How are dining car reservations made?

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iliketrains

Lead Service Attendant
Joined
Aug 19, 2018
Messages
252
Exactly how are dining car reservations made and how do you know when it's time for your reservation?

This is what I think I know:

1) An announcement is made that passengers can now request a reservation.

2) A staff member walks through the train handing out reservations. Does the passenger receive a ticket as proof of reservation? Is the passenger's name and time of the reservation on the ticket?

3) If no staff member comes along, passengers can go to the dining car and request reservation. Is this true? I imagine walking up to the staff member who is handing reservations is annoying and disruptive to the staff member?

How long do you have to request reservation once an announcement is made that reservations are now available?
 
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Usually, the LSA will first walk through the sleeper cars taking reservations. Sometimes, but not always, an announcement will be made in advance alerting passengers so that someone from their party will be in the room available to make the reservation. Generally after the LSA finishes taking reservations in the sleepers, he or she will go to the coaches. Most LSAs will hand out a slip of paper to the passenger with the time of the reservation and the number in the party. Sometimes on the Meteor (and other trains), the LSA will make a notation on his or her form instead of passing out the slips of paper.

There have been times when I was in the cafe or otherwise unavailable when the LSA came through my sleeping car. After I realized I had missed him or her, I went to the dining car to make my reservation. I was able to make a reservation, although I may be have been stuck with a dining time that was not my first choice.

I have seen LSAs take dinner reservations in the dining car during the lunch seating. I think it depends on the LSA and possibly the passenger load.
 
Ok you helped me to understand. Also, I've heard that for breakfast, it's first come first serve and reservation is not needed. Is that true?
 
Depending on the train, breakfast and sometimes lunch reservations are not made. In those cases, the announcement is made that the dining car is now open for service on a first come first served basis. Once the dining car is filled the LSA will write your name and number of people in your party down and as spots open up they will call you to the dining car.
 
Boarding the Silver Meteor at Washington, my SCA had made my dinner reservations for me and informed me of the time when he introduced himself.
 
Ok you helped me to understand. Also, I've heard that for breakfast, it's first come first serve and reservation is not needed. Is that true?
I have never been on a long distance Amtrak train where breakfast reservations were made or required in advance. It has always been first come, first served. However if the dining car gets full for breakfast the LSA will take names and will call those people to the dining car when space opens (or sometimes people just wait in a line). That has been my experience. On some trains lunch reservations were taken and on other trains it was first come, first served.
 
As with everything at Amtrak, it’s different on every train. Usually the LSA goes through the entire train making reservations for dinner. Sometimes you get a slip of paper, sometimes you don’t.

I’ve had an LSA take reservations for dinner during lunch and then making a call that anyone who didn’t get one should come to the diner to get a reservation.

I’ve had my sleeping car attendant make my dinner reservations for me throughout the trip.

For lunch, I’ve seen the majority of crews not make reservations unless the train was particularly crowded.
 
I ride the Empire Builder frequently. The Dinning Car Steward (LSA) will walk through the train taking dinner reservations. This happens after the diner has closed from serving lunch. I alway get a slip of paper with my reservation time and the number of people in my party. Reservations are taken first in the sleepers then in the coaches.

On the Empire Builder no reservations were required for Breakfast and lunch.
 
Not exactly on topic, but a most unexpected service provided to Sleeping Car guests boarding in Fort Lauderdale on the Silver Meteor was the information provided during his introduction routine that the Dining Car was open for Breakfast. Having needed to leave my hotel before their dining room was open for Breakfast, I promptly stowed my carry-on and headed for the Dining Car for a good Breakfast where I was joined by a fellow AU Member as our conversation proved.
 
On all my long distance ( two nights) trips for many years the first day the LSA comes thru starting in the sleeper closest to dining car for reservations. (Lunch on CZ, dinner on other ld trains). Ive never failed to get a slip but no one has ever asked to see it. On the second day the LSA walks to the last sleeper and makes the reservations in reverse. Then on to coach, sightseer lounge etc. Being in a sleeper Ive always gotten the time I prefer for lunch or dinner. On other trains my SCA has made the reservations.
 
I have, from time to time on the TE, been asked to show my slip. Not sure if it's busier travel times (like Thanksgiving) or just the whim of the diner crew.

I usually get on at a stop later than when the reservations are taken; usually my car attendant hands me mine. Once or twice he or she has offered me a choice, once or twice he or she told me to "run down to the diner NOW." Once there was some miscommunication with the dining car and they ran out of in-the-dining-car reservations so my car attendant wound up bringing my dinner to my room. (I would have preferred to have gone down to the diner...)

It's always a little bit random what happens.
 
I have never been on a long distance Amtrak train where breakfast reservations were made or required in advance. It has always been first come, first served. However if the dining car gets full for breakfast the LSA will take names and will call those people to the dining car when space opens (or sometimes people just wait in a line). That has been my experience. On some trains lunch reservations were taken and on other trains it was first come, first served.
My experience, exactly.
 
I’ve usually not been asked for the slip, but I have been asked for it on ocassion.

Also the Automat car provided more choices than the contemporary dining, I can’t speak of the quality since I haven’t tried either.
 
I have always been able to get something to eat on my LD trips, whether in coach or sleeper.
 
Did you get that SP Automat menu from my site? I've got one just like it.

Do keep in mind that, even when a train is full, there are occasional no-shows. The diner LSA generally goes through the sleepers first, coaches next, and finally the lounge car last. Well, during our September 2016 western circle trip on our second day aboard the California Zephyr, mom and I went to the Sightseer Lounge while dad stayed in his H-room reading his book. I asked him to get a dinner reservation for us when the attendant came through. Afterwards I asked what time he'd received, and he said, "I thought you'd take care of it!" I went to the dining car only to find that all available slots were filled and no times were left. But the attendant offered to put us on the waiting list, and sure enough a 7:30 table no-showed and the three of us were called to the dining car. It was a good meal and a good trip.

But that reminds me: Sleeping Car passengers can request meals via "room service," served by their car attendant. There's no extra charge, although a good tip is customary. But coach passengers can also avail themselves of the same service. True, there are a few lazy employees who will try to beg off or say that the service is for handicap passengers only, but the Amtrak service standards are clear: Any passenger on a train with a full service diner can request meal service at his seat (or room, in sleeping cars). Keep that in mind; if for some reason you can't get a dinner reservation for your traveling party then go to your coach attendant and tell him that you are requesting dinner service from the diner at your seat. Make sure he has at least an hour or two advance notice...the sooner the better. You'll order off the regular menu and your meal will be brought in "to-go" boxes. A gratuity is not required, but is certainly appropriate and I recommend it.
 
So you can order from dining car and eat at your coach seat! LOL You might need to have that portion of the Amtrak policy book printed-out and in-hand to show the attendant.
 
So you can order from dining car and eat at your coach seat! LOL You might need to have that portion of the Amtrak policy book printed-out and in-hand to show the attendant.

Yes, you can. You can't walk into the dining car yourself and order "take-out" (they don't want a line of passengers queuing up), but your car attendant can do so on your behalf...and is supposed to, upon request. The Amtrak Service Standards are available on line (thanks to FOIA); I'll look up and post the relevant page unless someone else beats me to it.
 
On the A/T reservations are made at check-in.Two, three, or four dinner seating's depending on number of passengers. Breakfast is walk-in.
 
I've also experienced a variety of procedures. It pays to ask one's car attendant how it's done. Of course, there have been worse alternatives...

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I remember hot canned food vending machines; not on the railroad, but at my father's workplace in the 1960's. Spaghetti-O's and such. I remember those cans came out wicked hot, so you had to be careful!

But how did "Hot tray meals" and waffles work? Were they TV dinners that the machine heated when you ordered them?
 
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