Checked baggage?

[CLEARFORK]

Here's a basic question? Does checked baggage on Amtrak go all the way through to the final destination or does one have to pick it up in order to transfer to another train. In other words, would luggage checked at Toledo, OH on the Capital Limited automatically get put on the California Zepher if the final destination is Denver and I won't have to do anything in Chicago to make certain it gets on that train?

 

[AlanB]

Clearfork,

If you check your bags at Toledo, they will automatically be transferred at Chicago for you. You don't need to pick them up and recheck them. Just make sure that you show both of your tickets when you check your bags at Toledo.

Remember though: Don't pack any medicines or anything else that you might need during your trip, as you will not have any access to your checked bags during the entire trip.

 

[jccollins]

Yes, you are correct. Checked baggage will automatically be transferred for you from your originating station to your destination, even if you have to transfer multiple times, as long as the stations on borth ends of your entire trip are staffed (in your case Toledo, OH and Denver, CO). You will not need to worry about it in Chicago - it will be taken care of and transferred for you automatically.

 

[WoodenMike]

When I wet to Seattle and shipped my bike, I freaked when it didn't get off in Sacramento with me!

It went somewhere down the line before it was transfered, but it made it to Seattle with me the following day.

Will wonders never cease?

 

[battalion51]

Checked baggage is one of Amtrak's strong points. It is a very rare case that checked baggage is lost, mainly because it is staying with you for the majority of your journey, as many people stay on one train for the majority of their journey. Also because Amtrak does not operate thousands of trains daily the likelihod of baggage being lost is very low.

 

[Amtrak Watcher]

I have never (repeat: never) lost checked bags on Amtrak, even with missed connections, bad weather, and all kinds of stuff, my checked bags ALWAYS arrive with me. It's never damaged, or broken into. Reliable baggage handling is, indeed, one of Amtrak's strong points, and is one the main reasons I go out of my way to take Amtrak instead of the plane.

 

[Amfleet]

It's kind of hard to loose a bag on Amtrak considering most major stations only serve 10 trains a day and rural stations serve one, maybe two trains a day.

 

[tp49]

When I wet to Seattle and shipped my bike, I freaked when it didn't get off in Sacramento with me!
It went somewhere down the line before it was transfered, but it made it to Seattle with me the following day.

Will wonders never cease?

I'll bet the bike went to the end of the line at Emeryville where it was transferred to the Starlate since there is plenty of time between the arrival of 5 and the departure of 14 for a nice layover there, in fact since there's not much to do in Sacramento I'd recommend next time to go to Emeryville and spend some of the time in San Francisco.

 

[Viewliner]

I've heard something about how you can do so, but baggage may be delayed in arriving at your final destination.

 

[Amfleet]

It shouldn't be as long as you've checked in 30 minutes prior to departure.

 

[jebb]

My question was directly related to this so I thought I'd add on.

I'm taking the LSL from Rochester, NY to CHI. Then I'm getting on the TE to Ft. Worth. Then I'll take the Heartland Flyer up to Norman, OK.

Let me see if I understand this correctly. If I check my baggage in Rochester, I won't need to claim it in Chicago, BUT I'll have to claim it in Ft. Worth because the HF doesn't offer checked baggage.

I was originally NOT going to check my bag, but turns out on the return trip I have an 8hour layover in Chicago. So If I check my baggage on the way home in Ft. Worth I wouldn't need to worry about it until I got home to Rochester? That would be really great if that were the case because then I wouldn't have to get a locker at CUS and I could sight see a bit.

Thanks for the help!

 

[AlanB]

Jebb,

Your understanding is correct. You don't mention if you're traveling in coach or in a sleeper. If the later, then you have yet another option, leaving your bag with the red cap in the Metropolitan lounge at Chicago.

 

[RailFanLNK]

I just checked baggage for the first time in two years and found it to be a pain. It was not Amtraks fault at all, but the trains I was possibly travelling on kept changing due to the floods in IA so I did not know where to check it to. In DC, I had to wait about 30 minutes to retrieve my bag. I have always carried on my luggage. Amtrak has alot more lenient rules for the amounts so you may want to look into that. I have had some folks here say, "why not check it then you don't have to lug it around?" But I still had to lug it around, it just took about 50 yards off the "lugging" part. I believe you can pack two carryons and one personal bag, can you get it all to fit in those 3 bags? Then you have your bags at your fingertips. There's not something in the "Checked" bag that you can't get to, and when the trains stops, you hop off, grab your bags and off you go. No waiting, no baggage carousel, no claim ticket, no nothing.

 

[jebb]

Jebb,
Your understanding is correct. You don't mention if you're traveling in coach or in a sleeper. If the later, then you have yet another option, leaving your bag with the red cap in the Metropolitan lounge at Chicago.

Yes, it'll be coach all the way. I wasn't too concerned with checking to begin with because I'll have a small bag, but I definitely don't want to roll it behind me if I explore Chicago on the way back.

 

[RailFanLNK]

If you have a sleeper you can keep your bag in the Metropolitan Lounge, if you are in coach, you can rent out a locker at Chicago Union Station and not have to carry it around. Do you have a backpack? Those work great as well and you don't ahve it trailing behind you.

 

[jackal]

I just checked baggage for the first time in two years and found it to be a pain. It was not Amtraks fault at all, but the trains I was possibly travelling on kept changing due to the floods in IA so I did not know where to check it to. In DC, I had to wait about 30 minutes to retrieve my bag. I have always carried on my luggage. Amtrak has alot more lenient rules for the amounts so you may want to look into that. I have had some folks here say, "why not check it then you don't have to lug it around?" But I still had to lug it around, it just took about 50 yards off the "lugging" part. I believe you can pack two carryons and one personal bag, can you get it all to fit in those 3 bags? Then you have your bags at your fingertips. There's not something in the "Checked" bag that you can't get to, and when the trains stops, you hop off, grab your bags and off you go. No waiting, no baggage carousel, no claim ticket, no nothing.

I wonder if an option would have been for you to check it to LNK anyway, even if there were a chance the train would not be running.

That way, if the train had indeed been canceled, it becomes Amtrak's responsibility to get it to LNK. They route it another way, put it on a Thruway bus, hire a private carrier to take it to you (like airlines do for delayed bags), or even ship it to you. You may have been without it for a couple of days, but it should eventually get home to you.

 

[jebb]

If you have a sleeper you can keep your bag in the Metropolitan Lounge, if you are in coach, you can rent out a locker at Chicago Union Station and not have to carry it around. Do you have a backpack? Those work great as well and you don't ahve it trailing behind you.

Yep, I'll be in coach. I was thinking i could rent a locker at Chicago Union Station, and just carrying my backpack with me. It doesn't cost money to check baggage though does it?? If I do check what will just be clothes though I won't have an extra charge for the locker right?? I've never gone long distance on the train or brought baggage with me so I wasn't sure.

 

[AlanB]

If you have a sleeper you can keep your bag in the Metropolitan Lounge, if you are in coach, you can rent out a locker at Chicago Union Station and not have to carry it around. Do you have a backpack? Those work great as well and you don't ahve it trailing behind you.

Yep, I'll be in coach. I was thinking i could rent a locker at Chicago Union Station, and just carrying my backpack with me. It doesn't cost money to check baggage though does it?? If I do check what will just be clothes though I won't have an extra charge for the locker right?? I've never gone long distance on the train or brought baggage with me so I wasn't sure.

No charge for checked baggage, as long as you comply with the rules. Of course you won't have access to the checked bags for the duration of the trip, so make sure that you pack a change of cloths and needed toiletries in the backpack.

As for a locker, if you don't use one you don't get charged.

 

[Guest_Gary_*]

If you have a sleeper you can keep your bag in the Metropolitan Lounge, if you are in coach, you can rent out a locker at Chicago Union Station and not have to carry it around. Do you have a backpack? Those work great as well and you don't ahve it trailing behind you.

Yep, I'll be in coach. I was thinking i could rent a locker at Chicago Union Station, and just carrying my backpack with me. It doesn't cost money to check baggage though does it?? If I do check what will just be clothes though I won't have an extra charge for the locker right?? I've never gone long distance on the train or brought baggage with me so I wasn't sure.

No charge for checked baggage, as long as you comply with the rules. Of course you won't have access to the checked bags for the duration of the trip, so make sure that you pack a change of cloths and needed toiletries in the backpack.

As for a locker, if you don't use one you don't get charged.

Too bad the people at the Omaha station can't see this. Last year about this time they would "not" check our bags and when I asked why not was told "because I'll be changing trains in Chicago and they couldn't guarantee the bags would be transferred with me."

This was especially difficult for my wife and I because I had fallen down a flight of stairs and broke my foot about an hour prior to departure. Getting the bags on the train wasn't any problem because I had a relative to carry them on for me. Now picture my wife, all 115 lbs. of her, trying to pull two large bags on wheels with two carry-ons on top of them down the walkway at Chicago trying to make a connection on the Cardinal [which had already left] while I hobbled along behind on new crutches.

People were literally cursing her for taking up so much space on the walkway making it difficult for them to dash to the station probably trying to make their connection also, thanks in part to a late arriving Cal. Zephyr. It was pandemonium - several times people literally bumped into her hard enough they knocked the smaller bags off of the top of the larger bags and I could do nothing to help her because I was hanging on to those darn crutches.

Finally, an Amtrak worker wearing a hardhat [not a redcap - none to be found] saw our plight, picked up all four of our bags, asked me where we wanted to go, and led us directly to Customer Service. He kept refusing, but I INSISTED he accept a tip, along with a very sincere thanks and hand shake.

How much easier this would have been if we could have checked those two large bags just to Chicago, where I could've gotten a red cap to load them on to my connecting train.

 

[jebb]

Too bad the people at the Omaha station can't see this. Last year about this time they would "not" check our bags and when I asked why not was told "because I'll be changing trains in Chicago and they couldn't guarantee the bags would be transferred with me."

Oh this is disconcerting. With a long wait in Chicago between my arrival and departure, I hope it wont be a problem.

 

[AlanB]

Too bad the people at the Omaha station can't see this. Last year about this time they would "not" check our bags and when I asked why not was told "because I'll be changing trains in Chicago and they couldn't guarantee the bags would be transferred with me."
This was especially difficult for my wife and I because I had fallen down a flight of stairs and broke my foot about an hour prior to departure. Getting the bags on the train wasn't any problem because I had a relative to carry them on for me. Now picture my wife, all 115 lbs. of her, trying to pull two large bags on wheels with two carry-ons on top of them down the walkway at Chicago trying to make a connection on the Cardinal [which had already left] while I hobbled along behind on new crutches.

People were literally cursing her for taking up so much space on the walkway making it difficult for them to dash to the station probably trying to make their connection also, thanks in part to a late arriving Cal. Zephyr. It was pandemonium - several times people literally bumped into her hard enough they knocked the smaller bags off of the top of the larger bags and I could do nothing to help her because I was hanging on to those darn crutches.

Finally, an Amtrak worker wearing a hardhat [not a redcap - none to be found] saw our plight, picked up all four of our bags, asked me where we wanted to go, and led us directly to Customer Service. He kept refusing, but I INSISTED he accept a tip, along with a very sincere thanks and hand shake.

How much easier this would have been if we could have checked those two large bags just to Chicago, where I could've gotten a red cap to load them on to my connecting train.

Gary,

You don't say where you were taking the Cardinal too and I have to wonder if you were riding to a station where there is no checked baggage. If that was the case, that would be why the agents in Omaha wouldn't check your bag. If you were headed for a station that offers checked baggage, then the agents were wrong.

I am sorry that you had the issues that you had and I'm quite pleased that an Amtrak worker did come to your rescue. And good for you for insisting the he know just how much his efforts meant to you.

 

[AlanB]

Too bad the people at the Omaha station can't see this. Last year about this time they would "not" check our bags and when I asked why not was told "because I'll be changing trains in Chicago and they couldn't guarantee the bags would be transferred with me."

Oh this is disconcerting. With a long wait in Chicago between my arrival and departure, I hope it wont be a problem.

I wouldn't worry Jebb.

 

[Guest_Gary_*]

The Cardinal does not have checked baggage so I wasn't expecting it. The Zephyr does have

checked baggage and I was able to check my baggage from Chicago to Omaha so my thinking was

I could do the same going back from Omaha to CHICAGO and not my ultimate destination on the

Cardinal, which was Staunton, Va. I'm assuming because my reservation read Staunton and not

Chicago they were unable to check my baggage. If that were the case I wonder if they

would have checked my bags had it read Chicago? That was what I was trying to do because I

knew the alternative was my wife unloading those bags off of the train and down that gauntlett to

the customer service desk where we would have to make other arrangements having missed our

connection on the Cardinal.

When we arrived in Omaha it was 11:30 p.m. and I didn't see anyone working the station to assist

with claiming our bags [the train personnel did so]. However, when we departed Omaha there

was personnel there but still couldn't get my bags checked. With this in mind why would it

matter whether or not your destination is a "station" that offers checked baggage? The way I read

the info on the Amtrak web site it's the train not the station that determines whether or not you

can check your baggage. I wanted to claim my luggage in Chicago the same way I did in Omaha.

As for the Amtrak personnel, I have nothing but good things to say about ALL we came in contact

with, including the personnel in Omaha who were very courteous and polite. You'll always have bad

experiences occasionally with people serving people, but that didn't happen to us on this, our

first [but not last] ride on the train.

 

[AlanB]

The Cardinal does not have checked baggage so I wasn't expecting it. The Zephyr does have checked baggage and I was able to check my baggage from Chicago to Omaha so my thinking was

I could do the same going back from Omaha to CHICAGO and not my ultimate destination on the

Cardinal, which was Staunton, Va. I'm assuming because my reservation read Staunton and not

Chicago they were unable to check my baggage. If that were the case I wonder if they

would have checked my bags had it read Chicago? That was what I was trying to do because I

knew the alternative was my wife unloading those bags off of the train and down that gauntlett to

the customer service desk where we would have to make other arrangements having missed our

connection on the Cardinal.

Gary,

You are quite right, the Cardinal does not offer checked baggage. I had completely forgotten that they had changed that a few years back. And that is indeed why they would not check your baggage from Omaha to Chicago. Agents and Red Caps are instructed not to check bags for connecting passengers through Chicago, if that baggage can't be checked through to its ultimate destination.

The reason being is that the trains are unfortunately late and a passenger's need to claim a checked bag at Chicago could result in their missing the connecting train. A good friend of mine, Superliner Diner, wanted to check from Sacramento to DC last summer, even though he was connecting in DC to a Northeast Regional train to Philly. The redcap refused to check his bag (unfortunately he was very nasty about it, so he got reported), because again that connection is often very close.

As it turned out he did Kevin a favor, since they actually had to hold the connecting train for us and he wouldn't have had time to claim the bag otherwise.

As for the Amtrak personnel, I have nothing but good things to say about ALL we came in contactwith, including the personnel in Omaha who were very courteous and polite. You'll always have bad

experiences occasionally with people serving people, but that didn't happen to us on this, our

first [but not last] ride on the train.

I'm very glad to hear that. We can only hope that that trend continues.