I would like to travel lax-sol-san with a few hours layover in sol. Is it possible to check luggage through to San Diego?
I think the Hiawatha could be another.While my experience with checked baggage is limited, my experience has been that baggage at Amtrak is a decidedly low-tech operation. Everything was done manually, with the employee selecting a tag with the preprinted station code or writing it down. If you can persuade an Amtrak employee to do it, it will work. It's not as if they're limited to segments spelled out on the ticket (like airlines). Of course your baggage is going to arrive before you do, but they'll just stash it in the baggage room until you pick it up.
Should be no problem I'd think.
My question is what would happen if a passenger presented a ticket for baggage but for whatever reason didn't get on. When I checked in baggage on Amtrak, there was only a glance of the ticket to make sure it was the right train/date/origin/destination. Airlines these days are so freaked out that they'll take someone's luggage off the plane if they notice that person didn't board.
And then there's the issue with the Pacific Surfliner being an unreserved train (most of the time). I'm wondering if they'll even check to see an old ticket has been used (or still valid) before accepting baggage. Is this the only unreserved route with baggage service?
I think it is a state decision, and I am confident that checked baggage will make a return, just not sure when. When I used to railfan at Fullerton almost every train (if not every train) had checked luggage getting on or off, so it was fairly used. They also don't need a baggage car for each train set as the baggage area is in the cabcar, which means if they get rid of it that space will just sit empty.I wouldn’t be shocked if this ends up never coming back. Amtrak seems content to not offer checked baggage service on corridor trains elsewhere (such as Michigan), so I wouldn’t be surprised if the Surfliner does the same. Though this might be a state decision, so perhaps CA could be persuaded to change their mind. It is a shame - there really should be checked baggage at all major stations, at least on trains that connect to long-distance routes.
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