Checked baggage

[happy2meetu]

If I check baggage in Toledo going to Salt Lake City will the bags be changed in Chicago when I change trains? Is the baggage handling overall pretty good and prompt so that when I reach Salt Lake City I can rest assured my bags will be there. Sorry if this is a dumb question but I have never checked luggage before. I am trying to avoid carrying on large bags and taking too much space.

 

[zephyr17]

Just like the airlines with connecting flights, Amtrak will handle transferring your bags checked through between trains at Chicago. I've never checked bags to SLC, but generally Amtrak gets the bags out pretty fast.

 

[printman2000]

Checked bags many, many times. Even with some pretty complex change. Our bags have always arrived with us. Never a problem.

 

[fairviewroad]

All that is true, but the usual cautions about not putting valuables etc in checked bags applies.

 

[BCL]

There's no guarantee that the baggage will necessarily ride on the same train you're riding, but it should get there in the most expedient manner. If you check it in early, it could go on an earlier train than the one you take.

I don't believe there's a more efficient path for that route than through Chicago. There are some routes where there are several ways for baggage to arrive at the destination.

 

[ehbowen]

There's no guarantee that the baggage will necessarily ride on the same train you're riding, but it should get there in the most expedient manner. If you check it in early, it could go on an earlier train than the one you take.

I don't believe there's a more efficient path for that route than through Chicago. There are some routes where there are several ways for baggage to arrive at the destination.

True enough. In 2012 I returned from Washington, DC to Houston via New Orleans. I checked my luggage in at Union Station first thing in the morning and took a joyride on a Regional to New York so that I could ride the Crescent bumper-to-bumper (my return ticket was AGR 1.0; same points from NYP as from WAS). They sent my luggage west via Chicago and Longview; it was already waiting at the station in Houston when I arrived.

Amtrak is very good about requiring and matching claim checks before they release passenger luggage, so it is unlikely that your bags will walk away without you.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

All that is true, but the usual cautions about not putting valuables etc in checked bags applies.

Here is the full list of prohibited items...

 

[happy2meetu]

Thanks for the info and reassurance. Looks like we will check our bags.

 

[Dakota 400]

I don't have the Amtrak experience that many on this Message Board do, but I have never had any issues with checking luggage during an Amtrak journey. I have had more issues with checking luggage when I need to fly!

 

[the_traveler]

Most Amtrak routes only have 1 train a day, so most likely they will be put on the right train. If you're going to Portland, OR, chances are it won't be put on a train to Portland, ME!

Now, on airlines you're much more likely to have your bag end up in Athens, GA instead of with you in Athens, Greece!

 

[jebr]

Now, on airlines you're much more likely to have your bag end up in Athens, GA instead of with you in Athens, Greece!

Is it more likely on the airlines? I haven't seen statistics on misrouted bags, but I haven't seen any hard evidence that Amtrak is any better at routing bags than airlines. The vast majority of people don't have problems with checked baggage on either service; however, with Amtrak if your bag happens to get lost there's no real way for Amtrak to track it down other than call the stations that it may have passed through. With the airlines there's at least a barcode that gets read at many of the transfer points to give an idea of where the luggage might be.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

After hundreds of flights I can still count the number of times I've checked luggage on my fingers and toes. Even on tickets with free checked baggage I simply refuse to risk losing my luggage anymore. My checked possessions have been repeatedly misplaced, misrouted, ruffled and rifled, stained, drenched, physically damaged, casually forgotten, or even straight up stolen. Sometimes after several years have gone by I'll foolishly allow someone to talk me into checking another bag only to have history repeat itself yet again. :wacko:

 

[me_little_me]

My only issue was that the agent in Portland, OR did not know the difference between Albany, NY (ALB) and Albuquerque, NM (ABQ) and I missed the error as I was not paying close attention and he was quick. Luckily, when the bag failed to be found at baggage claim in ABQ, an astute agent at the ticket counter, as a last resort, went back to the train just before it left and found our bag destined to never-land. The only saving grace was that the Portland agent had put a second tag routing it via LA or it would have taken the quicker Empire Builder route instead of being on our train.

 

[sechs]

There's no guarantee that the baggage will necessarily ride on the same train you're riding, but it should get there in the most expedient manner.

A routing tag would fix that. Good agents will do it automatically when they know that there are multiple routes, but you can always ask to have one attached to your bags.

 

[RSG]

Now, on airlines you're much more likely to have your bag end up in Athens, GA instead of with you in Athens, Greece!

[...] With the airlines there's at least a barcode that gets read at many of the transfer points to give an idea of where the luggage might be.

With both it depends on if the destination tag is correct. Presumably the airlines barcoded tag with the pax name would automatically have the correct destination. But if there’s a manual confirmation or entry required, then the wrong 'Athens’ could get inserted (assuming it was a carrier who flew/codeshared to both).
The luggage tracing issue could occur with the airlines if a bag was gate-checked and therefore required a manual destination tag. The barcoded bags must also occasionally lose their tags, otherwise the “store” in Alabama or wherever consisting of property from unclaimed/lost luggage would have run out of goods by now.

I’ve only checked bags on Amtrak a handful of times, but the destination tag has always been applied, and a transfer tag [eg, CHI or WAS] always applied if that was necessary.

 

[jis]

I had an interesting checked baggage experience with (international) airlines, involving a misconnection followed by a surprisingly smooth recovery, involving a through checked bag, spanning two separate itineraries and three airlines. The airlines involved were United, Lufthansa and Air India. The bag misconnected at Frankfurt. It was sent along on the next day's flight to Delhi, cleared customs in Delhi and then forwarded by the first available flight to Kolkata, which was not an Air India flight but a Jet Airways flight. I got the bag less than 24 hours after I arrived in Kolkata. I was very impressed. And to boot I got an overnight kit and $200 compensation in cash for my troubles which turned out to be next to nothing since I always carry a change of clothing in my hand baggage on these 24+ hours, half way round the world journeys.

 

[Skyline]

I never EVER have checked baggage in over 150,000 miles of Amtrak and Via travel since 1976. Just paranoid I guess. My carry-on is a fairly large 55L backpack, the same one I use for backpacking in the mountains but with more "citified" contents. Very efficient, on board and off. It's easier (for me) to "wear" a 30-35-lb. pack than to carry or drag the same weight in a suitcase. Fits well in a roomette or an overhead compartment in coach, too. YMMV.

 

[jis]

I never EVER have checked baggage in over 150,000 miles of Amtrak and Via travel since 1976. Just paranoid I guess. My carry-on is a fairly large 55L backpack, the same one I use for backpacking in the mountains but with more "citified" contents. Very efficient, on board and off. It's easier (for me) to "wear" a 30-35-lb. pack than to carry or drag the same weight in a suitcase. Fits well in a roomette or an overhead compartment in coach, too. YMMV.

I have never checked baggage on Amtrak, mainly because I never have baggage that is so large as to not fit in my Roomette.

 

[KauaiJohn]

I just put mine in the rack by the door. Once somebody took mine by mistake but while I was reporting it at the desk in Chicago, the call came in that my bag was arriving already on the next train.

 

[jis]

I just put mine in the rack by the door. Once somebody took mine by mistake but while I was reporting it at the desk in Chicago, the call came in that my bag was arriving already on the next train.

I have seldom put my bag in the rack by the door in Superliners. Of course that is not even a possibility in Viewliners.