# How far do seats recline in roomettes?



## Lonnie (Mar 1, 2010)

I'm beginning to figure out how to put together a multi-stop cross-country trip, complete with sleeping accommodations. I've looked at the virtual tours of the Viewliner roomettes, but cannot for the life of me see how the seats recline. They seem to have their backs up against a wall and not a heck of a lot of room in front of each one. How do they compare to coach seats for reclining?

Thanks!


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## Tony (Mar 1, 2010)

They can recline all the way down/back until they are a flat bed.


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## the_traveler (Mar 1, 2010)

At night, the 2 seats lie flat to become a flat bed. During the day, the seats can recline a small amount, but it is no where near the recline in coach. I find it easier to put my feet on the opposite seat or step.


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## AG1 (Mar 1, 2010)

The seat base can move about 8 inches forward in about one inch latched increments.At the same time the back cushion slides down and forward at the hinge to the bottom cushion.You then reach a point where the latching mechanism is surpassed and you have a flat seat and back to form one end of the bed. The roomette and bedroom seats are not as comfortable as coach seats on the long distance trains with Superliner and Amfleet II cars.The Amfleet I seats are comparable with their reduced leg room and recline.


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## jis (Mar 1, 2010)

Lonnie, the base of the seat pulls forward to get the recline. And of course for the night, it pulls forward all the way to meet the pulled forward base of the other seat to become a flat bed.


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## kt1i (Mar 1, 2010)

I put a couple of pillows between the seat back and my lower back and find that most comfortable.


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## Cascadia (Mar 1, 2010)

Thanks for asking this question, I have wondered about this myself.


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## Jeremy (Mar 1, 2010)

I have found it very comfortable to sit in the roomette seat and put my (shoeless) feet up on the opposite seat while my wife does the same thing on her side. "Persons of size" might find this a challenge as the seats are not all that wide. People also sometimes forget that roomette pax are not sentenced to spend the duration of their journey in their small compartment; many spend most/all of their waking hours in the dining car, lounge car, walking the corridors, etc.


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## Dan O (Mar 1, 2010)

Are roomette seats as comfy as coach seats, taking into account recline but also padding, width, etc?

Dan


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## railiner (Mar 2, 2010)

Dan O said:


> Are roomette seats as comfy as coach seats, taking into account recline but also padding, width, etc?
> Dan


Not quite, as the roomette seats are a compromise design to serve as both a daytime seat, and a night time bed; while the coach recliners are designed to be as comfortable as possible as seats.

In my opinion, none of the currently used coach seats are as comfortable as the old streamliner era Heywood-Wakefield "Sleepy Hollow" seats, or the similar Karpen seats.


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## babe in the woods (Mar 2, 2010)

railiner said:


> Dan O said:
> 
> 
> > Are roomette seats as comfy as coach seats, taking into account recline but also padding, width, etc?
> ...


Was that before or after the completion of the Transcontinental line?


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## gswager (Mar 2, 2010)

The roomette seat is wider than the coach seat.

I use the pillow to make my back comfortable and put my feet up on other seat and it's comfortable.


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## Bootman4U (Mar 2, 2010)

Believe it or not, here is what some people do: they actually "recline" the lower into the "flat bed" position during the day (if they are traveling solo) and leave it there! That's one of the great benefits of traveling solo in a roomette.


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## CNW (Mar 2, 2010)

railiner said:


> Dan O said:
> 
> 
> > Are roomette seats as comfy as coach seats, taking into account recline but also padding, width, etc?
> ...


I agree with you. The roomette seats are not as comfortable as coach seats for me and it took me a bit to get used to it. Of course, all things being equal I much prefer a roomette to coach!


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## Malrothien (Mar 2, 2010)

Bootman4U said:


> Believe it or not, here is what some people do: they actually "recline" the lower into the "flat bed" position during the day (if they are traveling solo) and leave it there! That's one of the great benefits of traveling solo in a roomette.



That's what I did. Could stretch out, could lay down, anything I wanted.


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## MrFSS (Mar 2, 2010)

Related question as I'll be in a roomette for six days in May.

If you pull the top bed down during the day, how much head room is left while sitting in the lower seats? That is, can I pull the top down so I could take a nap if I wanted to, even maybe sleep at night up top and leave the seats for sitting down below. I'll be by myself. Could also store luggage up top while I'm down below.

Thanks!!


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## jis (Mar 2, 2010)

MrFSS said:


> Related question as I'll be in a roomette for six days in May.
> If you pull the top bed down during the day, how much head room is left while sitting in the lower seats? That is, can I pull the top down so I could take a nap if I wanted to, even maybe sleep at night up top and leave the seats for sitting down below. I'll be by myself. Could also store luggage up top while I'm down below.
> 
> Thanks!!


Well now this is where the Viewliners win big time over Superliner. In Viewliners it is so easy to move the top bunk up or down that you can just pull it down when you want to be upstairs and push it up when you want to be downstairs. And since the upper berth has its own window you can watch the country go by from either berth. On Viewliners I usually sleep in the upper for this reason. On Superliners I don't bother with the upper. It is downright claustrophobic up there. If I am alone, why bother?

An upper berth that is in the sleeping position will come in the way of your head when you stand up on the floor AFAIR. But as I said I have not done that in a Superliner for so long, I cannot say that I know for sure.


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## snoozer (Mar 2, 2010)

MrFSS said:


> Related question as I'll be in a roomette for six days in May.
> If you pull the top bed down during the day, how much head room is left while sitting in the lower seats? That is, can I pull the top down so I could take a nap if I wanted to, even maybe sleep at night up top and leave the seats for sitting down below. I'll be by myself. Could also store luggage up top while I'm down below.
> 
> Thanks!!


Would not the SCA be upset if the passenger is fooling around with the beds during the day? Or don't they care? Is there any protocol involved in putting down beds during the day? Do you have to inform the SCA about it?


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## Bob Dylan (Mar 2, 2010)

MrFSS said:


> Related question as I'll be in a roomette for six days in May.
> If you pull the top bed down during the day, how much head room is left while sitting in the lower seats? That is, can I pull the top down so I could take a nap if I wanted to, even maybe sleep at night up top and leave the seats for sitting down below. I'll be by myself. Could also store luggage up top while I'm down below.
> 
> Thanks!!


There's a reason they call it the coffin Tom; as the other Poster(jis) mentioned there is zero headroom and no windows up top in the Superliners! Of course a Viewliner is completely different, I too sleep up top and theres no comparison! You can utilize the top to store your stuff during the day but it does intrude on your headroom, in fact Ive bumped my head pretty good when getting up so need to remember that next time! :lol: The top bunk is not as EZ as a Viewliner to get down/put up either when compared to the EZ up/EZ down Viewliner! Id say sleep on the bottom, during the day you can recline the seats pretty good for a nap but that's just my experience, others that are shorter or that dont have my phobia about coffins might disagree?


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## Jeremy (Mar 2, 2010)

As long as you're not too tall you can sit in the seats of the Superliner roomette with the top bunk down. There isn't a lot of headroom, be careful getting up. On our last CZ trip we did all of the bunk work ourselves and the attendant didn't mind or even notice, as far as I could tell.

With the top bunk lowered and the door closed there is very little standing room in a roomette; I prefer to keep the top bunk stowed unless it's being used to sleep in.


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## MikeM (Mar 2, 2010)

I think the main problem with the seat recline in the superliner roomette's is that the top part of the seat, the headrest, does not recline with the rest of the seat. It's mounted to the wall. So you get into a situation where your head can get into interesting positions at times. Still, I manage to stay comfortable with judicious pillow use. The only problem I've had was traveling with my son (we're both 6' with size 12 feet), the real estate between seats got a bit crowded... Also when you have the bed down, the headrest portion still sticks to the wall, so sitting against the walls isn't as comfortable as it could be. Oh well, beats flying!


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## jphjaxfl (Mar 2, 2010)

railiner said:


> Dan O said:
> 
> 
> > Are roomette seats as comfy as coach seats, taking into account recline but also padding, width, etc?
> ...


 Yes, the "Sleepy Hollow" Seats that came out in the streamliners era were the best. Alot of research went into development of those seats by actual measurement of passengers of various heights and sizes. I think airlines use crash test dummies now to see how small and cramped they can make the space and get as many people in the plane as possible.


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## jis (Mar 2, 2010)

jphjaxfl said:


> I think airlines use crash test dummies now to see how small and cramped they can make the space and get as many people in the plane as possible.


There are two things that airlines try to do. The first is making the seats as light as possible. And the second, in Economy class, try to fit as many of them as they can. In First and Business Classes they tend to be quite generous with space, and quite careful about designing for comfort, but then they charge 2 to 10 times economy for those seats too.


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## railiner (Mar 3, 2010)

gswager said:


> The roomette seat is wider than the coach seat.
> I use the pillow to make my back comfortable and put my feet up on other seat and it's comfortable.


The seat could be as wide as a bench, but its countour won't make it any more comfortable except perhaps to an extremely wide person.



MrFSS said:


> Related question as I'll be in a roomette for six days in May.
> If you pull the top bed down during the day, how much head room is left while sitting in the lower seats? That is, can I pull the top down so I could take a nap if I wanted to, even maybe sleep at night up top and leave the seats for sitting down below. I'll be by myself. Could also store luggage up top while I'm down below.
> 
> Thanks!!


You could do that but the lower bed is a little larger than the upper.



MikeM said:


> I think the main problem with the seat recline in the superliner roomette's is that the top part of the seat, the headrest, does not recline with the rest of the seat. It's mounted to the wall. So you get into a situation where your head can get into interesting positions at times. Still, I manage to stay comfortable with judicious pillow use. The only problem I've had was traveling with my son (we're both 6' with size 12 feet), the real estate between seats got a bit crowded... Also when you have the bed down, the headrest portion still sticks to the wall, so sitting against the walls isn't as comfortable as it could be. Oh well, beats flying!


That's what I'm talking about. The unnatural contour of the reclined berth, with the resulting gap, makes it uncomfortable, unless you really customize it with pillows. And sitting face to face, whether in a roomette or a coach is not good for legroom.


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## railiner (Mar 3, 2010)

jphjaxfl said:


> railiner said:
> 
> 
> > Dan O said:
> ...


It's a bit a of trivia, but the seats purchased for the Amfleet and later the Superliners were built by a company that was primarily a supplier to airliners. By that time, the original suppliers to the railroads were long out of that aspect of the business.


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## GG-1 (Mar 3, 2010)

Aloha

There is much good information in this thread, and others have sorta said this, but I need to put this in simple words. The seats in roomettes recline to a flat position.  Sorry Just a little levity. :lol:


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## kt1i (Mar 3, 2010)

MikeM said:


> I think the main problem with the seat recline in the superliner roomette's is that the top part of the seat, the headrest, does not recline with the rest of the seat. It's mounted to the wall. So you get into a situation where your head can get into interesting positions at times. Still, I manage to stay comfortable with judicious pillow use. The only problem I've had was traveling with my son (we're both 6' with size 12 feet), the real estate between seats got a bit crowded... Also when you have the bed down, the headrest portion still sticks to the wall, so sitting against the walls isn't as comfortable as it could be. Oh well, beats flying!


Yes,I have run into the same problem in Superliners. Even with pillows to fill the gap, it's not comfy for me to sit up and read in bed. Can't remember how Viewliners do this.


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## thanks (Mar 3, 2010)

GG-1 said:


> Aloha
> There is much good information in this thread, and others have sorta said this, but I need to put this in simple words. The seats in roomettes recline to a flat position.  Sorry Just a little levity. :lol:


Thanks for adding to a weighty issue...


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## jis (Mar 3, 2010)

snoozer said:


> Would not the SCA be upset if the passenger is fooling around with the beds during the day? Or don't they care? Is there any protocol involved in putting down beds during the day? Do you have to inform the SCA about it?


If I am going to use the upper during the day, I request the SCA to set it up with bedding and they always oblige. There are lots of people who make such use of the upper during the day on Viewliners. As I said I never use the upper in Supers, so it is a non-issue there. The SCAs will be quite happy to lay out the bedding for you in the lower too for use during the day, if you request so.


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