May 2013 Vacation

[Tanya934]

A few queries for a relative Amtrak newbie that i could do with some experienced advice on please!

Travelling on The Coastal Starlight, in sleeper service, to LAX from SEA, followed by The Southwest Chief the following day to CHI and connecting with The Cardinal to PHL all booked with the same booking ref.

Can we check our bags in at SEA and collect them at PHL or do we have to recheck in our bags at LAX and CHI?

Will we get an evening meal before we disembark at LAX and on the Southwest Chief and Cardinal as they leave LAX & CHI respectively

 

[amamba]

Yes, you can through check your bags all the way from SEA - PHL.

I am not sure re: the meals.

 

[johnny.menhennet]

Is this May 2013?

Due to the long time between the Coast Starlight's arrival and the Southwest Chief's departure, you may have to collect your bags and recheck them on the Southwest Chief the next day in Los Angeles. Once they're on in Los Angeles, they can go all the way through to Philadelphia. Just like on a plane, you cannot access them once you have dropped them off. On the Coast Starlight coming into LA, there is a full meal service provided. Being a sleeper car passenger on the Coast Starlight is special, because it has a lounge car reserved only for sleeper passengers unique to that train. There will be wine tastings and comfortable swivel chairs. You can choose to have you meals in there or a larger selection in the main diner, although no matter where you are, all meals are included in sleeper pricing. There will also be meals on the Southwest Chief and Cardinal at the times you were asking about. Good luck and keep asking questions!

 

[FriskyFL]

Unless the first leg of your trip involves a TARDIS, perhaps your upcoming trip is May 2013?

 

[MrFSS]

Unless the first leg of your trip involves a TARDIS, perhaps your upcoming trip is May 2013?

I fixed the topic title - I'm sure she meant 2013.

 

[the_traveler]

1345235325[/url]' post='387909']

1345235120[/url]' post='387907']Unless the first leg of your trip involves a TARDIS, perhaps your upcoming trip is May 2013?

I fixed the topic title - I'm sure she meant 2013.

With all the delays this past year, you can never be sure!

 

[AlanB]

Due to the long time between the Coast Starlight's arrival and the Southwest Chief's departure, you may have to collect your bags and recheck them on the Southwest Chief the next day in Los Angeles.

It's far more likely that a bag checked in SEA to PHL will simply go out on the Empire Builder to Chicago and then get placed on the Cardinal to reach Philly. This of course means that the bag will probably get to Philly before Tanya does, but that shouldn't pose any problem either.

 

[Despot of Epirus]

The bag will be sent to PHL on some train other than the Cardinal. Routing is probably EB, CL and #66 or EB, LSL and #67.

 

[Tanya934]

Presumably they will keep the bags in storage until The Cardinal arrives in PHL if they get sent on a seperate train?

I do not fancy the idea of the bags going round the Carusel until they get stolen!

Is there a lounge for sleeper px at Los Angeles as we have a full day in the city until the SWC departs. May visit a museum using public transport but will still have a few hours to wait.

 

[NW cannonball]

Don't sweat the baggage - unless you have stuff in the checked baggage you really can't do without. If that is the case, reconsider your packing up plan.

A decade ago my younger brother did a "all of southeast Asia" trip. Two pages of flights and connections and such over three months. The only time the airlines lost his banjo was on the very last leg -- he got to MSP but the banjo went to STL. The airline got it to him the next day.

Mostly you can trust the baggage handlers. Amtrak is real good about baggage - see the other thread.

 

[the_traveler]

1345264607[/url]' post='387974']The bag will be sent to PHL on some train other than the Cardinal. Routing is probably EB, CL and #66 or EB, LSL and #67.

Why not the Cardinal? There is checked baggage service on the Cardinal now at both CHI and PHL!

 

[amamba]

Is there a lounge for sleeper px at Los Angeles as we have a full day in the city until the SWC departs. May visit a museum using public transport but will still have a few hours to wait.

No, there is no sleeper pax lounge and LA. For folks in sleepers on the northbound CS, they are allowed to wait in the Traxx Lounge where they set up coffee and tea service, but that is it. Sorry. Hopefully amtrak will be looking at attending a sleeper lounge in LAX because the station is certainly big enough to accomodate it. My understanding is that when the station was owned by a private company that they were not able to work something out. Hopefully with the change in ownership last year, the conversation can be restarted about such a lounge.

 

[AutoTrDvr]

Is there a lounge for sleeper px at Los Angeles as we have a full day in the city until the SWC departs. May visit a museum using public transport but will still have a few hours to wait.

No, there is no sleeper pax lounge and LA. For folks in sleepers on the northbound CS, they are allowed to wait in the Traxx Lounge where they set up coffee and tea service, but that is it. Sorry. Hopefully amtrak will be looking at attending a sleeper lounge in LAX because the station is certainly big enough to accomodate it. My understanding is that when the station was owned by a private company that they were not able to work something out. Hopefully with the change in ownership last year, the conversation can be restarted about such a lounge.

Unfortunate... the (roughly) two hour layover between the SWC and the CS (assuming both are on time - a huge assumption) just isn't enough of a safety cushion. I'd need at least a one day layover if not two. Other than LA itself, where would be your recommendation to layover in the general area such that I could arrive on the SWC, stay overnight at least one night, and then be back to board the CS in the morning (not necessarily the *next* morning)?

 

[johnny.menhennet]

Presumably they will keep the bags in storage until The Cardinal arrives in PHL if they get sent on a seperate train?

I do not fancy the idea of the bags going round the Carusel until they get stolen!

Is there a lounge for sleeper px at Los Angeles as we have a full day in the city until the SWC departs. May visit a museum using public transport but will still have a few hours to wait.

Great idea! An easy and great place to get to is the Natural History Museum basically in USC. From Union Station, you take the Red/Purple Lines to 7th/Metro and switch to an Expo line, and you get off at Expo Park. It is a wonderful museum and you could spend hours there.

 

[the_traveler]

1345304390[/url]' post='388015']

1345283866[/url]' post='387993']Is there a lounge for sleeper px at Los Angeles as we have a full day in the city until the SWC departs. May visit a museum using public transport but will still have a few hours to wait.

Unfortunate... the (roughly) two hour layover between the SWC and the CS (assuming both are on time - a huge assumption) just isn't enough of a safety cushion.

Note that the OP is NOT connecting from the SWC to the CS, but from the CS (arriving one evening) and departing on the SWC the following evening!

 

[AutoTrDvr]

Is there a lounge for sleeper px at Los Angeles as we have a full day in the city until the SWC departs. May visit a museum using public transport but will still have a few hours to wait.

Unfortunate... the (roughly) two hour layover between the SWC and the CS (assuming both are on time - a huge assumption) just isn't enough of a safety cushion.

Note that the OP is NOT connecting from the SWC to the CS, but from the CS (arriving one evening) and departing on the SWC the following evening!

Understood. My response had to do with my own "projected" situation, as I would be going the other way, and it was more a reaction to this quote:

No, there is no sleeper pax lounge and LA. For folks in sleepers on the northbound CS, they are allowed to wait in the Traxx Lounge where they set up coffee and tea service, but that is it.

Sorry if there was any confusion.

 

[the_traveler]

If there was one connection that would really trust to be made would normally be SWC->CS. But with 3 bridges out, that is up In the air right now. Normally, I would also include the EB at CHI, but not this year!

 

[leemell]

Is there a lounge for sleeper px at Los Angeles as we have a full day in the city until the SWC departs. May visit a museum using public transport but will still have a few hours to wait.

No, there is no sleeper pax lounge and LA. For folks in sleepers on the northbound CS, they are allowed to wait in the Traxx Lounge where they set up coffee and tea service, but that is it. Sorry. Hopefully amtrak will be looking at attending a sleeper lounge in LAX because the station is certainly big enough to accomodate it. My understanding is that when the station was owned by a private company that they were not able to work something out. Hopefully with the change in ownership last year, the conversation can be restarted about such a lounge.

The LA MTA bought it last year and is in the middle of preparing a Master Plan for the station right now. Amtrak is in the discussions and no doubt a Lounge is a topic.