Tipping the crew

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USAFLady

Train Attendant
Joined
Jul 10, 2003
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88
I've been on cruises before and they have a suggested scale of how to tip the crew there from the dude that only takes your initial choice for dinner seating, you room steward, your waiter on meal times, etc.... My question is do you tip the crew on a train, if so who all do you tip? And suggested amounts? Since I'll be taking the same two trains going and coming back, could I possibly have the same entire crew or parts of it? :)
 
I usually leave the diner attendants a couple of dollars on the table after each meal, give the sleeper attendant a twenty at the end of the trip, and the lounge attendant the "loose" change after a purchase.
 
In the Sleeping Car you always tip at the end of the trip. A good rule of thumb is $5 per night, per person. If the service is more than expected tip more, if the service is less than satisfactory tip less, or if the attendant does nothing at all tip none.

In the Dining Car you want to leave $2-3 per meal, per person, even is you are not actually paying for the meal. If you want to go with the 15-20% rule against the prices on the menu, that's fine too. Don't feel inclined to leave a tip if the crew did not perform to your expectations.

In the Lounge Car I always dump my loose change into a tip cup the attendant has sitting out on the counter. At the end of the trip I may leave $1-2 extra in the tip cup for exceeded service.

You should also tip Red Cap's at stations like Chicago if they offer to help. $1 per bag should be fine. You need not tip product line managers, conductors, engineers, or station agents.

Not to scare you away, but unlike the airliners, cruises, and hotels, Amtrak's service can vary greatly between trains and crews. Some are top notch, others are just rotten apples. If you run into these rotten apples, try to ignore them, don't leave a tip, and write to customer service with the name of that employee (action against employees has been known to take place when passengers write to Amtrak). Anyway, hopefully this helps. :)
 
Viewliner has the situation pretty well under control. The Dining car staff should be tipped based on the value of the meal just as you would at a resturant (15-20%). The loose change in the lounge adds up quickly for the attendant based on the sheer volume of transactions he/she does, but it makes it worthwhile for them considering the fact that they are open all day with little relief. coach attendants generally don't expect a tip, but if they go out of their way for you, (lift an exceddingly large bag, bring a meal to you etc.) a buck or two isn't out of line.
 
thanks, now I know what to do. On a cruise you tip at the end of the cruise, but then again other than bartenders you have the same people taking care of you throught the voyage.
 
Even though you will be tipping seperately at each meal in the Dining Car and the lounge attendant everytime you make a purchase, the entire onboard service crew will be with you the entire trip. Conductors and engineers work out of various crew bases along the route so they will leave interchangeably throughout the trip.
 
But never, never, never tip a Conductor or Engineer (then again you probaly will never see your Engineer).
 
battalion51 said:
But never, never, never tip a Conductor or Engineer (then again you probaly will never see your Engineer).
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Hopefully not, otherwise something would seriously be wrong. :lol:
 
Viewliner said:
battalion51 said:
But never, never, never tip a Conductor or Engineer (then again you probaly will never see your Engineer).
Click to expand...
Hopefully not, otherwise something would seriously be wrong. :lol:
Click to expand...
Thats true :lol: . Unless you mean my friend rich, who I met on the platform. A funny story actually. I met him through another guy, who I met through his website.....Ok well alot of guys. Easy to get lost :blink: .
 
AMTRAK-P42 said:
A funny story actually. I met him through another guy, who I met through his website.....Ok well alot of guys. Easy to get lost :blink: .
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huh?? :blink:
 
I suggest Pepto Bismol. But on ocassion Engineers do come out of their cave to get a cup of coffee or aluminum foil for cooking purposes, or to consult a priest (which actually did happen Friday, after our Engineer learned that a friend of his died).
 
Amfleet said:
In the Sleeping Car you always tip at the end of the trip. A good rule of thumb is $5 per night, per person. If the service is more than expected tip more, if the service is less than satisfactory tip less, or if the attendant does nothing at all tip none.
In the Dining Car you want to leave $2-3 per meal, per person, even is you are not actually paying for the meal. If you want to go with the 15-20% rule against the prices on the menu, that's fine too. Don't feel inclined to leave a tip if the crew did not perform to your expectations.

In the Lounge Car I always dump my loose change into a tip cup the attendant has sitting out on the counter. At the end of the trip I may leave $1-2 extra in the tip cup for exceeded service.

You should also tip Red Cap's at stations like Chicago if they offer to help. $1 per bag should be fine. You need not tip product line managers, conductors, engineers, or station agents.

Not to scare you away, but unlike the airliners, cruises, and hotels, Amtrak's service can vary greatly between trains and crews. Some are top notch, others are just rotten apples. If you run into these rotten apples, try to ignore them, don't leave a tip, and write to customer service with the name of that employee (action against employees has been known to take place when passengers write to Amtrak). Anyway, hopefully this helps. :)
Click to expand...
ohh this is even much better... I totally believe in tipping when the service is better..... thanks so much, I am printing this one out to put in my trip folder :D
 
Viewliner said:
battalion51 said:
But never, never, never tip a Conductor or Engineer (then again you probaly will never see your Engineer).
Click to expand...
Hopefully not, otherwise something would seriously be wrong. :lol:
Click to expand...
Well actually I got to meet the engineer of one train I took last December. When I rode the City of NOL from it's namesake to Chicago, the engineer for the first leg of the journey, came into the Magnolia First Class waiting room.

He introduced himself and then proceeded to tell everyone in the lounge a little bit about his job, how the train worked, a little bit about the safety features in the engine, and other neat tidbits. It was really nice and there certainly was no emergency, as we hadn't even left the lounge much less boarded the train or left the station.

So never say never. :lol:
 
USAFLady - I have read a lot about tipping on the Amtrak and I think the guys above gave some good advice. When it comes to sleeping car attendants we like to tip each day rather than wait until the end of the trip. One time we had a really bad attendant - he was scarce almost the entire time and some folks actually missed getting off at a stop because he did not open the doors for them. The train had to stop and back up back into the station. Well anyway that was just to illustrate how lame he was. We did give him a small gratuity at the end of the journey but not a nice daily tip like we usually do.

I noticed a lot of sleeping car passengers not tipping in the dining car but we always did. I noticed that the staff had warmed up to us quickly by the 2nd day! Bring some one's, fives and tens with you onboard so you have tipping change set aside and don't need to worry about breaking big bills while you are traveling.
 
Just for the record, airline servcecan be lousy in the extreme. You want to find out the real test of good service? Travel with a handicapped person....I took three trips with my mother in her years of seriously decling health, one Amtrak, and two plane. The Amtrak(ATL to NY heritage sleeper) ond one plane were excellent. The one other plane trip was a freaking disaster.
 
radsmom said:
I noticed a lot of sleeping car passengers not tipping in the dining car but we always did. .
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A lot of times the sleeper passengers drop off an envelope of money at the end of the trip to the diner.
 
Amfleet said:
In the Sleeping Car you always tip at the end of the trip. A good rule of thumb is $5 per night, per person.
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Hehe, not always. Sometimes people have left me money each time I did something for them. It really varies a lot.
 
Your right. I also think I was being skimpy when I said $5 per night, per person. Maybe $10-15 is better, but I guess tipping throughout the trip is not so bad either. Just do as you please. :)
 
I go with $5 per night per person, unless service is exceptionally bad or good. I grew up on $1 per night per person, but eventually wised up and started doing more. Back when people used trains more that was the role of etiquette. (Of course everything was much less at that time).

If I have to walk down the steps carrying my own luggage, I will almost NEVER give them a dime(unless everything else has been good). I LOOK healthy but actually have a slight dizziness problem and it could be a disaster(as of the last couple of years) for me to carry luggage up and down steps. This after years of non-chalantly carrying luggage all over the place, standing on coach seats to put luggage in the rack, etc....it has all gotten kind of tricky now, and attendants definatley need to be ready to help anybody who needs it, even when they look healthy.
 
Bill Haithcoat said:
I go with $5 per night per person, unless service is exceptionally bad or good. I grew up on $1 per night per person, but eventually wised up and started doing more. Back when people used trains more that was the role of etiquette. (Of course everything was much less at that time).
If I have to walk down the steps carrying my own luggage, I will almost NEVER give them a dime(unless everything else has been good). I LOOK healthy but actually have a slight dizziness problem and it could be a disaster(as of the last couple of years) for me to carry luggage up and down steps. This after years of non-chalantly carrying luggage all over the place, standing on coach seats to put luggage in the rack, etc....it has all gotten kind of tricky now, and attendants definatley need to be ready to help anybody who needs it, even when they look healthy.
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well hopefully I'll have some gentleman attendants that were raised to be polite and help ladies... and if they do.... I be a tipping them..... :D
 
Well there has always been to schools of thought here. There are those who feel that the attendant should just be doing the best job that he can for every passenger, in the hope that they will tip him.

Then there are those you feel that by tipping each time they will get better service during the rest of their journey. The drawback here though is that while you may receive better service, you may actually be punishing the rest of the people in the car when he/she starts neglects them in favor of a sure tip.

It really is up to the individual. Personally I'm one of those in the first school of thought. I expect you to do your job without my dangling money in front of you. If you do, then I will reward you. If you go even a little bit out of your way, you can expect to be tipped handsomely by me.

I've left sleeping car attendants anything from five bucks for a one nighter to 80 bucks for the wonderful attendant I just had back in May on the Autotrain. He was without a doubt the best Amtrak sleeping car attendant I've ever encountered so far.
 
I, like Alan, have an all time best sleeping car attendant. You can see him in some Empire Builder shots I provided some time back for Viewliner's website. He was a young red headed guy. He was tipped handsomely. He was scrambling around all over the place answering everybody's needs. Yet he had time to come into my deluxe room and talk to me--he found out I was a railfan. He was not, really, but he got an earful of train data(and history lessons, yes) from me. I also have an all time worst---a jerk on the CZ who did not even meet us at the door(he was bathing) at train time in Emeryville. He was observed spending almost the whole time in Denver in the station yapping on the phones rather than making our beds, as many had requested. The first guy, on the Empire Builder(Portland section) was rewarded handsomely, perhaps $20(back then $20 meant a lot more than it does today). The guy on the CZ wasn't even standing at the door of the sleeper when I stepped off in Chicago. He got zero(that's NOTHING).
 
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