Tipping Staff on Amtrak Trains

[Donnylad]

Hi

my wife and I are taking the Amtrak Silver Star Service 92 from Fort Lauderdale up to New York Penn in November.

Could anyone please advise me on the protocol for tipping the Amtrak Staff we will encounter?

I'm thinking particularly about the baggage check-in at FTL and the Steward for our Bedroom but also wonder about wait staff and the baggage pick-up at NYP.

Many thanks in advance for your help!

Donnylad

 

[Shanghai]

I tip the following:

Baggage Check Agent: $1 per bag

Sleeping Car Attendant: $10 per night

Dining Car Waiter: Breakfast $2, Lunch $3, Dinner $5.

If outstanding service from either of the above, I will tip 50% more.

I hope you enjoy your trip.

 

[Donnylad]

I tip the following:

Baggage Check Agent: $1 per bag

Sleeping Car Attendant: $10 per night

Dining Car Waiter: Breakfast $2, Lunch $3, Dinner $5.

If outstanding service from either of the above, I will tip 50% more.

I hope you enjoy your trip.

Many thanks for the reply.

Do I tip the sleeping car attendant at the start of our trip or at the end please?

 

[JayPea]

Most tip the car attendant at the end of the trip.

 

[I always rode the Southern]

Wow, I have been riding the trains for forever and have never tipped a "baggage check" attendant. I am assuming you are referring to the person at the counter you give your bags to be checked and sent to the train . If you are referring to a redcap who will hold your baggage for you, then yes, I always tip.

 

[VentureForth]

I tip the following:

Baggage Check Agent: $1 per bag

Sleeping Car Attendant: $10 per night

Dining Car Waiter: Breakfast $2, Lunch $3, Dinner $5.

If outstanding service from either of the above, I will tip 50% more.

I hope you enjoy your trip.

Many thanks for the reply.

Do I tip the sleeping car attendant at the start of our trip or at the end please?

Please tip at the end. You should get the best service from the attendant that he/she is capable of providing. Pre-tipping is sort of like bribing and it often doesn't work. In other words, if you tip a good attendant at the beginning of your trip, and they are lousy, then you have wasted your gratuity. On the other hand, if that attendant is a good one, he/she will be excellent without receiving a gratuity in the beginning.

Many gratuity based jobs in the US depend on their tips as part of their wages. Without tips, their wages would be nearly a third of the minimum wage. Amtrak agents, on the other hand, are well paid without gratuities. That being said, it is still customary to tip service personnell.

 

[the_traveler]

Wow, I have been riding the trains for forever and have never tipped a "baggage check" attendant. I am assuming you are referring to the person at the counter you give your bags to be checked and sent to the train . If you are referring to a redcap who will hold your baggage for you, then yes, I always tip.

I agree. If you mean Red Cap, then yes. If you mean the agent at the counter, i have not either.
Just one question: When at the airport and you have bags to check in, do you tip the ticket agent at the check in counter who puts a tag on your bag and then puts it on the belt? :huh: I don't, and have never seen anyone else do so either!

 

[roomette]

Tipping is completely optional.

However, if there are members of this forum on board and you do not tip, you may be seen as a trouble maker and put off at the next stop.

 

[the_traveler]

As said, tipping is completely optional. Many do tip and many others do not. And you will not be put off at the next stop. The above amounts are only guidelines.

And please remember that member Donnylad is from the UK, where tipping is not the usual practice. He was asking for assistance for something not common to him.

 

[SarahZ]

Baggage Check Agent at Metropolitan Lounge: $1-2 per bag (based on bag weight, if we have coats, and how nice the attendant is)

Sleeping Car Attendant: $10 per night, more if they go above and beyond

Dining Car: For lunch or dinner - 15% of whatever the total would have been, 20-25% for outstanding service. Since breakfast is usually the cheapest meal of the day, I make sure the breakfast tip is at least $2-3.

 

[Guest]

I just completed my first LD journey.

I tipped my TE car attendant $10 on the first leg from FTW to CHI. A bit of a language barrier, but he was good.

On the LSL from CHI to ALB, I was in coach and went to get a can of Pepsi. This girl was very rude and I left nothing in her tip box, and it was apparent most everyone else felt the same, as there were only a few coins in it.

(Rude as in just muttering the price and turning her back to the register while holding her hand up above her shoulder for me to deposit money into while her back was still turned)

The LSL was 4+ hours late coming back from ALB to CHI and I was in no state to join a table at a dining car after running directly from the LSL to the TE that was waiting patiently for us.

The attendant brought my steak dinner and dessert to me in my room and I tipped him $10 right then and there because it meant that much to me. He continued to be most excellent and I handed him another $10 on the way out.

On the other hand, I shorted the breakfast attendant.

He looked up when I entered, I said "Good Morning" he literally barked "What?", and I repeated "Good Morning" and he grunted at me to inquire if I wanted breakfast...(No, I didn't want breakfast, I was just out looking to get barked at by a surly waiter).

I really wanted to turn around and leave, but it's not like being where you can just go elsewhere, and I did pay for it with my room.

So I said yes. Even my table-mates were taken aback by his attitude. I did leave a dollar because a friendly young woman did come refill our coffee just before he informed us that he was "gonna need this table".

And I gave $2 to the Chicago Metro lounge baggage hold attendant, because I was super grateful for that little perk that allowed me to walk all over town without my backpack.

I definitely took it on a case by case basis.

I did overhear the loud gentleman in the room across from me announce to the attendant that he was tipping up front "to get the good service", which I think was tacky, and the attendant seemed a bit offended as he assured him he will get good service regardless.

 

[the Other Mike]

I "bribe" my SCA when I board the train to make sure I get the attention

On a Christmas Eve trip on the Sunset I gave the SCA a 20 when I boarded and after dinner, a twenty for the dining car staff to split. Heck, it was Christmas AND I have worked as a bartender off and on and know what tips mean to people. Seemed after that everyone on staff knew my name. :hi:

 

[Bob Dylan]

There's some Good Guidelines here, but like all things Amtrak, It Depends on the OBS when it comes to Service! Like the Title of the Old Movies went, You have "The Invisible Man" and "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly!" (The Invisble Man and the Bad and theUgly get Nada!!! )

Personally I always tip the Diner staff according to Service, the Red Caps for Good Service and the Sleeping car Attendant @ the End of the Trip Based on their Attitude and the Quality of Service! YMMV

 

[SarahZ]

I'd also be insulted by a bribe. I give my best customer service no matter what. Bribing me insinuates I'm not up to snuff and will only thaw my grinchy, dark heart if you wave a $20 in my face.

 

[JackM]

$1 for the Chicago baggage attendant, because it's a "smaller" bag. In the dining car, I usually do $2, $3, $5, so I can avoid those annoying mental calculations. However there was one trip where the entire diner crew was kurt and surly. That trip I did $1, $2, $3, and that $3 for dinner was only because that's the way I was brought up..

I used to tip the sleeper car attendant $10/night until I read somewhere on the Amtrak website that five dollars was the usual tip. I'll have to go poking around to see if I imagined that or what.

But here's my question - how do you give your gratuity to the attendant when your train gets to the end of the line? Leave twenty bucks on the seat in your roomette? Fold the bill up and slip it to him as you shake hands on the platform (as you would when trying to get a good table at the restaurant at the top of the Mark Hopkins)?

JackM

(There IS such a restaurant, isn't there? It's not like I hang out at the Mark whenever I'm in town.)

 

[SarahZ]

Jack - I give the tip to the SCA when he/she comes to our room to let us know our stop is coming up. If we don't see them before our stop (very, very rare), I give it to them as we exit the train since they're generally standing by the door helping people off.