Will Amtrak get lost checked luggage to you?

I don't know if the airlines still do it but in the old days, if they "lost" (read "put on the wrong plane or forgot to load it") your checked luggage then found it after you filed the claim and left the airport, they took responsibility to get it to you. I've had them put the luggage on competing airlines if it showed up after I already flew somewhere else, have had them put it in a taxi to get it to me out in the suburbs, etc. Don't know if they still do that. But how does Amtrak handle that? If you take the train to city X, have your luggage lost then found a few days later, then before it is found go to city Y, will Amtrak get it to you or just say "Come back to City X and pick it up yourself". What if you live an hour or two from the station, take a trip, then on the return, you are missing your checked bag? When it arrives, do you have to drive that 2-4 hour round trip to get it or does Amtrak assume responsibility to get it to you since it was their fault for the delay.

We have never checked bags on Amtrak because we often travel out of Atlanta which is 3 hours away or when going to another city, go far enough from the station that I wouldn't want to go back to get luggage if possible. We also tend to travel light but we are getting to the age where lifting luggage on to a train is a hassle, few stations have redcaps, and Amtrak employees' willingness to lift a finger to help seniors or parents with small kids is a crapshhot.

Experiences anyone?

I can't say that under all circumstances that Amtrak will get the bag to you, but there was a recent case that got posted over at Flyertalk where someone's luggage to Seattle got lost and it arrived a day late, the day after the rider had flown overseas. Amtrak shipped the bag to him overseas.

Unfortunately the story ending isn't all rosey, as while he did get his luggage, the suitcase itself was somehow damaged along the way. Unknown if Amtrak did it or FedEx, but the suitcase shell was cracked upon arrival.

Now perhaps if one lived an hour from the station they might not send it out to you and instead demand that you come get it, I just don't know. But clearly there are times when they do indeed ship the bag(s) to you. Thankfully, it's also pretty rare that a bag does get lost along the way.

I had a bag lost before. They gave me the option on how to handle it and I picked up closest station (NYP) next day. I think it didn't get transfered properly.

Losing checked luggage happens so rarely now that there's no way to answer this.

"For security reasons" planes are not allowed to depart without every passengers checked luggage aboard. Amtrak presumably similar. None of my friends and family have had a lost bag in the last decade on Amtrak or airlines - cases (sorry pun) are vanishingly rare.

Sorry, no clue what might happen if the carrier did lose luggage - only the "news of the weird" type anecdotes are available for the last few years.

Anybody with a recent anecdote?

NW cannonball said:

"For security reasons" planes are not allowed to depart without every passengers checked luggage aboard.

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"Bag matching" only takes place on international flights -- and it's the other way around from what you have written, i.e., they make sure they have the passenger that goes with every piece of checked luggage, rather than looking for the pieces of checked luggage that go with each passenger. (And even still, there are exceptions, such as luggage that missed an earlier connection that's being sent along.)

I can personally verify that there's no such thing on domestic flights, since in the past year or so, I've had two cases of my checked luggage taking a different flight than I did. (In both cases, my luggage got to my destination faster than I did!)

trainman74 said:

I can personally verify that there's no such thing on domestic flights, since in the past year or so, I've had two cases of my checked luggage taking a different flight than I did. (In both cases, my luggage got to my destination faster than I did!)

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But that was not done on purpose, was it?

They always want to have the bag with the passenger--or at least for the passenger to think that the bag is onboard.

One of the two bags I checked to Tampa on a trip several years ago was not off loaded at the station. Several hours later I received a phone call from an employee who worked at one of the next stations that had baggage services (I don't remember which station) indicating he had my bag and that he would make arrangements to have it sent to me. He also indicated he would be willing to drive to a location where I could meet him to pick it up. In the end, I agreed with that approach since it may take two days or so for me to get the bag back. Overall, I was pretty impressed with the willingness of the employee to drive out of his way to meet me. I had to drive about 30-45 minutes (IIRC), but I am sure he had a longer trip.

So, I have formed the impression that Amtrak will do what they can to get bags to where they need to go in as expeditious a manner as possible.

About a year and a half ago we arrived in Winona, MN (WIN) on #7 and one of our bags was not offloaded. Train had left when we discovered the error. The station agent radioed the train, the conductor found it piled in the baggage for Williston, ND (WTN). The bag was taken off at St. Paul, returned to Winona on the next morning's #8, and delivered to our house in Rochester just after lunch by the shuttle van service that runs between Rochester and Winona.

I don't know if the story would have been the same if there was not an established shuttle service, but it did save me the 90-mile round trip to Winona.

I will try everything in my power to keep from checking bags with Amtrak. I have seen new luggage ripped to shreds in California and bags sliding back and forth in the baggage car on the Palmetto.

Maybe with new equipment will come new pride...

Braniff747SP said:

trainman74 said:

I can personally verify that there's no such thing on domestic flights, since in the past year or so, I've had two cases of my checked luggage taking a different flight than I did. (In both cases, my luggage got to my destination faster than I did!)

Click to expand...

But that was not done on purpose, was it?

They always want to have the bag with the passenger--or at least for the passenger to think that the bag is onboard.

Click to expand...

I will confirm that trainman is correct. The requirement is only for international flights. I used to work in the airline industry, and we regularly sent bags on domestic flights ahead of the person who was traveling (intentionally). Essentially on a domestic flight, the person in question just needs to have the intent (indicated by checking in) to fly to the destination of the bag. For instance, if someone checked a bag but stated they were not going to board the plane during the check in process, then the airline would not accept the bag.

In my experiences checking bags with Amtrak (3-4 occasions) I have never had a problem, so I really can't provide input to the OP's question.

transit54 said:

Braniff747SP said:

trainman74 said:

I can personally verify that there's no such thing on domestic flights, since in the past year or so, I've had two cases of my checked luggage taking a different flight than I did. (In both cases, my luggage got to my destination faster than I did!)

Click to expand...

But that was not done on purpose, was it?

They always want to have the bag with the passenger--or at least for the passenger to think that the bag is onboard.

Click to expand...

I will confirm that trainman is correct. The requirement is only for international flights. I used to work in the airline industry, and we regularly sent bags on domestic flights ahead of the person who was traveling (intentionally). Essentially on a domestic flight, the person in question just needs to have the intent (indicated by checking in) to fly to the destination of the bag. For instance, if someone checked a bag but stated they were not going to board the plane during the check in process, then the airline would not accept the bag.

In my experiences checking bags with Amtrak (3-4 occasions) I have never had a problem, so I really can't provide input to the OP's question.

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Likewise. Neither me nor any of my extended family nor any acquaintance has ever lost a checked bag on Amtrak nor any airline in the last 40 years -- except - once - after a 60 day Southeast Asia trip with multiple stops in 3d world airports - my brother's banjo ended up in Saint Louis not MSP.. Continental got it to him the next morning.

So I can't comment on lost baggage problems - never happened to me nor anyone I know. It's good to know from previous posters that the carriers usually go out of their way to deliver. And very very rarely lose ( maybe sometimes slightly damaged) any baggage.

transit54 said:

Braniff747SP said:

trainman74 said:

I can personally verify that there's no such thing on domestic flights, since in the past year or so, I've had two cases of my checked luggage taking a different flight than I did. (In both cases, my luggage got to my destination faster than I did!)

Click to expand...

But that was not done on purpose, was it?

They always want to have the bag with the passenger--or at least for the passenger to think that the bag is onboard.

Click to expand...

I will confirm that trainman is correct. The requirement is only for international flights. I used to work in the airline industry, and we regularly sent bags on domestic flights ahead of the person who was traveling (intentionally). Essentially on a domestic flight, the person in question just needs to have the intent (indicated by checking in) to fly to the destination of the bag. For instance, if someone checked a bag but stated they were not going to board the plane during the check in process, then the airline would not accept the bag.

In my experiences checking bags with Amtrak (3-4 occasions) I have never had a problem, so I really can't provide input to the OP's question.

Click to expand...

Amtrak doesn't do bag matching, except for the intent to travel thing. Amtrak will also send the bag by the most direct route and NOT necessarily the itinerary the passenger is traveling on, so the bag may not even be on the same train. Also, like in the NE Corridor, where there are multiple frequencies, not all trains have checked baggage, and if you check a bag to those point it will be accepted, but won't go on the same train you are on.

While I very seldom check baggage, some years ago I left my CPAP machine onboard in my roomette when I detrained in Orlando. I realized it when I got to the hotel, and immediately called Amtrak. They found it, pulled it off in Winter Haven and sent it back on a northbound Silver. They put it in a cab and sent it to my hotel, and I had it back when I got back from dinner. Maybe it was because a medical device, but they were great about it, especially as it was my fault, not Amtrak's.

I have only had one occasion when my checked baggage missed its arrival point. It was a good ten years ago on the Sunset East portion of the SL. One of the three checked bags to Tallahassee (TLH) made it east to Jacksonville. In my case and my approval it was shipped back to my home (40 miles from TLH) via Greyhound. All expense paid and it was promptly received the next day undamaged.

In January 2011 I traveled on the Southwest Chief, Capitol Limited, and NEC trains from Flagstaff to NYC. I instructed the agent in Flagstaff to route the bag on the SWC and then the Lakeshore Limited (I even gave him the train numbers) - because the NEC doesn't have checked baggage. But, dumb me, I didn't actually check to see what he wrote on the tag...

Sure enough, when I arrived in NYC my bag was nowhere to be found, although the LSL had already arrived. The lost luggage guy even let me go in back where they keep the misplaced bags - I was a little surprised how few bags were on the shelves. I filled out a report, was told my bag would be delivered, and went to my hotel by cab. About an hour later the phone rang in my room and my bag had arrived at the hotel by taxi. I went to the lobby and looked at the routing tag, which sure enough, was all wrong. That's the last time I trust an Amtrak agent to fill out the tag correctly.

But, I did get my bag, although I have no idea how it got from Washington to NYC since there isn't a baggage car on any NEC train. To the OP, yes, Amtrak will get your bag to you but you do have to report the missing item(s) immediately upon arrival and give them an address for delivery.

FunNut said:

But, I did get my bag, although I have no idea how it got from Washington to NYC since there isn't a baggage car on any NEC train. To the OP, yes, Amtrak will get your bag to you but you do have to report the missing item(s) immediately upon arrival and give them an address for delivery.

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They put it on a LD that came through, be it a Silver Service train or the Crescent or the Palmetto or the Carolinian.

I checked a bag in Tampa on Christmas Eve one year, traveling to DeLand via Thruway motorcoach to the Silver Meteor in Orlando. For whatever reason, the bag did not make it onto the bus and was still in Tampa when I arrived in DeLand. They sent the bag to DeLand on that evening's Silver Star, then paid for a cab to bring the bag to me at my sister's home in Daytona Beach.