# Chicago Union Station Legacy Club Experience



## BoulderCO (Jun 13, 2017)

I posted a question here a few weeks ago asking about the benefits of the new Legacy Club in terms of seating priority. I am a senior so already get a degree of priority seating and was wondering how the Legacy Club seating compared vs. the standard senior seating. The responses that came back were varied - some saying that Legacy and Senior were seated at the same time and others that the Legacy seating had priority.

Yesterday I took my actual trip (#5 Chicago to Denver) and elected to pay the $20 extra for the Legacy Club, primarily just to satisfy my curiosity. My experience is only one datapoint, but here is what happened:

I only arrived at the station in time to spend about 1.5 hours in the Legacy Club and had already been well fed, so I certainly didn't extract the maximum value in terms of food and drink. I had some water (3 choices on tap: Cold Filtered, Room Temp Filtered and Sparkling Cold). Also a small container of OJ to take on the train along with a bag of veggie chips. The first happy hour was on during my visit, so I had a half glass of wine also. You are allowed 3 alcoholic drinks at each of the two happy hours. Overall, I'd rate their selection of snacks as very good. High end versions of chips, energy bars, sodas, etc.

The free wifi was also a definite plus. Average in performance: 4.3 Mbps down and 0.6 up. But certainly much better than the zero wifi in the normal boarding area. Also desks and counters set up for laptop charging, etc.

The bathrooms are nice, with large counters and sinks. Shoeshine machines also.

The Legacy Club is quite spacious with a large array of comfortable couches and chairs. A couple of large screen TVs with news, etc. When I was there (around noon) there were perhaps an average of 15 people there at any given time, all spread out in various areas. So felt very uncrowded and like you could have you own "private" space if desired.

At 1:15 PM (45 minutes before train departure) they asked for all people on the #5 to come forward to walk to the train. This was encouraging because the Seniors normally board about a half hour before departure. There were only two of us on this occasion, and a Legacy Club rep walked us over to the entrance to the tracks - where the door to the senior waiting area exits. It seemed like she was going to walk us directly to the train, but then she said she had to speak with the boarding agent in the normal waiting room. She spoke with her and between them they designated two seats near the door for the two of us to sit in. Not sure it works this way every time. Maybe the Legacy Rep can bypass this step sometimes but on that day the train just wasn't ready to immediately accept passengers? Don't know.

In any event, after 3 or 4 minutes the gate agent said they were ready to begin boarding and said that the two Legacy passengers would go first. So we did. The seniors seemed to be hot on our trail shortly thereafter. It was a full train and of course we (not traveling together) were directed to the appropriate cars (Denver for me, California for him). Do believe I was the first on on my car and had my choice of seats (YAY - much better than being assigned). Seemed like that day they allowed most people to find their own seats, although they had a few rows labeled "couples only". Then at the end, the conductor helped fill the remaining seats. Someone was put next to me then on the aisle, but she got off in Omaha and I had both seats for sleeping.

So I was overall very happy and glad I spent the $20. Believe I would do it again, especially if I were to be at the station for a longer period.

Would be interested in hearing about the experiences of other as they transpire.


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## Bob Dylan (Jun 13, 2017)

Thanks for sharing!

I haven't been in the Legacy Lounge or the New Metro Lounge @ Union Station so interested in seeing them when I get to Chicago!


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## Eric in East County (Jul 19, 2017)

Many thanks for this information. We’re planning to be in Chicago in October to catch the #30 east bound *Capitol Limited* and are planning to use the *Legacy Club* rather than have to deal with the congestion of the East Waiting Room. Knowing a little bit more about what to expect is most helpful.


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