Checked Baggage (luggage) discussion

Rasputin · Mar 24, 2024

Travelbound4 said:
Hi everyone,

We will be taking the Empire Builder in a couple of weeks from Chicago to Seattle.

Can anyone shed any light on the process for checking bags at Union Station in Chicago? Is it 45 mins before boarding time? Do we get a bag ticket?

And how is the bag collection process in Seattle? Is it similar to an airport with a carousel for bags or do we just deboarded and bags are there to be collected?

thank you!

According to the station information for Chicago Union Station, bags need to be checked at least 60 minutes before boarding. You will be given a baggage check for your checked luggage. Don't lose the baggage check. (I can't remember where you check your bags at Union Station but there should be signage.)

https://www.amtrak.com/stations/chi.html

At Seattle, there is a baggage carousel in a gated area. You go in, take your bags from the carousel and show your baggage check to the attendant when you leave the gated area. At least that is the way it was done a few years ago and maybe someone can provide an update.

Hope you have a great trip.

dlagrua · Mar 25, 2024

Alluding to the opening post it should be noted that Amtrak checked baggage service is only available at a few select stations, mainly those in larger cities or stops where boarding is usually heavy. The Amtrak timetables used to specify where service was available but Amtrak no longer prints anything that can be of assistance. I don't believe those timetables are even available online but the RPA has revised then and you can find them on their site.

Travelbound4 · Mar 28, 2024

Rasputin said:
According to the station information for Chicago Union Station, bags need to be checked at least 60 minutes before boarding. You will be given a baggage check for your checked luggage. Don't lose the baggage check. (I can't remember where you check your bags at Union Station but there should be signage.)

https://www.amtrak.com/stations/chi.html

At Seattle, there is a baggage carousel in a gated area. You go in, take your bags from the carousel and show your baggage check to the attendant when you leave the gated area. At least that is the way it was done a few years ago and maybe someone can provide an update.

Hope you have a great trip.

Thank you! This is very helpful!

Eric in East County · Mar 28, 2024

dlagrua said:
Alluding to the opening post it should be noted that Amtrak checked baggage service is only available at a few select stations, mainly those in larger cities or stops where boarding is usually heavy. The Amtrak timetables used to specify where service was available but Amtrak no longer prints anything that can be of assistance. I don't believe those timetables are even available online but the RPA has revised then and you can find them on their site.

The Santa Fe Depot in downtown San Diego sometimes offers checked baggage service and sometimes does not. (That's why we no longer travel Amtrak with luggage that needs to be checked.)

Archivist&Librarian · Jun 19, 2024

What happens to checked baggage when a train arrives late to a major station and a connecting train (with a baggage car) is missed? Does the rider need to pick up their checked baggage and take it with them to their complementary lodging, or does it remain in Amtrak's possession until the next available train on the route? From experience, I know what it is like missing a connecting train without checked baggage.

I did quite a bit of searching and didn't find an answer to my question. I also chatted with a Amtrak rep on the Amtrak website, and they seemed to be clueless as to how stations with regular baggage services work.

OBS · Jun 20, 2024

It is forwarded on the next train to your destination that has checked baggage service.

Archivist&Librarian · Jun 22, 2024

OBS said:
It is forwarded on the next train to your destination that has checked baggage service.

Thank you!

Chatter163 · Jun 22, 2024

While that might be the usual MO, if a passenger wishes to claim his bag to have it for the overnight stay in town and then recheck it the next day, that would work, too.

toddinde · Jun 22, 2024

Back in the days of railroad operated passenger service, many railroads advised in their timetables that people should check their bags a couple of days in advance to ensure on time arrival.

MARC Rider · Jun 22, 2024

toddinde said:
Back in the days of railroad operated passenger service, many railroads advised in their timetables that people should check their bags a couple of days in advance to ensure on time arrival.

That's what I did for a number of trips where it was critical that my gear be waiting for me on arrival. On one instance. I actually checked about the status of my bags in Chicago (they were checked through, Baltimore to Lamy), and I was glad I did, because they got sort of "lost". I got a neat tour of the lower level in the bowels of Union Station, where we found them and sent them on their way. I was overnighting in Chicago, which helped improve the odds of the checked stuff being in Lamy when I arrived, which it was.

Eric in East County · Jun 22, 2024

Back when we were still traveling with luggage that needed to be checked, we would stop off at the Toledo train station the day before our departure and check our large suitcases before turning in our rental car. That way, we didn’t have to deal with them again until we got to our final destination. Then the Toledo station changed its hours and was no longer open during day. Also, Pacific Surfliner trains from San Diego to LA stopped accepting checked luggage. For our last two trips everything we brought with us was distributed among our carry-on items and this worked out so well that we never plan to check anything ever again.

Traveller · Sep 11, 2024

Checked Baggage Policy change?

Yesterday had 2 Amtrak notification re chanage to checked baggage policy, 1 notification for each journey to be made in the next 10 days.

#1 Lakeshore Limited from Syracuse to CHI

#2 CONO from CHI to Greenwood MS

Here's the relevant section of the first Amtrak email, the second was identical just train # and date change :

"Thank you for choosing Amtrak as your preferred mode of transportation. We are looking forward to your upcoming journey with Amtrak on Train 449 traveling on Saturday, September 14th. As part of our commitment to providing a smooth and pleasant travel experience, we would like to bring your attention to our carry-on baggage policy as this train does not allow checked baggage."

The last sentence is confusing, is it possible to check baggage or not.
On arriving in Syracuse last night and just to confirm yes or no, I asked the 2 ticket office staff if they still check baggage, they answered yes, there had been no notification from Amtrak. Just to be 100% they checked as to whether there were updates on the office system... no.
Then they read the email above and were as confused as I am.

Can anyone explain what is going on please?

Both trips are in coach BTW. I did ask if there was a separate baggage policy for coach and sleeper, no was the answer.

railiner · Sep 11, 2024

Traveller said:
Checked Baggage Policy change?

Yesterday had 2 Amtrak notification re chanage to checked baggage policy, 1 notification for each journey to be made in the next 10 days.

#1 Lakeshore Limited from Syracuse to CHI

#2 CONO from CHI to Greenwood MS

Here's the relevant section of the first Amtrak email, the second was identical just train # and date change :

"Thank you for choosing Amtrak as your preferred mode of transportation. We are looking forward to your upcoming journey with Amtrak on Train 449 traveling on Saturday, September 14th. As part of our commitment to providing a smooth and pleasant travel experience, we would like to bring your attention to our carry-on baggage policy as this train does not allow checked baggage."

The last sentence is confusing, is it possible to check baggage or not.
On arriving in Syracuse last night and just to confirm yes or no, I asked the 2 ticket office staff if they still check baggage, they answered yes, there had been no notification from Amtrak. Just to be 100% they checked as to whether there were updates on the office system... no.
Then they read the email above and were as confused as I am.

Can anyone explain what is going on please?

Both trips are in coach BTW. I did ask if there was a separate baggage policy for coach and sleeper, no was the answer.

I believe they are telling you that since there is no longer any checked baggage service on your train (449) between Boston and Albany, then you must adhere to the carryon baggage policies, even though your destination station offers it.

This may be because you are booked on 449 instead of 49 between Syracuse and Chicago, and the res system is not sophisticated enough to know you can check your bags on 49, even if you’re booked on 449…

zephyr17 · Sep 11, 2024

railiner said:
This may be because you are booked on 449 instead of 49 between Syracuse and Chicago, and the res system is not sophisticated enough to know you can check your bags on 49, even if you’re booked on 449…

Considering that SYR has checked baggage service according to Amtrak.com and 49 carries checked baggage that is almost certainly the explanation.

As far as the reservations system is concerned, 449 is an entirely separate train. Whoever set up that automated email notice should have set it up so it was only sent to those ticketed to or from stations east of Albany or, better yet, only to those stations without checked baggage service. Station baggage service status, the data necessary to do it properly, is contained in the system. Of course, it is entirely possible that the staff that set it up didn't know 449 is not a separate train from 49 west of Albany any more than the computer system they're working with does.

Bottom line: Amtrak IT strikes again! The agent at SYR will accept it, as long as you are ticketed for another station that handles checked baggage, despite holding a ticket on 449. That agent, at least, will know it is one train

.

EDIT: while SYR has checked baggage service, GWD does not. Your bag will not be accepted at SYR to be checked to GWD. They might accept it short checked to CHI. In any case, it'll be a carry on on the CONO. Short checking is usually a bad idea, but the connection time between the LSL and the CONO is long enough that the likelihood of a near miss marooning your bags at CHI is pretty low.

Traveller · Sep 12, 2024

Good explanations thank you both. The Greenwood ticket is completely understandable, the 449 less so.

What I hadn't mentioned is I had extended the Greenwood journey to now end in Jackson MS by buying an additional ticket from Greenwood to Jackson for the original train. That journey is now CHI to JAN using 2 tickets.

I planned to mention this to the Conductor on boarding, but Amtrak wouldn't know to tie the 2 tickets to the same journey.

Probably best to chat to the baggage people in CHI to see if it is possible to send my bag through to JAN, if it's not allowed I wouldn't argue the point.

zephyr17 · Sep 12, 2024

Traveller said:
Good explanations thank you both. The Greenwood ticket is completely understandable, the 449 less so.

What I hadn't mentioned is I had extended the Greenwood journey to now end in Jackson MS by buying an additional ticket from Greenwood to Jackson for the original train. That journey is now CHI to JAN using 2 tickets.

I planned to mention this to the Conductor on boarding, but Amtrak wouldn't know to tie the 2 tickets to the same journey.

Probably best to chat to the baggage people in CHI to see if it is possible to send my bag through to JAN, if it's not allowed I wouldn't argue the point.

It sounds like you are breaking your journey in Chicago, not traveling straight through to Mississippi.

The agent at Chicago should accept the bag to JAN if you show them both tickets CHI-GWD and GWD-JAN. The checked baggage system is completely unautomated, all the agent need do is put a JAN tag on it. You should show both to the conductor leaving Chicago, they might scan both and put up a seat check for JAN, but also might put up a GWD seat check and have the conductor leaving GWD scan your GWD-JAN ticket.

If I am mistaken about laying over in Chicago, you can also show both tickets to the agent at SYR to have your bag checked through to JAN.

Traveller · Sep 12, 2024

zephyr17 said:
It sounds like you are breaking your journey in Chicago, not traveling straight through to Mississippi.

The agent at Chicago should accept the bag to JAN if you show them both tickets CHI-GWD and GWD-JAN. The checked baggage system is completely unautomated, all the agent need do is put a JAN tag on it. You should show both to the conductor leaving Chicago, they might scan both and put up a seat check for JAN, but also might put up a GWD seat check and have the conductor leaving GWD scan your GWD-JAN ticket.

If I am mistaken about laying over in Chicago, you can also show both tickets to the agent at SYR to have your bag checked through to JAN.

Good advice thanks.

You are correct, 3 days in Lake Geneva before returning to Union station where I'll spend 5 or 6 hours looking around before departure.

I'll report back here what happened in reality at both departure stations, it may help others.

PaulM · Sep 12, 2024

railiner said:
This may be because you are booked on 449 instead of 49 between Syracuse and Chicago, and the res system is not sophisticated enough to know you can check your bags on 49, even if you’re booked on 449…

Since when does the reservation system reserve luggage space? Bikes, yes, but not bags.

Generally, whether baggage service is available is found in the services tab in the trip details link on the booking page once you select a train with origin and destination stations .

For example, for the CZ between Mt Pleasant and Chicago, the services tab shows checked baggage. There's no way to tell that this is phony since you can't book checked baggage. On the other hand it shows bicycles and you can reserve space. So if you can book a bike, you know the information is correct. If it says sold out, you would have to check many dates to determine where it is actually sold out or the service doesn't exits.

Back to the Lakeshore Ltd. Booking Albany to Chicago and selecting train 49, you see it has bike service and checked baggage. I've verified it does have bike service because I booked a couple of bikes CHI-ROC and UCA-CHI. On the other hand, when you select 449, it show only checked baggage, no bikes wanted. There's no way to tell whether the checked baggage is phony or not without calling the 800 number and hoping there is someone in the back office that knows the answer.

railiner · Sep 13, 2024

PaulM said:
Since when does the reservation system reserve luggage space? Bikes, yes, but not bags.

zephyr17 said:
As far as the reservations system is concerned, 449 is an entirely separate train. Whoever set up that automated email notice should have set it up so it was only sent to those ticketed to or from stations east of Albany or, better yet, only to those stations without checked baggage service. Station baggage service status, the data necessary to do it properly, is contained in the system. Of course, it is entirely possible that the staff that set it up didn't know 449 is not a separate train from 49 west of Albany any more than the computer system they're working with does.

I was only referring to the notice sent to passenger's. Zephyr17 explained it....

zephyr17 · Sep 13, 2024

PaulM said:
Since when does the reservation system reserve luggage space? Bikes, yes, but not bags.

It doesn't and no one said it did.

The reservations system, ARROW, does contain data on which trains and stations handle checked bags. That's where the website, and whatever email generator Amtrak uses, gets that data from and that's what @railiner and I were referring to.

Traveller · Sep 14, 2024

Update:
Checked bags at Syracuse, no fuss, no problems. Now on the train which was exactly on time, well done Amtrak.
But... stop sending confusing emails

zephyr17 · Sep 15, 2024

Traveller said:
But... stop sending confusing emails

That is beyond the capabilities of Amtrak IT.

stanames · Oct 1, 2024

How to take a larger suitcase on the NorthEast Regional out of Boston:

Since Boston no longer has any checked baggage, is there any baggage space on the cars for a larger then carryon suitcase?

Since Amtrak stopped checked baggage out of Bosto on any Train it sure has made it difficult to travel,

Stan

caravanman · Oct 1, 2024

Please be aware that there is currently a bus service on some dates from Boston, which might impact luggage sizes carried?
What size baggage are you wanting to take? Normal allowance is two bags of 50 lbs. (23 kg) and 28 x 22 x 14 inches each.

zephyr17 · Oct 1, 2024

caravanman said:
Normal allowance is two bags of 50 lbs. (23 kg) and 28 x 22 x 14 inches each.

Note that 28x22x14 is much larger than airline carry on. My "big" bag fits within it and it's a whole lot bigger than my airline size carry on. I seldom check bags on Amtrak.

On the Lake Shore, Viewliner sleepers have the luggage cubby above the sink (my "big" bag fits in there, btw), plus the attendant will usually find a place for it in an unused room or sometimes in the shower room if needed. Amfleet coaches have storage space at car ends in addition to overhead.

I've never had a problem finding space for my big, but not humongous, bag, coach or sleeper.

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