crew cars vs. sleeper cars

[danball]

recently on a trip on the zephyr headed west, my sleeper car was situated directly behind the crew cars. to get to the dining car, i had to go thru two coach cars and the lounge car to get to the dining car. all night the crew spoke in loud voices as if we did not exist. i was privy to all the situations the crew had with their passengers besides their heavy-footed passes up and down thru the car. my car seemed like an afterthought, especially when we were informed that we could reserve any time for dinner as long as it was 4:30. why was my car there and does this happen often? a terrible trip.

 

[the_traveler]

It seems the LSA dropped the ball as far as the reservations go. Also was at least one person in the party in the room and had the door and curtains open when reservations were being made? Many times if the door is closed, they will just pass by. And if nobody is in the room, there's no one to ask.

The usual procedure for reservations is to go to the sleepers first, then to go thru the coaches for any reservation times left. Finally if there are still reservation times left over, they ask in the lounge car. So even if you have a sleeper, but remain in the lounge car, there may not be any reservations left by the time they get to the lounge car.

 

[roadman3313]

I'm assuming that you meant you were sleeping in the Transdorm at the front of the train (as the sleepers on the CZ are on the rear)? The Transdorm is the crew dorm car that sometimes sells revenue rooms to passengers during peak demand. It is just rear of the Baggage Car. Does that sound like the car you were in?

 

[Trogdor]

The OP was in the transition sleeper, since no other sleeper on the Zephyr would require walking through coach cars.

The best suggestion I have is that he should write up a brief description (similar to what was posted here), with details of trip dates and reservation number, and send it to Amtrak customer service.

The key issue that should be corrected is that of the crews speaking loudly, at night, in earshot of other passengers. I know this has been brought up in some customer service classes before, but I couldn't say if it's necessarily been pointed out to all the crews or not.

As for the issue of dinner reservations, it's hard to say. If the sleepers were full/sold out, then somebody's going to wind up with last pick of dinner times, even if they were sitting in their room waiting for the LSA to take reservations. Whether the last to pick (before coaches) happens to be the transition sleeper, or the lower level of the 632 car is just luck of the draw. On multi-night trips, LSAs will often switch up which sleeper gets first choice and which one gets last choice. In this case, the OP implies that he was only there for one meal, so it's hard to say if the LSA would have given that car first dibs for reservations the second time around.

 

[ScottC4746]

The OP was in the transition sleeper, since no other sleeper on the Zephyr would require walking through coach cars.

Unless Amtrak really screwed up and scrambled the cars up.

 

[crescent2]

Can you request that you not be assigned the transdorm car when you make your reservation? I'd rather be in one of the regular sleeping cars! Do they tell you which?

 

[Trogdor]

Usually, the rooms in the transition sleeper are last to be sold, so if you're assigned there it generally means there's no other space available.

 

[crescent2]

Thanks, Trogdor. Do you know if they tell you that it's not in a regular sleeping car, so that you could possibly try for a different date?

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Thanks, Trogdor. Do you know if they tell you that it's not in a regular sleeping car, so that you could possibly try for a different date?

I think the room # will be higher than 14 if it's in the Transdorm.

 

[Trogdor]

They can tell you the room and car #. If it's 17-24, it's in the transition car.

Other than trial and error, there's no easy way to tell if a given date has only transition sleeper space available or not.

 

[crescent2]

Thanks, it's good to know which room #'s are the transdorm car.