# Tipping



## Karl (Feb 16, 2018)

Hello all.

My wife and I are planning a trip from Houston to Fort laurderdale. We are from England which is generally a non tipping country and we are confused about the etiquette of tipping on our trip.

Could people advise please regarding how we should proceed... do we tip our room attendant, and what might be normal here.. Should we tip the food service and drink service staff, and also what about people in the lounge during our stop offs. Apologies for our naivety but we have never used an Amtrak train and just want to fit in with everyone else so that we don't look completely like stupid English tourists.

Thank you


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## PerRock (Feb 16, 2018)

Everyone tips differently & it's always a debate as to the "correct" procedure. I ran an onilne poll to find out what people did a while back....

In general people...

...tip their waiter 15-20% of the bill, or what the bill would be if your in sleeper, same for at-seat service

...tip the lounge/cafe attendant at least $1, sometimes including whatever leftover change they received back

...tip their sleeping car attendant $10/night

...tip their Red Cap at the station (or a person fullfilling that role) either $5 a bag or $5 total

...if they tip their coach attendant, tip $5/night; although people rarely tip them.

Of course this is dependant on getting quality service. If staff are absent, or not performing duties, no tip.

You can see the results of the poll here: https://goo.gl/forms/v0UClXmz0QXpggAn2

peter

Edit: correction on coach attendants, I miss-read the chart originally.


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## Guest (Feb 16, 2018)

Peter, this is really such a helpful response.

Thank you very much.

Karl


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## Lonestar648 (Feb 16, 2018)

I will say that I tip a little more for a Sleeping Car Attendent when there two of us traveling in the room AND the Attendent has been very good. Like helping with bags, making up our beds while at breakfast, keeping the bathrooms clean, providing water when you need it, attentive and generally helpful.

The SCA that disappears all day except to stick their hand out when you get off, get No Tip, but they do get a letter with details to Amtrak Customer Service.

Any staff that is superior, far exceeding your expectations, I sent a praise letter with the details to Amtrak so that individual gets some praise in a generally negative world.


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## Devil's Advocate (Feb 16, 2018)

PerRock said:


> In general people...


Your poll was indicative of AU members, not the general public, who in my experience almost never tip on Amtrak.



PerRock said:


> ...tip their car (both coach or sleeping) attendant $10/night


Who is tipping their coach attendant $10 a night and why?


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## PerRock (Feb 16, 2018)

Devil's Advocate said:


> PerRock said:
> 
> 
> > In general people...
> ...


It was probably primarily AU members, but the poll was distributed to a wider rider-base. I did not track from where they got the link to it.

My bad, there are 3 red colors on the chart, one is "none" and one is "$10/night", noted the wrong one (Google picks the colors, not me). The majority of people who do tip their CCAs tip $5/night... mind you it's only 9.6% of responses that are tipping that amount.

peter


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## Manny T (Feb 16, 2018)

The sleeping car attendant usually receives his or her tip as you exit the train at the end of the journey; common to hand it to him or her and say thanks.

In the dining car, people usually leave their cash tips on the table after they finish their meal and leave.

People usually hand the Red Cap his tip after he removes the luggage from his cart and places it in your room or on the luggage rack on the train.

These are all unwritten "rules" so much so that some claim they are not rules at all.


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## AG1 (Feb 16, 2018)

Karl said:


> Hello all.
> 
> My wife and I are planning a trip from Houston to Fort laurderdale. We are from England which is generally a non tipping country and we are confused about the etiquette of tipping on our trip.
> 
> ...


Welcome Karl,

Please join the AU forum as a member. It is free with no obligations and is not connected to Amtrak.. Joining will allow you to use the forum search function where you will find endless heated debate on your question. You will also be able to send private messages (PM) to other members. In the USA you make up your own mind about how or even if you give your money away . Please try a search for "tipping" on the official Amtrak site(not AU) and see what the official reply is about tipping. Don't worry about fitting in.


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## me_little_me (Feb 16, 2018)

My personal opinion:

Sleeper car - Average $10/NIGHT for 2 of us but $15-$20 if better or excellent service. If they don't help us with luggage on boarding and don't do anything special for us, then possibly no tip.

Diner: for 2 $3 at breakfast. $3 at lunch $5 at dinner.

Coach Attendant: Never found one worth tipping.

Business Class Attendant: Up to $5 for the two of us depending on service but most often give the whole $5

Lunge/Cafe: Only if he/she does something special for us or if we go back there more than once a day. Then $1.

Red Cap $2-$5 for 2 bags. $5 if we get a ride.


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## jebr (Feb 16, 2018)

With multiple opinions voiced, the guest's question has been answered from multiple perspectives. If further discussion is desired, that can be done in the general Amtrak forum.


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