Check-In for Sleeping Car Pax

Depending on the station or club, Sleeping Car passengers are sometimes asked to go through a Check-In process with the Conductor or AC. On certain occasions, I have found that the Check-In line can become quite long - some Starlight departures at King Street come to mind. Aside from an unappealing wait in a long line, one may also lose their position at the boarding door and/or the opening of the boarding door may be imminent. In these cases, I will typically skip the check-in process altogether and proceed to my car. Sometimes the SCA will pull my ticket, and other times the Conductor will stop by enroute to do so.

I can appreciate that the preboarding Check-In process may cut down on the Conductor’s work onboard the train (pulling tickets). But aside from that, is there any particular reason why I should wait in a long line to check in as opposed to directly proceeding to my car for boarding? Thoughts?

If you have a sleeper, probably not. They eventually do get your ticket. And the crews on the Coast starlight tend to be more in tune to being flexible and providing customer service rather than controlling the situation.

We were on the Coast Starlight earlier this spring and we used Redcap service beats the long walk, for a five buck tip it was well worth it. They pre-checked our tix at the lounge Redcap told us to wait right there. He came back after a few minutes and whisked us away right to our car. I always take advantage of the Redcaps when they are available, that's why they are there.

When in the Metro lounge in CHI, since my hearing is bad, I don't usually hear the announcements pertaining to check in. Besides if I give up my ticket or part, how I belong on the train?

RRrich said:

Besides if I give up my ticket or part, how I belong on the train?

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You still have your ticket stub proving that you belong on that train. And generally the conductors that do come to the lounge to collect tickets, inform the crew that they have done so.

I generally steer clear of using Redcaps for fear of tying them up when folks who genuinely need their help, such as my elders, might be standing by for their assistance. And the walk out to my car usually feels pretty good right before boarding a LD train.

I'm mostly trying to figure out if I am missing something in the Check-In equation for Sleeping Car pax. From what I gather, the Check-In process is much more geared to assist the conductor and/or AC than it is to enhance the experience of the traveler. And by all means, there's nothing wrong with helping the conductor reduce his onboard ticket collection exercise if lines are short and the traveler is not significantly inconvenienced.

But if instead the choice is to either wait in a very long line that appears to be non-essential to the boarding process, or forgoing it and walking out to my car without the stress and timesuck of another line to wait in, the latter seems to be a more sensible approach.

This is relatively "relavent" to the subject:

We've gone through the check-in in the station with the conductor at King Street a couple of times with no problems being "early" on the train. We especially like to be "early" on the Superliners, so we are sure to have room for our baggage in the lower level compartments. We've also checked in with the conductor a few times at the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago, again with no problem with early boarding. We even found it BENEFICIAL when we were bussed from Chicago to St. Paul due to flooding for the Empire Builder to be cleared by the conductor in the lounge and IMMEDIATELY board and get to bed before the train finally pulled out. In Boston, our port of origin on all trips we collar a Redcap upon arrival at the station give him our baggage and head on up to the Acela Lounge. We've ALWAYS been "preboarded" with that scenario. Getting Redcaps at the Acela Lounges in New York and Washington are always nailbiters, but we usually make out well. The Redcap service at the Acela Club in Philadelphia is as good as Boston.

The few times we've boarded the SL out of New Orleans, we've put up at the Magnolia "club", been alerted when the train is about to be boarded and have been given priority check-in at the gate, with or without Redcap service.

That leaves Los Angeles. We've NEVER had first class treatment there. There are either too many passengers requiring Redcap service or there aren't enough Redcaps. After a half dozen scenario's we've finally found the best way to board "early" is for me to reconoiter the platforms to find out which one our train is going to leave from and then head out. With all the local Caltran service no one's ever stopped us from going out to the platform before the train has been called. The last time we took the CS from LA was before they instituted the "special service area" near the Traxx Lounge, so we've no idea what it's like when it comes to boarding.

Best regards,

Rodger

P.S. Oh, and boarding the northbound Silver Meteor at Orlando is a crap shoot for sleeper passengers, but I've been lucky every time...so far.

CHANGEATJAMAICA said:

P.S. Oh, and boarding the northbound Silver Meteor at Orlando is a crap shoot for sleeper passengers, but I've been lucky every time...so far.

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What do you mean by that??? Are you referring to Red Caps or boarding in general?

I'm just trying to find out, what's the hurry? Your room will still be there and the view is the same until the train leaves. I just relax and enter the line at the end.

Hi,

My impression is that if you are in a sleeper, you already have your room number, so no need to jump through any more Amtrak hoops. A different matter in coach, where seats are sometimes allocated in the pre boarding line. I was annoyed to have to stand in line for 40 minutes to obtain my coach seat number at LAX, opposite a poster which said "buy quick trak tickets.. no waiting" !!! Having got the seat number, we were invited to sit back down, as the train was late anyhow...

Ho Hum...

Eddie

spot1181 said:

I'm just trying to find out, what's the hurry? Your room will still be there and the view is the same until the train leaves. I just relax and enter the line at the end.

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Among other things, the downstairs luggage space fills up very quickly on a sold out train. But you're missing the point of my question for the most part. I'm questioning the wisdom of getting into a long Check-In line if it's non-essential to the boarding process of my train. Part of traveling smart is mitigating its stressors, and this seems like low hanging fruit.

ColdRain&Snow said:

spot1181 said:

I'm just trying to find out, what's the hurry? Your room will still be there and the view is the same until the train leaves. I just relax and enter the line at the end.

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Among other things, the downstairs luggage space fills up very quickly on a sold out train. But you're missing the point of my question for the most part. I'm questioning the wisdom of getting into a long Check-In line if it's non-essential to the boarding process of my train. Part of traveling smart is mitigating its stressors, and this seems like low hanging fruit.

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Quite. You have purchased a sleeper ticket, for a known room, at a sometimes fairly high price. The need to line up to hand over part of the ticket you may have only laid hands on minutes ago does seem like doing things for the benefit of the train crew, rather than for the ease of the passengers. Checking and collecting tickets for coach might be a different matter, as the journey being undertaken would probably be shorter, but gathering tickets from sleeper passengers in their rooms would be the most stress free way of doing it.

One time when we were boarding in the Chicago Metro Lounge I asked the conductor who was taking early tickets why he did so. He said he felt comfortable checking his manifest to see how many sleeping car passengers were in the lounge already and were accounted for.

This would allow the Metro Lounge staff to make additional announcements to have sleeper car passengers check in and would save time for him since he would be taking tickets for coach on boarding.

It really wasnt any hassle for us since he came in very early and there was plenty of time to check in (without standing in any lines) before the train was called for boarding.

I believe this pre boarding check-in has happened to us a couple of times on the CL going east, but not on the western trains.

Railroad Bill said:

One time when we were boarding in the Chicago Metro Lounge I asked the conductor who was taking early tickets why he did so. He said he felt comfortable checking his manifest to see how many sleeping car passengers were in the lounge already and were accounted for.

This would allow the Metro Lounge staff to make additional announcements to have sleeper car passengers check in and would save time for him since he would be taking tickets for coach on boarding.

It really wasnt any hassle for us since he came in very early and there was plenty of time to check in (without standing in any lines) before the train was called for boarding.

I believe this pre boarding check-in has happened to us a couple of times on the CL going east, but not on the western trains.

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Ditto for me, with the CL eastbound. Last summer, both coach and sleeping car pax were "pre-boarded" in the Denver station for the westbound CZ.

Thanks much to everyone who responded. I think I have a better sense about this for the future. I looked back through some of my trip journals and noted that this check-in quandary came up a few times this year, once at Chicago Metropolitan (#7) and the other at King Street (#11). I have a couple boardings coming up at Seattle which is why I began thinking about this again.

I suppose I will continue to check in when it's reasonable to do so, and forgo it when the process has become onerous. In the trip reports section, I read the_traveler's recent post where he hit Traxx for a bit then went up to the platform ahead of 14's announcement. That sounds like a good plan for Los Angeles departures of the northbound CS. For other departures, I will just play it by ear and stay flexible.

spot1181 said:

I'm just trying to find out, what's the hurry? Your room will still be there and the view is the same until the train leaves. I just relax and enter the line at the end.

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This.

ColdRain&Snow said:

...Among other things, the downstairs luggage space fills up very quickly on a sold out train....

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I've NEVER had a problem with downstairs luggage space on the three LD trains we've taken in the past three years....and they were all full.

train person said:

....Quite. You have purchased a sleeper ticket, for a known room, at a sometimes fairly high price. The need to line up to hand over part of the ticket you may have only laid hands on minutes ago does seem like doing things for the benefit of the train crew, rather than for the ease of the passengers.....

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And what's wrong with that?

Bierboy said:

ColdRain&Snow said:

...Among other things, the downstairs luggage space fills up very quickly on a sold out train....

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I've NEVER had a problem with downstairs luggage space on the three LD trains we've taken in the past three years....and they were all full.

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That's good for you that you haven't run into it. Of the fifteen or so LDs that I have taken in past two years, I have run into it several times. Hence my comment.

I rode the Southwest Chief twice in the past year and a half from Los Angeles Union Station, and both times I was pretty much on my own. Amtrak counter staff and the OBS checking in coach passengers assured me that separate announcements would be made for sleeper passengers, but if there were, I didn't hear any. The first time, I walked to my car, presented my ticket to the SCA, who checked my name against a list and directed me to my roomette. It was the same the second time, except a courtesy driver noticed I had a knee brace and asked if I wanted a ride to the train. In both cases, the conductor pulled my ticket within about 30 minutes of leaving the station.

Bierboy said:

train person said:

....Quite. You have purchased a sleeper ticket, for a known room, at a sometimes fairly high price. The need to line up to hand over part of the ticket you may have only laid hands on minutes ago does seem like doing things for the benefit of the train crew, rather than for the ease of the passengers.....

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And what's wrong with that?

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Plenty, if it's done over the convenience of the passengers.

As stated in the post above this,presenting yourself to the sleeper attendant and having your tickets dealt with later seems to be the most obvious way to do it.

Creating pointless lines to make the conductors life easier isn't the way to go.

If sleeper travel is deemed 'first class' then maybe a touch of first class treatment might not go amiss.

ColdRain&Snow said:

Bierboy said:

ColdRain&Snow said:

...Among other things, the downstairs luggage space fills up very quickly on a sold out train....

Click to expand...

I've NEVER had a problem with downstairs luggage space on the three LD trains we've taken in the past three years....and they were all full.

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That's good for you that you haven't run into it. Of the fifteen or so LDs that I have taken in past two years, I have run into it several times. Hence my comment.

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My point is that it's not always the case.

Bierboy said:

ColdRain&Snow said:

Bierboy said:

ColdRain&Snow said:

...Among other things, the downstairs luggage space fills up very quickly on a sold out train....

Click to expand...

I've NEVER had a problem with downstairs luggage space on the three LD trains we've taken in the past three years....and they were all full.

Click to expand...

That's good for you that you haven't run into it. Of the fifteen or so LDs that I have taken in past two years, I have run into it several times. Hence my comment.

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My point is that it's not always the case.

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Hmm, nowhere did I say it always happens, Bierboy. Heck, it isn't even always the case that trains sell out. But, rather than use the word "NEVER" in all caps, which implies that you're speaking on behalf of a large breadth of experiences, your comment would be more credible if you said something along the lines of, "On the three LDs I have ridden in the past 3 years, I haven't experienced this issue."

I appreciate the constructive responses to this question, and will tweak my Amtrak traveling strategies accordingly. Thanks, and happy railroading to all.