Sleeper Car Attendent Tips

[jmbgeg]

I have been traveling by train for several years but do not yet have a good sense of what fair sleeper car attendent tips are. My most frequent trips are overnights from Spokane that leave at 2:15 and 2:45 a.m. and arrive in Seattle or Portland about 10:00 a.m. with return legs leaving about 4:45 p.m. returning after midnight. On these trips the attendent's service that I utilize is often limited to putting the bed down and back up. Next month I will travel again on the Empire Builder Eastbond which is about a 35 hour trip on a single train. A comparable travel time train that I take is Portland to L.A. on the Coast Starlight. My tipping to date has generally been $10 to $20 flat (never $10 on the long trips). I am interested in comments on what prevailing tip ranges are for 8 hour overnights and for longer trips like trains like 7 & 8 and 11 & 14.

 

[NativeSon5859]

Generally, if I'm traveling alone, I'll tip $5 per night. If the service was excellent, I'll do a few $$$ more. Just use your judgement. I have been traveling NOL-ATL-NOL mostly these days and while not overnight, it's still basically a 12 hour ride in each direction, so I usually tip $5 at the end of the ride as a courtesy.

 

[Montanan]

There are several threads on this topic already, I think ...

And opinions vary, but I personally tip between $5 and $10 a night, depending on the level of service. If an attendant is basically invisible for much of the trip -- which seems to happen fairly often -- I have no qualms about not tipping at all.

 

[jmbgeg]

There are several threads on this topic already, I think ...
And opinions vary, but I personally tip between $5 and $10 a night, depending on the level of service. If an attendant is basically invisible for much of the trip -- which seems to happen fairly often -- I have no qualms about not tipping at all.

I should have thought of the search function. Thanks for your feedback.

 

[Tony]

I will tip $5 if the attendant does nothing at all, and that is basically for cleaning the room and supplying it with clean towels, sheets, etc. I guess if not even that was true (the cubby had an inch of dust/dirt in it? ), I would tip nothing, but that has never happened to me.

I go to the dining car for all my meals, so there is no personal delivery. I put down the upper bunk myself, so there is no personal service.

 

[AlanB]

I will tip $5 if the attendant does nothing at all, and that is basically for cleaning the room and supplying it with clean towels, sheets, etc. I guess if not even that was true (the cubby had an inch of dust/dirt in it? ), I would tip nothing, but that has never happened to me.

Except that it's not the attendant’s job to seriously clean your room, that honor belongs to the cleaning crew in the yard or station. The attendant's job is to provide clean towels and washcloths, soap, sheets, blankets, & pillows, coffee, juice, water, newspaper, wake up calls, freshening up the public restrooms, a light cleaning if the room is turning over during the trip, meals delivered when requested, ensure that you get off at your destination, and your general safety.

Now that's not to say that when the attendant boards the train in the yard that if he/she sees a mess on the floor of your room that they shouldn't request a last minute cleaning, or try to do their best to remedy the situation if there is no time for a cleaning person. But otherwise they are not responsible for actually cleaning the room thoroughly.

 

[AAARGH!]

I have been traveling by train for several years but do not yet have a good sense of what fair sleeper car attendent tips are. My most frequent trips are overnights from Spokane that leave at 2:15 and 2:45 a.m. and arrive in Seattle or Portland about 10:00 a.m. with return legs leaving about 4:45 p.m. returning after midnight. On these trips the attendent's service that I utilize is often limited to putting the bed down and back up. Next month I will travel again on the Empire Builder Eastbond which is about a 35 hour trip on a single train. A comparable travel time train that I take is Portland to L.A. on the Coast Starlight. My tipping to date has generally been $10 to $20 flat (never $10 on the long trips). I am interested in comments on what prevailing tip ranges are for 8 hour overnights and for longer trips like trains like 7 & 8 and 11 & 14.

On my recent trip, I tipped $10/night (a total of $20 for the EB) and $5 for a day trip (no overnight). I thought it to be rude not to tip, even if they didn't ever make up the room. This was for reasonable service. I would have no qualms about stiffing them if the service was poor.

It wouldn't matter to me if the roomette has one or two people.

 

[spacecadet]

I think $5-$10 per night is the reasonable range. I think I usually do $10, and will go down to $5 if the attendant is one of those people that's obviously trying to do the minimum required to collect a paycheck. I've never had an attendant that really did nothing, though, so I've never not wanted to tip anything at all.

I've seen people in other threads who say they will tip up to $20 per night, which I think is a little unreasonable. It's a tip, it's extra. $20 per night is actually paying them a decent hourly wage for the amount of work they do per room, and that's not what a tip is supposed to be for. Their wages are already being paid.

I will obviously tip extra for extra service that they wouldn't otherwise do, like meal delivery.

 

[Tony]

Except that it's not the attendant’s job to seriously clean your room, that honor belongs to the cleaning crew in the yard or station. The attendant's job is to provide clean towels and washcloths, soap, sheets, blankets, & pillows, coffee, juice, water, newspaper, wake up calls, freshening up the public restrooms, a light cleaning if the room is turning over during the trip, meals delivered when requested, ensure that you get off at your destination, and your general safety.

OK, let me clarify.

My base $5 tip is for "clean towels and washcloths, soap, sheets, blankets, pillows, coffee, juice, water, newspaper".

I tip $10 if I made use of (but in actuality I rarely do) "wake up calls, freshening up the public restrooms, ensure that you get off at your destination, day/night conversion of room".

I would tip $20 if I ever requested "meals delivered" (that's a waitstaff tip and a delivery tip rolled into one).

 

[access bob]

I have been traveling by train for several years but do not yet have a good sense of what fair sleeper car attendent tips are. My most frequent trips are overnights from Spokane that leave at 2:15 and 2:45 a.m. and arrive in Seattle or Portland about 10:00 a.m. with return legs leaving about 4:45 p.m. returning after midnight. On these trips the attendent's service that I utilize is often limited to putting the bed down and back up. Next month I will travel again on the Empire Builder Eastbond which is about a 35 hour trip on a single train. A comparable travel time train that I take is Portland to L.A. on the Coast Starlight. My tipping to date has generally been $10 to $20 flat (never $10 on the long trips). I am interested in comments on what prevailing tip ranges are for 8 hour overnights and for longer trips like trains like 7 & 8 and 11 & 14.

My base is $10 per night, and adjust up or down based on service.

I have given as little as nothing for a couple nights of hell.

and as high as $35 for one night when service was over and above the highest level expected.

Bob

 

[rogers55]

I like to keep things simple.

Redcaps get $5, Sleeping card attendants $20 (except for THAT ONE who got nothing).

Dining car same as any other restaurant.

 

[Tony]

Dining car same as any other restaurant.

Now that is an interesting tangent.

Do people leave, say, a flat $4 to $5 per person, or do they actually calculate what the bill would have been (if the meal wasn't included with their accommodation), and leave 15% to 20% of that number?

 

[AlanB]

Dining car same as any other restaurant.

Now that is an interesting tangent.

Do people leave, say, a flat $4 to $5 per person, or do they actually calculate what the bill would have been (if the meal wasn't included with their accommodation), and leave 15% to 20% of that number?

Many people do just drop 5 bucks or so for dinner as that's easier. But there are those who do their best to actually calculate the value of what they ate and tip accordingly.

 

[spacecadet]

It used to be tradition in the dining car that you would leave $1-$2 regardless of the meal price. I believe this was because most meals were paid for as part of the fare, so you weren't really charged anything.

I'm talking 20 years ago, though, so $5 would probably be more reasonable now. But it is not *traditionally* like a regular restaurant where you calculate 15-20% of the bill. I'm sure some people do that, but you don't have to feel obligated to.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Consider nothing for no service, $5 per person/per night for decent service, and the sky's the limit above that. If you feel the man has earned more than any of us have ever tipped here, then thats what you should give him.

Conversely, sleeping car attendants make a decent living. They do nothing, they should get nothing. Its not like a diner waitress who is going to be out on the street if she gets no tips. No compassion here. If they want to do worse then perfunctory service (and a few do), they shouldn't get a tip for that.

My dad once gave a $50 tip to a hotel doorman who helped us with a broken down rental car. (Providing us with warm towels after we had walked through a quarter mile of rain, called the rental car company for us, and so on and so forth) Someone goes out of their way, and their job description, to make your life better, it is fair to do something to make their life better.

 

[AAARGH!]

It used to be tradition in the dining car that you would leave $1-$2 regardless of the meal price. I believe this was because most meals were paid for as part of the fare, so you weren't really charged anything.
I'm talking 20 years ago, though, so $5 would probably be more reasonable now. But it is not *traditionally* like a regular restaurant where you calculate 15-20% of the bill. I'm sure some people do that, but you don't have to feel obligated to.

Based on the tradition, on my recent trip I tipped the dining car server a flat $2/person for lunch and dinner, and $1/person for breakfast. I even used $2 bills to be remembered by.

I believe the Amtrak menu prices to be highly overinflated. The Flat Iron steak is not worth anywhere near $22. Given I am captive and don't have the choice to go somewhere else for a full meal (like when off the train), I believe that tipping 15% of the full menu price to be too much. That is, when off the train, if I believe the prices are too high for what is served, I can go somewhere else. I know this 'adjustment of true value' I have implemented may not be fair to what the servers expect, but I do believe what I am tipping to be fair for the service/value rendered.

I arrived at my decision based on searches of this forum last year, so I am not alone.

 

[spacecadet]

I believe the Amtrak menu prices to be highly overinflated. The Flat Iron steak is not worth anywhere near $22.

That's probably true in terms of raw food costs, as this is one of the cheapest cuts of meat out there (a 1/2lb. steak is about $3, even in New York City).

Still, though, you *could* use the same logic for any restaurant. I live in NYC and I occasionally go out to ridiculously expensive restaurants (for anniversaries and whatnot), and I know going in that a couple of little pieces of sushi are not really worth $70. Part of what you're paying for is the overall experience. That furniture, the decorations, the rent, the wait staff, the chef, all that costs money. Same is true of Amtrak. They're still not covering costs in the dining car even with the inflated prices. So it's arguable whether they really are inflated or not.

I'm not saying I think they *should* have to cover costs in the dining car (this is the rationale for the diner lite), but if their stated goal is to do so, then I guess they've got to charge some realistic prices for their food.

 

[Hamhock]

The difference on $22 steak between tipping your server 10% ($2.20) or 15% ($3.30) is basically a buck. Don't be a cheapskate.

 

[Montanan]

The difference on $22 steak between tipping your server 10% ($2.20) or 15% ($3.30) is basically a buck. Don't be a cheapskate.

Absolutely agreed. While I also tend to think that many of Amtrak's meals aren't particularly good value, that's certainly not the fault of the dining car staff ... don't take your frustrations out on them.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Keep in mind, in a Superliner Diner, you got one LSA and one SA attempting to serve up to 72 people at 18 tables. And we all know some of them actually try to fill the dining car. No waiter in a restaurant works that hard, let alone while rocking along at 80 mph and being kept away from home for a week at a time. The ones that do their job well deserve a decent tip for their effort.

 

[AlanB]

Keep in mind, in a Superliner Diner, you got one LSA and one SA attempting to serve up to 72 people at 18 tables. And we all know some of them actually try to fill the dining car. No waiter in a restaurant works that hard, let alone while rocking along at 80 mph and being kept away from home for a week at a time. The ones that do their job well deserve a decent tip for their effort.

Not under SDS, except for breakfast and even then it's unlikely that all arrive at the same time. But other than breakfast, that no longer happens where they fill up all 72 seats at once under the SDS plan. Under SDS 8 people are seated at 15 minute intervals, skipping every third 15 minute block.

If the passenger load is high enough, then generally Amtrak adds another SA and/or another cook. In that case, under SDS they can now seat 12 people every 15 minutes following the above scenario.

Now I'm not sure if the overall SDS plan has since been revised from what I saw originally, but in the cases where a CCC is being used solely as a diner, the plan seems to be to seat every half hour and I believe that they seat 14 (2 - 3 seaters and 2- 4 seaters) at one time, assuming one LSA and one SA.

All that said, most of these guys and gals do work very hard. Very few waiters/waitresses in a regular resturant work three meals in a row, in a resturant that shakes and rolls while you're trying do your job. And your average waiter/waitress goes home at night to sleep in their own bed.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

They are still often filled to capacity, if not all at once. And we all know that some of them pay only lip service to SDS rules.

 

[haolerider]

They are still often filled to capacity, if not all at once. And we all know that some of them pay only lip service to SDS rules.

Those that fill the dining car at one time put the passenger in the "no customer service" mode. They simply cannot deal with that many people and the chef cannot keep up with the demand, therefore complaints come in saying the diner is the problem, when in fact it is the crew.

 

[AlanB]

And we all know that some of them pay only lip service to SDS rules.

A problem that Amtrak is working to fix.

 

[AAARGH!]

The difference on $22 steak between tipping your server 10% ($2.20) or 15% ($3.30) is basically a buck. Don't be a cheapskate.

On a nine day trip (20+ meals times two people), it's much more than a buck. BUT in principal, I do agree. I was basing my tipping on the 'traditional' model discussed at length on this board last year. However, if the prevailing custom has changed, I am certainly willing to tip accordingly. I am typically a 18% - 20% tipper at non-train restaurants. I do not consider myself cheap in that department. (On clothes, that's a different story :blink: ).

Unfortunately, during my nine day (5 train) trip, I saw many who stiffed their servers completley. I guess they think a free meal (part of the ticket) included everything. This is a disgrace. On the flip side, I did see some, though not many, who did tip 15% or more. Most tipped like me, $2 per person per meal for lunch and dinner.