Baggage checking

[John Santos]

I wonder if it is possible to check luggage at a later point in the trip? If you are boarding at a smaller station with no checked baggage, but another station en-route does have checked baggage, if you could arrange to hand off your bag at that station to the baggage attendant and check it the rest of the way?

Unless it was somewhere like San Antonio or Spokane with a multi-hour stop, you wouldn't be able to meet the 45 minutes before departure deadline, but maybe this would be a service Amtrak could offer; you board and put your bag on the storage rack, then arrange with the attendant to tag the bag through to your destination. At the next checked baggage stop, either they move it for you or you grab your bag and take it up to the baggage car and hand it to the attendant who is loading the car, tears off your half of the tag, and loads it. Then you get back on the train. (Any station that handles checked baggage has to have a stop that is long enough to load and unload it, so you should have time.) Or maybe hand it off to a Red Cap if the station has Red Cap service.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I wonder if it is possible to check luggage at a later point in the trip? If you are boarding at a smaller station with no checked baggage, but another station en-route does have checked baggage, if you could arrange to hand off your bag at that station to the baggage attendant and check it the rest of the way?

Unless it was somewhere like San Antonio or Spokane with a multi-hour stop, you wouldn't be able to meet the 45 minutes before departure deadline, but maybe this would be a service Amtrak could offer; you board and put your bag on the storage rack, then arrange with the attendant to tag the bag through to your destination. At the next checked baggage stop, either they move it for you or you grab your bag and take it up to the baggage car and hand it to the attendant who is loading the car, tears off your half of the tag, and loads it. Then you get back on the train. (Any station that handles checked baggage has to have a stop that is long enough to load and unload it, so you should have time.) Or maybe hand it off to a Red Cap if the station has Red Cap service.

Cardinal doesn't have luggage racks

 

[me_little_me]

I wonder if it is possible to check luggage at a later point in the trip? If you are boarding at a smaller station with no checked baggage, but another station en-route does have checked baggage, if you could arrange to hand off your bag at that station to the baggage attendant and check it the rest of the way?

Unless it was somewhere like San Antonio or Spokane with a multi-hour stop, you wouldn't be able to meet the 45 minutes before departure deadline, but maybe this would be a service Amtrak could offer; you board and put your bag on the storage rack, then arrange with the attendant to tag the bag through to your destination. At the next checked baggage stop, either they move it for you or you grab your bag and take it up to the baggage car and hand it to the attendant who is loading the car, tears off your half of the tag, and loads it. Then you get back on the train. (Any station that handles checked baggage has to have a stop that is long enough to load and unload it, so you should have time.) Or maybe hand it off to a Red Cap if the station has Red Cap service.

Better yet, they have a remote kiosk in the building with a video connection.

1. You press a button
2. An agent's face appears on screen
3. The agent tells you to hold up your ticket to scanner
4. You hold up ticket so scanner and agent see and record your reservation and arrival city
5. The agent tells you to put one bag on the scale
6. The agent sees the weight remotely and sees that the bag meets requirements
7. If your bag qualifies, the agent presses a button and a baggage ticket is printed with your name, date, time, city pair and a receipt for you to hold. Picture of bag is also recorded.
8. The agent does this with your other bags
9. The agent then tells you a specific location to place your bag. That location is monitored to insure nobody picks up bags before train arrival.
10. The agent signs off
11. Your bag is loaded when the train arrives.

That agent can serve many stations and prioritize those with least time before train arrives.

Voila! No need for agent all day to service one train. Few agents. Many more stations with baggage loading service.

Something like what I described would solve my problem but I still have it because Amtrak doesn't have the brains to even test out such a system.

 

[GAT]

I am boarding Train #1 in New Iberia, which doesn’t have baggage services. I am transferring to Train #14 at LAUS. I have four questions about baggage handling alternatives:

• Is there a baggage car on #1? If not, no need to read any further.
• If yes, can an OBS check my bag through to EMY and put it in the baggage car once I board at NIB?
• If not, is there a stop along the #1 route long enough for me to take my bag into the station and check it through to EMY?
• If yes, would this be allowed at an interim station?

My objective is to not have to deal with my bag during my 4-hour layover at LAUS.

Thanks.

 

[TinCan782]

As for baggage car, sometimes yes, sometimes no. There is usually a coach/baggage car if no full baggage car.
Houston is typically a longer stop where you might have time to check your bag. Beaumont is also a possibility but shorter than Houston. I don't know if it would be allowed.

 

[jebr]

My objective is to not have to deal with my bag during my 4-hour layover at LAUS.

Given that policy requires checked bags to be tagged 45 minutes before departure, the only stations with that long of a layover are San Antonio (2.5 hours or so) and just barely Tucson (50 minutes.) San Antonio is the middle of the night and you'd likely be stuck in the station for a while (iirc they let people off, do some switching, then close to departure let people on.) If you stay on the train you wouldn't have to worry about that.

Your best bet would be to check your bag upon arrival at LAUS. Yes, that does mean you'd have to deal with it at least a bit in LA, but it should be fairly quick and you wouldn't have to worry about it for the rest of the layover. I don't know if there's a place to store bags in the lounge, but that might be another option if you have access and are fine with leaving it in the lounge and picking it up before departure. The other options all have much larger caveats that, imo, don't make it worthwhile.

By the way, I'm not aware of a way that OBS can check a bag into the baggage car - afaik they don't have the baggage slips necessary to do so, and the baggage cars are treated as though they aren't accessible during the trip except at the designated station stops in my experience.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I am boarding Train #1 in New Iberia, which doesn’t have baggage services. I am transferring to Train #14 at LAUS. I have four questions about baggage handling alternatives:

• Is there a baggage car on #1? If not, no need to read any further.
• If yes, can an OBS check my bag through to EMY and put it in the baggage car once I board at NIB?
• If not, is there a stop along the #1 route long enough for me to take my bag into the station and check it through to EMY?
• If yes, would this be allowed at an interim station?

My objective is to not have to deal with my bag during my 4-hour layover at LAUS.

Thanks.

I would carry my bags on when boarding, put your Biggest Bag in the downstairs Rack and only take what you need upstairs. ( you didn't indicate whether you were in a Sleeper or Coach)

When you get to San Antonio, around Midnight, the Station is Open, and staffed, and you can check your Bags thru to Emeryville there.

The Station is Small, has really Bright Lights and is often Crowded, not a place to hang out for several Hours, so I would ask the Attendant if you have time to reboard before the Switching of the #421 Thru Cars starts.

Otherwise, check you bags and head over to the Dennys on East Commerce ( West under the I37 Tunnel towards Downtown, only a couple of blocks, or walk a couple of more blocks to the River Walk ( San Antonio's Bourbon Street) and the Alamo( closed but worth a Look, it's lit @ night) and walk around.

Depenending on the Day and what's happening in San Antonio, it'll be busy or dead, but it's a Big Tourist town with lots of Hotels, Clubs and Eating Joints along the River.

Then return to the Station (#1 departs for LAX @ 245am if on time ) and reboard your Car.

 

[GAT]

By the way, I'm not aware of a way that OBS can check a bag into the baggage car - afaik they don't have the baggage slips necessary to do so, and the baggage cars are treated as though they aren't accessible during the trip except at the designated station stops in my experience.

Thanks, all, for this info. It's too bad that OBS can't check bags trainside. That would be a great way to mitigate not having baggage services at the smaller, shorter-stop stations. Amtrak should consider implementing this, although I suppose it would require negotiating new union agreements. And there may be other factors affecting this.

 

[dadonatrain]

Jebr, in your reply to the OP you said you’re not sure if there’s a place to store bags “in the lounge”. I assume from the context you mean the sleeper psgr lounge at LAUS. My experience there is several years old, but I do recall quite a stack of large bags in the corner behind the checkin desk, where anyone eligible to cool your heels there could stash stuff while using the lounge, even if we left and went downstairs for food, etc. perhaps this helps the OP.

 

[TinCan782]

Jebr, in your reply to the OP you said you’re not sure if there’s a place to store bags “in the lounge”. I assume from the context you mean the sleeper psgr lounge at LAUS. My experience there is several years old, but I do recall quite a stack of large bags in the corner behind the checkin desk, where anyone eligible to cool your heels there could stash stuff while using the lounge, even if we left and went downstairs for food, etc. perhaps this helps the OP.

They also use the conference room in the lounge at LAUS for baggage. The door is kept closed and locked and the lounge attendant has the key.

 

[MARC Rider]

I would carry my bags on when boarding, put your Biggest Bag in the downstairs Rack and only take what you need upstairs. ( you didn't indicate whether you were in a Sleeper or Coach)

This is what I always do when I'm riding a Superliner, even if I have a downstairs roomette.

 

[GAT]

Are there many incidents of theft or damage to bags left on the downstairs rack on LD trains?

 

[Cal]

Are there many incidents of theft or damage to bags left on the downstairs rack on LD trains?

Not that I (and seemingly pretty much everyone on here) have noticed.

As for baggage car, sometimes yes, sometimes no. There is usually a coach/baggage car if no full baggage car.
Houston is typically a longer stop where you might have time to check your bag. Beaumont is also a possibility but shorter than Houston. I don't know if it would be allowed.

To be clear, even if there isn't a full car dedicated for baggage, there will always be a place for checked bags.

 

[WWW]

It is an awkward situation for Amtrak and its customers - - -
You should have checked your baggage at a minimum 45 minutes before scheduled departure -
You arrive LATE trackside boarding in the middle of a consist of 9 cars -
The baggage car is behind 2-3 locomotives at the front of the train -
How the heck are you going to be sure that your baggage is loaded into the baggage car at the front/rear of the train -
Better to have it with you than suffer the delay in getting it returned to you -
Bedrooms and Roomettes best to have it to keep an eye on it -
Coach cars not a lot of wiggle room to keep it close by - especially with a crowded full train -

Lions tigers and bears - apples oranges mangos pineapples - what to do -
Amtrak is not staffed like the airlines to handle luggage/baggage - - -

One thing for sure - your baggage best have wheels (wheelies) - no one wants to carry baggage anymore -
That is for a bygone era when customer service was golden !

 

[OBS]

By the way, I'm not aware of a way that OBS can check a bag into the baggage car - afaik they don't have the baggage slips necessary to do so, and the baggage cars are treated as though they aren't accessible during the trip except at the designated station stops in my experience.

You are right, OBS would be of no help. However, a "good" Conductor would have baggage tags with them and able to assist on checking bags

 

[Lonnie]

I've been gifted a 100-year-old Singer sewing machine while visiting on the west coast. In a few days taking the CZ and LSL with that change in Chicago. If I check the two boxes it will be in (one for machine, one for case) in CA, will they make it all the way to MA without my carrying them anywhere in Chicago?

 

[zephyr17]

Checked baggage is transferred to the connecting train by Amtrak. If checked through to destination, it will be transferred by Amtrak.

There are two problems, however.

First, you said you are going to Massachusetts. The Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited no longer offers checked baggage service.

Second, Amtrak checked baggage policy would appear to prohibit handling your 100 year old Singer sewing machine as checked baggage:

Prohibited Items in Baggage
Household and automotive items, including but not limited to antiques, appliances, artwork, furniture, machinery and car parts, powered tools, silverware, tires, and tow bars

Your sewing machine may qualify both as an antique and as an appliance.

https://www.amtrak.com/onboard/baggage-policy/baggage-prohibited-items.html

 

[joelkfla]

Is there a time limit on how long I have to retrieve checked baggage? At a major station, WUS specifically, can I just ignore it & retrieve it later in the day?

Where baggage is set out on a carousel or just on carts in a hallway, is unclaimed baggage removed to a secure room after a period of time?

Thx.

 

[tgstubbs1]

"Storage charges apply to baggage not claimed within 24 hours of arrival."

....from Amtrak Travel Information.

I have found some stations that will hold your bags for a fee, others did it for free ( for a few hours).

 

[neroden]

You can in fact pick them up the next day.

Sometimes your bag arrives a day or two ahead of you. (For instance if you take the Coast Starlight and California Zephyr from LA to Chicago, your bag may take the Southwest Chief.) I have found that Amtrak will not charge you for bag storage when this happens. You do have to ask them to dig the bag out of the back room, of course.

So yes, it will be taken off the carousel and put in a back room. Unlike airlines, Amtrak typically will not let anyone claim bags from the carousel without showing their matching claim check. (At least this was my experience in Syracuse, Chicago, LA, and San Diego.) So there is very little chance of checked bags being stolen.

 

[jebr]

So yes, it will be taken off the carousel and put in a back room. Unlike airlines, Amtrak typically will not let anyone claim bags from the carousel without showing their matching claim check. (At least this was my experience in Syracuse, Chicago, LA, and San Diego.) So there is very little chance of checked bags being stolen.

At MSP I was able to grab my bag from the carousel without any sort of claim check matching. Not sure if that's normal (I've only done it once) but worth noting that at least in some cases they don't check.

 

[TinCan782]

At MSP I was able to grab my bag from the carousel without any sort of claim check matching. Not sure if that's normal (I've only done it once) but worth noting that at least in some cases they don't check.

That was my experience at MSP last August (Train #7)

 

[joelkfla]

So yes, it will be taken off the carousel and put in a back room. Unlike airlines, Amtrak typically will not let anyone claim bags from the carousel without showing their matching claim check. (At least this was my experience in Syracuse, Chicago, LA, and San Diego.) So there is very little chance of checked bags being stolen.

I don't remember where, but I do remember that at one station bags were just put out on carts in a hallway, and people just helped themselves.

 

[niemi24s]

Please note that there is no checked baggage service available in Boston. The farthest East you can check them is Albany.

 

[Fenway]

Please note that there is no checked baggage service available in Boston. The farthest East you can check them is Albany.

I never understood why Amtrak stooped baggage service on 448/449 3 years ago since South Station still had a baggage room for 65,66 and 67.

Granted since those trains have been 'suspended' I have no idea if the room is even staffed now.