
I won't condone this.

As I understand it, there are at least 2 reasons for the rule:

1. Revenue protection, as stated above.

2. Buying it on the train ensures that the person selling the liquor knows how much you have purchased, so that the Lounge car attendant

can judge when to cut the customer off. This may seem to be a "big brother" approach; but positive action by the attendant can prevent

the need to put you off the train in the custody of the local constable. And that's a good thing.

Tom
 
In my experience (both good & bad over the years), a couple beers will usually do the trick for a shorter trip if I feel in the mood for some imbibing. For a longer one, maybe a bit more. Beer IMO is way safer than getting sloshed on some hard liquor. Like the others said, don't get stumbling drunk or belligerent and you shouldn't have a problem.
 
I won't condone this.

As I understand it, there are at least 2 reasons for the rule:

1. Revenue protection, as stated above.

2. Buying it on the train ensures that the person selling the liquor knows how much you have purchased, so that the Lounge car attendant

can judge when to cut the customer off. This may seem to be a "big brother" approach; but positive action by the attendant can prevent

the need to put you off the train in the custody of the local constable. And that's a good thing.

Tom
Tom, with all due respect, neither of these uncondonable rationales are logical, as sleeper passengers are allowed to imbibe as much as they want of their own stash. It's a rule for the sake of having rules. As soon as you make an exception, then you are playing favorites with different classes of people. It's like passing a law restricting talking on cell phones while driving, except if you're a cop. Like a cop doesn't already have a dozen OTHER things to distract him, he's exempted by this silly rule (the simple "driving distracted" laws already cover this).

The real reason they don't let folks drink in coach is to protect other passengers. That's it. Pure and simple. It's much easier to say "Don't drink your own beer in coach" then excepting it if you buy it in the cafe than it is to patrol for obnoxious passengers. There are some who I wish got thrown off a train, but I know that getting arrested - even if let off right away - can do serious damage to one's reputation. On the other hand, if they can't control their intake, regardless of the source, then protect others and introduce them to shiny bracelets. I'm sure it won't be their first time.
 
How about a compromise? If Amtrak can get you to your destination on time, you have to obey their alcohol rules. If they get you to your destination delayed, you get to play by your own alcohol rules.
 
As for consumption of personal alcohol in coach, I've joked about this with some conductors. One even said that she didn't really care as long as someone isn't sloshed.
 
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