Can we check bags 24 hours ahead of depature?

Another question...

We arrive NYC early 22 December 2018, we leave early on 23 December 2018 on the Cardinal. The plan is to check our largest bag into Amtrak NYP immediately on arrival, allows us to just have 2 small bags to drop off at the hotel.

As is our want we will probably use public transport to the station and onwards unless it's raining or snowing, so having deposited our largest bag at Penn would be a big help. Have looked at the baggage page on the Amtrak site but no reference as to how far ahead we can check a bag, is there a rule on this?

Thank you

As far as I'm aware, the rule is 24 hours before departure that you can check a bag. I've never pushed it to its limits, especially at NYP, but I have checked a bag the night before at MSP without issue or charge, and my understanding is that it can be up to 24 hours in advance.

As elsewhere throughout Amtrak employees feel free to amend the rule at their whim, but the rule is that you are supposed to be able to check luggage in up to 24 hours before the departure of your train. I've used this before when checking luggage for the Sunset Limited, which runs only three days a week each way...the local Houston agents were very strict on their interpretation of such, meaning that I had to check it in after the 6:55 normal departure time of the westbound train...which left me only a 30 minute window before the station closed!

Also, be advised that when you check luggage in early it will probably be sent the most direct route to your destination, which means that it may not travel on the train you will be on. For a 2012 trip from Washington to Houston via New Orleans, I checked three large pieces of luggage (allowed then) when I arrived at Washington Union Station in the early morning, then took a joyride up to New York (new mileage for me) to catch the Crescent there. My luggage was sent via Chicago and Longview and arrived in Houston before I did.

It might help to mention at NYP that you just arrived on an Amtrak train, and that you are simply looking at checking in your luggage for your connecting Amtrak train. In other words, you aren't simply looking to have them "baby sit" your bags while you sightsee.

Thanks jebr and eh, it was what I hoped.

Cho Cho we can't do as you suggest as we will have only just arrived in the country, no previous tickets. We were asked for an arrival ticket in New Orleans earlier in the year and fortunately we had one, the man behind the desk took a bit of persuading and it would not have been possible without the arrival ticket.

There again as mentioned it may depend on who is on duty, worst case we pay and leave it in left luggage if it's still operating at NYP?

As far as I recall, bag check-in is still more or less a manual thing, so it you would depend on what the station agent is willing to do. They would just pull out (or manually write up) a tag and attach it for baggage handlers to get on the next reasonable train to get it to the destination. There doesn't seem to be any "official" policy other than it needs to be checked in at least 45 minutes before departure. Even then, the last time I checked in baggage (on the CS in Seattle) there was a final call for baggage about 10 minutes before departure. I've definitely heard of the 24 hour rule, but I don't see anywhere it's stated as an official policy.

The only thing I'm sure of is that a baggage storage fee is supposed to cover up to 24 hours. In the absence of an official policy, I'd think checking in for a departure on the next calendar day is reasonable, even if it's more than 24 hours. Worst case scenario at NYP is paying for the baggage storage fee, although I would ask if it would be possible to check it in early.

Would it be a good idea to ask Amtrak to clarify? Don't mind asking but also don't want to stir up something best left alone.

Thanks BCL, as you write it's not difficult to ask the agent nicely to check the bag in for the next day and don't get upset if they say no. At NYP there is at least a back-up.

Certainly one can claim checked baggage up to 24 hrs after the train arrives. I did this at NYP, just headed off to the hostel for one night with my small bag, and picked up the large case on the way out to JFK next day.

I would contact Amtrak and ask if the same applies to departures. Do it by email, so you get a reply that you can print off and show to the staff if they try to tell you something different...

Ed.

I have checked a bag in West Palm Beach the day before I was leaving (within 24 hours), and had no problem.

I waited until the Silver Star had left so it would be on the next day’s Meteor with me.

JRR said:

I have checked a bag in West Palm Beach the day before I was leaving (within 24 hours), and had no problem.

I waited until the Silver Star had left so it would be on the next day’s Meteor with me.

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i think plan as laid out is over 24 hours. I'm sure someone has tried, but then again the big problem is there is nothing that says you can't check in baggage even 2 days early. It's got to be policies established at each station or even by each agent.

I guess storage is $10 now? The time we did it at NYP, it was just to go sightseeing for a couple of hours, and I think it was $5 each back in 2013. We were leaving that day for the airport.

BCL, we paid $5 a bag this year in several locations, Minneapolis, Salinas and New Orleans, apparently that is/was the going rate for the entire country. What was happening is we either arrived at these stations by non rail transport and stored all our bags and expected to pay, or our carry on bags were added to a checked bag when we arrived by rail.

Thanks Ed and JRR.

Ed what you up to now, anything planned?

v v said:

BCL, we paid $5 a bag this year in several locations, Minneapolis, Salinas and New Orleans, apparently that is/was the going rate for the entire country. What was happening is we either arrived at these stations by non rail transport and stored all our bags and expected to pay, or our carry on bags were added to a checked bag when we arrived by rail.

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I was just getting the price from here. It wouldn't surprise me if it's not always accurate.

https://www.amtrak.com/baggage-services

Temporary Bag Storage

Customers holding tickets for Amtrak travel may store their items in Parcel Check service when available for $10 per item for 24 hours. Check the station detail page for the stations you'll be visiting to see if they offer this service. Customers that don't have an Amtrak ticket may store items for $20 per item for 24 hours (valid photo ID required).

See what you mean.

The 1st of the 3 above was during the 3rd week of February, the last was the 4th week of March, both this year. So Amtrak have now doubled the cost, that smacks of greed as they haven't had to invest in new buildings to handle baggage.

Think I'll get a written understanding as Ed mentions above re checked bags up to 24 hours in advance.

The storage fees vary by station. In major stations such as New York and Washington, the fee is typically $10. In smaller stations, the fee is usually $5 if there is any charge at all.

That's not what the website says, that's on the link that's on the link that BCL posted above.

MSP is not the largest station nor is it small either, Salinas yes is a small station. But NOL is quite a size although not to the extent that NYP is, but $5 there last March. At all the Amtrak stations we have left bags at the staff have always been polite and invariably apologetic, but all have charged the $5 fee.

Listen, I'm not complaining as I think that Amtrak if you are not travelling in peak season is a real bargain, and I'm happy to pay a small fee to leave bags, but if as the website states they have doubled the fee everywhere it sounds a bit extreme and greedy.

Maybe someone using a smaller station for bag storage could update us here?

v v said:

That's not what the website says, that's on the link that's on the link that BCL posted above.

MSP is not the largest station nor is it small either, Salinas yes is a small station. But NOL is quite a size although not to the extent that NYP is, but $5 there last March. At all the Amtrak stations we have left bags at the staff have always been polite and invariably apologetic, but all have charged the $5 fee.

Listen, I'm not complaining as I think that Amtrak if you are not travelling in peak season is a real bargain, and I'm happy to pay a small fee to leave bags, but if as the website states they have doubled the fee everywhere it sounds a bit extreme and greedy.

Maybe someone using a smaller station for bag storage could update us here?

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In the past month I have stored a bag at Atlanta and Charlottesville. Both station agents charged me nothing at all.

The bag storage fee at Portland is $10 as of July 7, although we decided to check them on the train instead (I was riding #11 southbound from there).

Thanks Brian and PA, so it's totally hit and miss and be prepared to pay nothing or up to $10, fair enough.

Many times (but not always), if you have a sleeper ticket you may not be charged.

I was in San Diego and was going to connect to a sleeper on the next train. The agent INSISTED on charging the fee! I declined and carried my bags around town. (I was connecting to a Thruway bus then connecting to a sleeper. She said there would not be time to claim my bags before the bus, thus I could not check them either!)

Cho Cho Charlie said:

It might help to mention at NYP that you just arrived on an Amtrak train, and that you are simply looking at checking in your luggage for your connecting Amtrak train. In other words, you aren't simply looking to have them "baby sit" your bags while you sightsee.

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That might help their case, but policy still stipulates that it's done less than 24 hours in advance. You might get lucky and find an employee who understands your situation and won't care that it's technically too early, but I wouldn't be too optimistic.

EDIT: Whoops, just realized that they're not even coming in on Amtrak.

the_traveler said:

Many times (but not always), if you have a sleeper ticket you may not be charged.

I was in San Diego and was going to connect to a sleeper on the next train. The agent INSISTED on charging the fee!

I declined and carried my bags around town. (I was connecting to a Thruway bus then connecting to a sleeper. She said there would not be time to claim my bags before the bus, thus I could not check them either!)

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During our 2016 circle trip, I was told by agents in two different stations (Sacramento and Galesburg) that the policy is that if the station has a lounge (or even a reserved waiting area) for first class passengers then they do not charge the fee if you have a sleeping car ticket. Sacramento did have a reserved waiting area for sleeper passengers, so they did not charge us the fee. Galesburg did not have such an area and they did charge the fee...although sometimes the station agent will be good enough to stack/hook your bags together and then charge the "stack" as a single bag. YMMV.

Have an answer from Amtrak Customer Support, may be of interest to others. I assume that this policy doesn't only apply to New York Penn, that it is nationwide? When making the enquiry I used the booking reference for our actual NYP to LAX journey, just to authenticate the enquiry. The reply arrived today 7 August 2018

Thanks for the suggestion Ed, I'll be printing this to take with.

(The bold type of the relevant sentence is mine)

Amtrak Customer Support <[email protected]>

Reply
|

Today, 16:55
………[email protected]

Dear Jamie …….,

Thank you for contacting us.

We apologize that it has taken longer than expected for us to reply. We have had an unusually high number of email request. Your patience is appreciated.

Passengers can check their baggage 48 hours prior to their scheduled departure.

We have listed baggage hours below:

New York Penn Station

Daily: 5:15 am - 10:00 pm

Sincerely,
Diane S.

Amtrak

Amtrak.com | Routes & Stations | Deals | Plan a Trip | AmtrakGuestRewards.com | Help

Amtrak is a registered service mark of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation.

Good info Jamie, thanks for sharing!

( and surprisingly you received an answer across the Pond whereas most of us here in the Colonies receive boilerplatted "Corporatespeak" non-answers to our inquiries!)

They probably feel sorry for us having lost our Empire.

It took 13 days to get the reply but I asked far enough ahead so that didn't matter, and they are a big company so didn't think there was better than 50% chance to get a reply anyway. So well done Amtrak.

We're pleased, it will work out fine now... perhaps.

Take it easy Bob, you're about mid summer now aren't you? We're promised rain tonight, first in 2 months if it happens. 41.5° C in the shade today, that's Texas and Death Valley temperatures.

I routinely check my bags 48 hours in advance for my ski trips. Of course, I'm usually riding the Acela Baltimore to Boston, and my bags have to go up the night before on 66. I started checking 48 hours in advance before the VL2 bags were delivered and 66 often ran without a baggage car, so I wanted to make sure that my stuff would be in Boston when I arrived. The last thing I wanted to have to do would be to drove back from the White Mts the next day just to pick up my bags.

When I went to New Mexico on 2015 and to Montana in 2007, they accepted my stuff 72 hours in advance. I really didn't wanto to have to hang around Havre or Lamy waiting for my stuff. and in 2015 winter storms were mucking up the Chicago east coast service, and I was spooked that the "winter consists" on the Cap and SEC didnt have baggage cars. That was before I learned about Superliner baggage coach cars.

A little off the topic, the Baltimore Baggage guys always charge me $10 for the skis, the Boston guys never do. I have forgotten whether or not they charged me at Denver or Havre.