Questions about a trip on the Coast Starlight and Sunset Limited

Hi! I've seen a couple of posts on this subject, but it's always nice to get up to date information.

I will be taking the Coast Starlight/Sunset limited from Martinez, CA to Maricopa, AZ in early April, and I know trains 11 & 2 have a pretty close arrival and departure time. What will happen if the Coast Starlight is delayed? Will #2 leave without me? Or will it wait for a tardy Starlight? I did this trip last year as well but used the San Joaquin > Bus > SL option, but this time around, i'm trying something different.


Also, how is business class on the Coast Starlight? Are there any perks to using it over coach? Also if you go Business Class are you allowed to use the Metropolitan Lounge in LA before departure?


Thanks, Another Amtrak Traveller.

If the CS is late arriving by 30 - 45 minutes, the SL usually will wait, but if the delay is greater, you may be taken off much earlier and bused to a stop to meet the SL. Since the SL is only three days a week Amtrak will not want to hold passengers over several days in a hotel.

With Business Class you will have access to the ML if you get to LAX early. Since the SL is backed into the station 30 - 40 minutes before departure, you may just go to the platform to wait to board.

Business Class is better seating with more space around you, plus a few amenities from the Cafe.

Have a great trip.

It is my understanding business class car on the Coast Starlight is a regular superliner coach car, same seats, same amount of room.

However, the seats have been recovered with a faux synthetic material that mimics leather.

Business class passengers are given a voucher worth $6 or $6.50 in the SSL café or the dining car & 2 bottles of water.

It's likely there will be fewer passengers in the biz class car than in the coach cars.

My wife and I rode in Business Class on the CS northbound from SAC to KFS early morning Thursday. We left SAC a few minutes after midnight and got to KFS 40 minutes early. There were 3 engines in the consist. We asked for the lower level. We each had a pair of the faux leather seats as did the one other lady that had been on since LAX. There were few passengers upstairs when we went up for our free breakfast and coffee in the lounge car.

We were still eating in the lounge car when we pulled into KFS.

Additional question, is seating assigned in business class? I know it is (Or was, I haven't ridden the Starlight since 2013) In coach.

It's up to you to decide if the faux leather seats are worth the extra money for a daytime trip. The lower level of the Business class had 3 people (me, my wife and a lady that boarded in Los Angeles).

We had a choice of seats. The upstairs was also less than half full. If you don't think the nicer seats are worth the money, those bottles of water look quite expensive. The extra AGR points are also worth something.

Liam said:

Additional question, is seating assigned in business class? I know it is (Or was, I haven't ridden the Starlight since 2013) In coach.

Click to expand...

I thought that all seating was assigned on the CS. You could always ask for a different seat though. I've never boarded the CS without knowing exactly where I was supposed to sit. Only once from Seattle, and I was first assigned a car at the check-in desk, and then a specific seat by the coach attendant. When boarding mid-route I always got a seat check with the seat number(s).