# Southwest Chief connection to Coast Starlight at LAX



## rusty spike (Jun 30, 2012)

Hi Everyone,

New poster here with some concerns about the missed connection between the SWC to CS at LAX. We have 2 roomettes booked through Amtrak Guest Rewards from FLG to MTZ at the end of July. The SWC #3 has been late enough into LAX to miss the 10:25 AM departure of #14, on at least 4 ocassions so far in June.

When I asked the representative at AGR about the guaranteed connections, he said, "Don't worry, we'll take care of you." I'm not sure if that means they will "bustitute" us to Bakersfield to the San Joquin, put us up overnight in LA, with the next day out on the CS, or hold the CS for the arrival of the SWC.

This trip is for the adventure of using the CS and it's prestigous Pacific Parlour Car. Any heads-up on this will be appreciated.

Also, since both FLG and MTZ have checked bag service, I'm wondering it is wise to check baggage through, check it to LAX, then recheck to MTZ, or just keep it in plain view on our car (carry-on).

Thanks.


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## Trogdor (Jun 30, 2012)

The one thing I would NOT do is check your bag to Los Angeles. If the Chief gets in late and the Starlight is leaving shortly, there may not be enough time for you to claim the bag before boarding, as it will be mixed with all the other LA-destined bags.


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## AlanB (Jun 30, 2012)

Agreed, either carry it on or check it all the way through to MTZ with the knowledge that if the train is very late you might not get your bags until the next day. But do NOT check it to LA!

As for the connection, while the odds are in your favor that you will make the connection, it is very unlikely that you'll be kept in LA for the night. Partly because there is no need for that, partly because there is no guarantee that the next day's train isn't sold out anyhow and they'd be unable to put you on it.

If things are real close, read 15 minutes to maybe a maximum of 30 minutes, they might decide to hold the Starlight if enough people are connecting. But failing that, you'll be put on a bus to Bakersfield.


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## rusty spike (Jun 30, 2012)

Thanks for the tips...

My better instincts told be not to check the bags anyway. Lost luggage and/or a missed connection with the CS resulting in the "Pacific Parlour Bus" to Bakersfield would not be a good start to 12-day combo Amtrak/Hertz circle tour of the West, as we are continuing on to PRO from MTZ and finally the SWC back to FLG from RAT. That segment is "endangered" as BNSF wants lots of $$ to keep it doable for Amtrak. Hopefully, it will survive as an Amtrak route


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## the_traveler (Jun 30, 2012)

If there was one connection of LD to LD with the most certainty, it would be the SWC to CS at LAX!


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## Shanghai (Jul 1, 2012)

the_traveler said:


> If there was one connection of LD to LD with the most certainty, it would be the SWC to CS at LAX!


Even our *Pennyk* made the connection without any Wrong Turns!!

Of course, Joe Hess, Jim Hudson, RRRich and I were there too

and none of us missed the Coast Starlight!!


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## Hotblack Desiato (Jul 1, 2012)

the_traveler said:


> If there was one connection of LD to LD with the most certainty, it would be the SWC to CS at LAX!


Disagree. That connection is missed more often than you may realize.


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## the_traveler (Jul 2, 2012)

Hotblack Desiato said:


> 1341179495[/url]' post='377187']
> 
> 
> the_traveler said:
> ...


Well maybe I was lucky, but every time I made that connection the SWC was on time or early and I had a 2-3 hour layover!


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## rusty spike (Jul 2, 2012)

The final tally for the month of June...

The SWC was late enough into LAX to miss the CS connection 5 times, according to www.dixielandsoftware.com.

Considering the scheduled gap is 2 hours 15 minutes, that is a significant number of misses, IMHO.


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## printman2000 (Jul 11, 2012)

Our 6 hour late SWC made us miss it last summer. They took us off in San Bernardino, bus to Bakersfield, San Joiquin to Martinez and waited for the Coast Starlight.

Like you, I was really looking forward to my first trip on the Coast Starlight and enjoying the coast. But something seems to always go wrong on our once a year Amtrak trip.

(edited to change CZ to Coast Starlight typo)


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## rusty spike (Jul 11, 2012)

printman2000 said:


> Our 6 hour late SWC made us miss it last summer. They took us off in San Bernardino, bus to Bakersfield, San Joiquin to Martinez and waited for the CZ.
> 
> Like you, I was really looking forward to my first trip on the CZ and enjoying the coast. But something seems to always go wrong on our once a year Amtrak trip.


printman2000,

I assume you meant the CS (Coast Starllight?), not the CZ in regards to enjoying the coast. We plan on contuning on the e/b CZ after a 3-day stopover at MTZ, and hopefully the only coast we see will be that of Suisan Bay.

Anyway the w/b SWC missed the connect with the CS 5 times in June. I've been keeping tabs on her. So far in July, no misses. In fact it has been early on a few occassions. Maybe BNSF fixed some of the "potholes" in Kansas.  Go figure.

Anyway, wish me luck...a bustitution from San Berdoo to Bakersfield would lead to my utter dissatisfaction.

BTW, I really enjoyed your travelogue on your trip this year. I see you finally made your CS connection. We're doing the abbreveiated version of yours---nothing east of Colorado, plus the addition of a driving tour thru the national parks/mountain etc, in Utah & Colo. :hi:


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## printman2000 (Jul 11, 2012)

rusty spike said:


> printman2000,
> 
> I assume you meant the CS (Coast Starllight?), not the CZ in regards to enjoying the coast. We plan on contuning on the e/b CZ after a 3-day stopover at MTZ, and hopefully the only coast we see will be that of Suisan Bay.
> 
> ...


Yup, that is what I meant. I edited the post to fix it.

Thanks for the complement. Yes, we finally got to do the coastal part of the Coast Starlight. Of course, to do it, we had the extra cost of spending the night in LA.


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## rtabern (Jul 12, 2012)

I've missed the connection twice in 2009, and both times we were bussed to Bakersfield and told to take the SJ to Sacaramento to connect with the Northbround Coast Starlight. I was smart enough to figure out the SJ would get me to Oakland (OKJ) in plenty of time to make the connection to #14, so I stayed on the SJ with the conductor's approval. Both times the conductor said it was fine to stay onto OKJ, but I was told not to tell the other passengers... for whatever reason they wanted people to goto SAC vs. OKJ... even though you can get on the train 2 hours sooner at OKJ vs. SAC... even if you are sorta backtracking miles. Maybe they didnt want to take up seats with 20 extra passengers from SAC-OKJ if they didn't have to. By the way, both times it became standing room only on the SJ after Merced because of all the extra Starlight connect passengers on.


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## rusty spike (Jul 13, 2012)

rtabern said:


> I've missed the connection twice in 2009, and both times we were bussed to Bakersfield and told to take the SJ to Sacaramento to connect with the Northbround Coast Starlight. I was smart enough to figure out the SJ would get me to Oakland (OKJ) in plenty of time to make the connection to #14, so I stayed on the SJ with the conductor's approval. Both times the conductor said it was fine to stay onto OKJ, but I was told not to tell the other passengers... for whatever reason they wanted people to goto SAC vs. OKJ... even though you can get on the train 2 hours sooner at OKJ vs. SAC... even if you are sorta backtracking miles. Maybe they didnt want to take up seats with 20 extra passengers from SAC-OKJ if they didn't have to. By the way, both times it became standing room only on the SJ after Merced because of all the extra Starlight connect passengers on.



Well, we'll find out in about 10 days whether we will be seeing Santa Barbara and the Calif. coast or the "beautiful" San Joquin Valley. The SWC was a bad boy again today showing up at LAX 7:32 hours late. The good news is that that is the first miss with the CS this month.


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## printman2000 (Jul 13, 2012)

rusty spike said:


> Well, we'll find out in about 10 days whether we will be seeing Santa Barbara and the Calif. coast or the "beautiful" San Joquin Valley. The SWC was a bad boy again today showing up at LAX 7:32 hours late. The good news is that that is the first miss with the CS this month.


Don't let our stories get you down. Chances are good you will make the connection without problem.


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## rusty spike (Jul 13, 2012)

printman2000 said:


> rusty spike said:
> 
> 
> > Well, we'll find out in about 10 days whether we will be seeing Santa Barbara and the Calif. coast or the "beautiful" San Joquin Valley. The SWC was a bad boy again today showing up at LAX 7:32 hours late. The good news is that that is the first miss with the CS this month.
> ...


From someone who has "been-there-done-that" on this train, I appreciated your words of encouragement.

I'm resigned to the fact that Amtrak (like some airlines), is a microcosm of life itself in that everyday is a new adventure. Like most Amtrak pax, particularly on LD trains, this ls leisure travel. and one has to deal with the frailties of the system. hboy:


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## OlympianHiawatha (Jul 13, 2012)

And do not panic if your _*Chief*_ is running a couple hours behind when you wake up on the last morning; there is a lot of padding built into the end of the schedule, and that will build even more if it is Sunday when _*Metrolink*_ is not running.

This happened to me a couple years ago when we were almost 4 hours down coming onto Cajon Pass Sunday morning. I asked the Conductor if there was any chance of making the _*Starlight*_ and he made a few calls and suddenly Dispatch was on the radio giving us Green over Green all the way in because we needed to connect with the _*Starlight*_! On top of that the Conductor had us do literal rolling stops at San Bernardino, Riverside and Fullerton and all combined, we pulled in right next to the now loading _*Starlight*_ with 10 minutes to spare


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## rusty spike (Jul 13, 2012)

OlympianHiawatha said:


> And do not panic if your _*Chief*_ is running a couple hours behind when you wake up on the last morning; there is a lot of padding built into the end of the schedule, and that will build even more if it is Sunday when _*Metrolink*_ is not running.
> 
> This happened to me a couple years ago when we were almost 4 hours down coming onto Cajon Pass Sunday morning. I asked the Conductor if there was any chance of making the _*Starlight*_ and he made a few calls and suddenly Dispatch was on the radio giving us Green over Green all the way in because we needed to connect with the _*Starlight*_! On top of that the Conductor had us do literal rolling stops at San Bernardino, Riverside and Fullerton and all combined, we pulled in right next to the now loading _*Starlight*_ with 10 minutes to spare


I know they pad a significant amout of time at the end of the run rather than publishing more realistic schedules for intermediate stations. On my 1st trip on the TE/SL into LAX last April I was surpised to hear them close the Lounge Cafe and Diner at Pomona pending a 1 1/4 hour early arrival at LAX, even though the train was at schedule in Pomona.


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## sechs (Jul 13, 2012)

printman2000 said:


> Don't let our stories get you down. Chances are good you will make the connection without problem.


I make the connection at LAX at least once a year, and never had a problem. Well, except the Chief coming in early and having to mill around at LAUS for longer than expected.


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## TimePeace (Jul 19, 2012)

I've only had to make that connection once, and did so by about 15 minutes. And the CS was on the track opposite the SWC's arrival, at the same platform - all I had to do was walk across. Piece of cake.


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## rusty spike (Jul 19, 2012)

Maine Rider said:


> I've only had to make that connection once, and did so by about 15 minutes. And the CS was on the track opposite the SWC's arrival, at the same platform - all I had to do was walk across. Piece of cake.



I was hoping there would be time for coffee and snack at the Traxx Lounge, but I'd settle for a quick walk-across-platform-transfer over a bustitution via Bakersfield any day. :excl:


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