Checked baggage to SF?

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joelkfla

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Oct 16, 2018
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12 miles from Walt Disney World
Does Amtrak check baggage thru EMY to the Temporary Transbay Terminal? The station has the Checked Baggage icon on the timetable, but the station description says no checked baggage.

I'm looking at taking the westbound CZ, and staying near SF Airport for a few days because room rates are much lower than in town, and a couple of hotels I've looked at are within a couple of blocks of the Millbrae BART station. I will probably have a checked bag, and I use a mobility scooter. Dealing with both a suitcase and carry-on while riding a mobility scooter is difficult (near impossible on public transit), so I will probably take Uber to the hotel. But if I can retrieve my checked bag at SF instead of EMY, it will save some money on the Uber ride.

I know it's a bus from EMY to SF, but I thought perhaps they trucked checked bags to SF.

Thanks.
 
They do. Where are you seeing that they don't have checked baggage service? I tried a test booking and did Reno to SF. It shows the 5005 bus with baggage service to SFC (Temporary Transbay Terminal).

Screen Shot 2019-04-13 at 9.57.51 PM.png

Ironically it's still the temporary transbay terminal since they found cracks there. I thought Amtrak was supposed to move to the permanent Transbay Terminal.
 
They do. Where are you seeing that they don't have checked baggage service? I tried a test booking and did Reno to SF. It shows the 5005 bus with baggage service to SFC (Temporary Transbay Terminal).

View attachment 13188

Ironically it's still the temporary transbay terminal since they found cracks there. I thought Amtrak was supposed to move to the permanent Transbay Terminal.

Permanent Transbay Terminal is temporarily closed while a fix is designed and installed for a large crack that was found in it shortly after its original opening.
 
Permanent Transbay Terminal is temporarily closed while a fix is designed and installed for a large crack that was found in it shortly after its original opening.
Yes, but cracks were found in 2 steel support beams, not just in the walls. News stories say it will be closed at least until June, but nobody's giving an estimate of when it will open.

So is the timetable reflecting baggage service at the new closed terminal, and the web site reflecting reality at the temporary terminal? The temporary terminal had been in use for a few years during construction, so I was wondering whether anyone had experience trying to check baggage to it.
 
Yes, but cracks were found in 2 steel support beams, not just in the walls. News stories say it will be closed at least until June, but nobody's giving an estimate of when it will open.

So is the timetable reflecting baggage service at the new closed terminal, and the web site reflecting reality at the temporary terminal? The temporary terminal had been in use for a few years during construction, so I was wondering whether anyone had experience trying to check baggage to it.


It might be helpful if someone local in SF or environs knows the local phone number at the terminal currently in use could post it here, so you could follow up with a phone call.

If that happens, please share what you find out here. There are likely others who would be interested.

When I google the Terminal, it comes back with 800-USA-RAIL. I doubt that call center will be knowledgeable enough to help.
 
It might be helpful if someone local in SF or environs knows the local phone number at the terminal currently in use could post it here, so you could follow up with a phone call.

If that happens, please share what you find out here. There are likely others who would be interested.

When I google the Terminal, it comes back with 800-USA-RAIL. I doubt that call center will be knowledgeable enough to help.

I rode the CZ a couple weeks after the permanent terminal was closed for the beam cracks. Our buses used the Temporary Transbay Terminal (again) and baggage service was handled there. But I didn’t check my bag — the bus driver put it in the lower hold and pulled it out onto the sidewalk when we arrived Emeryville for me to retrieve curbside.
 
When I traveled in January, I was ticketed to the Transbay Terminal but station agents in Philly would only let me check my bags to Oakland (routing PHL-CHI-LAX-OKJ-SFC). I was told checked bags would be picked up in the station and the bus would hold until all connecting passengers were on board.

Instead, it was quite the chaotic scene at Oakland. The Starlight arrived 3+ hours late at 12:30am, and when I tried to claim by bags to make the transfer to the bus, they were nowhere to be found. Finally after about 15 minutes, a station agent pulls up to a random spot on the platform in a cart carrying some bags. Another passenger was running behind the cart, screaming like no tomorrow at the station agent, and carrying my bag. This agent had dropped my large suitcase underneath the train's baggage car, and had this passenger not noticed it and retrieved it, the train would have run over my belongings. My ski bag was nowhere to be found but finally came on a separate cart just before the bus driver closed the doors to depart to SF. It was absolute chaos with zero information or direction from a single Amtrak staff member.

Long story short, I would be prepped to claim your bag at EMY/OKJ or whichever station you are transferring to the bus to San Fran. Hopefully it goes smoother than my experience.
 
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