OK, as the original poster I feel obliged to clear up the situation as maybe it wasn't explained well enough.
I arrived with a sleeper ticket off the California Zephyr at about 3:20 or thereabouts. I was leaving that evening on the Lake Shore Limited at 10:00 in coach. According to the lounge attendant, the outgoing sleeper pax where going to be escorted to the train at 8:30 and the outgoing coach pax at 9:00. The gate to the passengers in the waiting room was supposed to be open at 9:30. In my experience, and I've done it numerous times, that was the first time that I remember the sleeper passengers and coach passengers being escorted at a different time. Maybe it has to do with the sleeper passengers getting to the dining car now that the LSL leaves so much later, I don't know. My lounge pass did say "no dinner" but that is just a guess on my part.
Also, the way it was explained to me by the attendant in the lounge, whose knowledge I would trust more than the gate attendant, you are allowed access to the Metro Lounge if you arrived on a train or were departing on a train and you had a sleeper ticket that was valid either 24 hours before or 24 hours afterwards. So, for example, if you had a coach ticket departing Chicago but were changing to a sleeper in say Minneapolis/St. Paul, you should be allowed access to the lounge. Or, if you were arriving in Chicago on the Empire Builder in coach but had switched from a sleeper in Minneapolis, you should be allowed access also. If I recall, I have seen Alan make posts that support that very interpretation.
I arrived with a sleeper ticket off the California Zephyr at about 3:20 or thereabouts. I was leaving that evening on the Lake Shore Limited at 10:00 in coach. According to the lounge attendant, the outgoing sleeper pax where going to be escorted to the train at 8:30 and the outgoing coach pax at 9:00. The gate to the passengers in the waiting room was supposed to be open at 9:30. In my experience, and I've done it numerous times, that was the first time that I remember the sleeper passengers and coach passengers being escorted at a different time. Maybe it has to do with the sleeper passengers getting to the dining car now that the LSL leaves so much later, I don't know. My lounge pass did say "no dinner" but that is just a guess on my part.
Also, the way it was explained to me by the attendant in the lounge, whose knowledge I would trust more than the gate attendant, you are allowed access to the Metro Lounge if you arrived on a train or were departing on a train and you had a sleeper ticket that was valid either 24 hours before or 24 hours afterwards. So, for example, if you had a coach ticket departing Chicago but were changing to a sleeper in say Minneapolis/St. Paul, you should be allowed access to the lounge. Or, if you were arriving in Chicago on the Empire Builder in coach but had switched from a sleeper in Minneapolis, you should be allowed access also. If I recall, I have seen Alan make posts that support that very interpretation.
