Pets on Long Distance Trains

[alanh]

My guess is Amtrak is showing its consistency in applying their rules.

Someone is going to encounter a conductor that enforces the rules as written on a second leg and will get stranded.

 

[zephyr17]

I thought they didn't allow any animals in sleepers, even service animals. Some kind of issue with allergies. Hmmmm?

Pets are not allowed in sleepers. Service animals are.

 

[PVD]

When they go strictly by the book, you hear a bunch of whining about using not discretion and how could they do that to that person and so on and so forth. When they do use judgement or discretion another crowd runs for their gilded copies of "service standard manual" Customer facing work is generally no win, you have zero expectation of backup from your bosses.
Sadly, the customer is always right has turned into a load of BS because too many customers are trying to get away with chiseling, lying, scamming, and sometimes
outright criminality.

 

[MikefromCrete]

I thought they didn't allow any animals in sleepers, even service animals. Some kind of issue with allergies. Hmmmm?

Genuine service animals are permitted everywhere.

 

[Rasputin]

I remember being seated on a bus near a person with a purported service dog after we had all arrived in Chicago on a very late No. 6 years ago and were awaiting transport to a hotel. It seemed to be a genuinely nice dog but it smelled like it hadn't been bathed for 2 years. Perhaps the owner hadn't either. I felt sorry for the dog.

 

[PVD]

True service animals deserve all the respect possible, the people who pass off pets as service animals are the truly contemptable creatures. They stir up problems for those who are legit, since many types of service needs are not clearly visible.

 

[Cal]

This week there was a service animal in a sleeper on the Zephyr, and a dude in coach with a dog as well. Here's the one from coach enjoying the views on the Starlight.

 

[Asher]

This week there was a service animal in a sleeper on the Zephyr, and a dude in coach with a dog as well. Here's the one from coach enjoying the views on the Starlight. View attachment 37564

Service dog? Looks a little too interested in those birds down near the water to be of any service.

 

[Cal]

Service dog? Looks a little too interested in those birds down near the water to be of any service.

That was just a pet, not a service dog.

 

[PVD]

Then the obvious question is why was it allowed to be out of its carrier? And that is something I've mentioned before. Imagine the comments if the conductor or a/c forced the owner to put the dog in its carrier under threat of removal from the train. On the other hand, there are folks who don't like dogs, or are allergic. Or if the dog got out of the owner's control.

 

[zephyr17]

Then the obvious question is why was it allowed to be out of its carrier? And that is something I've mentioned before. Imagine the comments if the conductor or a/c forced the owner to put the dog in its carrier under threat of removal from the train. On the other hand, there are folks who don't like dogs, or are allergic. Or if the dog got out of the owner's control.

Well, pets are not permitted in the sleepers at all. They are only allowed in coach for trips that are 8 hours or less and required to be in a carrier at all times.

If he wanted to, the conductor had cause to put them off the train for just bringing it into the sleeper in the first place. Carrier or no carrier.

 

[Cal]

Well, pets are not permitted in the sleepers at all. They are only allowed in coach for trips that are 8 hours or less and required to be in a carrier at all times.

If he wanted to, the conductor had cause to put them off the train for just bringing it into the sleeper in the first place. Carrier or no carrier.

The dog in the picture was a pet and was in coach. Although I don't think he ever had a carrier (not sure -- only saw it in the SSL).

 

[PVD]

That's precisely my point. By the rules the dog had no business being there. But if the crew took action, it would likely be blown out of proportion by a large group of people. And all you would get is doubletalk from mgt. and it would most likely be covered inaccurately online and/or in the media. It's actually a 7 not 8 hour restriction.

 

[alanh]

The problem is the rules are unrealistically restrictive if they're going to allow pets at all, so people will try to work around them. Limiting time to 8 hours is unrealistic for long distance trains, and expecting the pet to stay in a carrier for all that time is also unreasonable.

They should either ban pets entirely on long distance trains or allow them with the proviso of good behavior.

 

[Asher]

I really like Amtrak, enjoyed my trips. Unfortunately my dogs missed not being invited along. I understand both sides, I miss getting on a train but I can’t leave my dogs behind.

 

[Eric in East County]

Well, pets are not permitted in the sleepers at all.

On our 2023 trip on Southwest Chief No. 3, while we were stopped in Raton, we saw a woman walking a little dog and wondered if she was a passenger. We later saw her walking through our sleeper, carrying the dog and perhaps heading towards the dining car. It was too small to be a “service animal” and might have been traveling in the woman’s bedroom with her. (Shades of Mrs. Pumphrey and her little dog Tricki Woo from the late 1970s BBC TV series “All Creatures Great and Small.”)

 

[joelkfla]

The problem is the rules are unrealistically restrictive if they're going to allow pets at all, so people will try to work around them. Limiting time to 8 hours is unrealistic for long distance trains, and expecting the pet to stay in a carrier for all that time is also unreasonable.

They should either ban pets entirely on long distance trains or allow them with the proviso of good behavior.

They are banned on LD trains traveling over 7 hours. There's no need to ban them from LD trains for passengers who may be traveling on an LD train for a short distance. But the rules should be enforced; they're plainly stated on the website, and passengers who find them overly restrictive should leave their pets at home or find another way to travel.

 

[zephyr17]

They should either ban pets entirely on long distance trains or allow them with the proviso of good behavior.

Pets were banned until pretty recently. People still brought them on and called them service animals. Banned or not banned, things really were not any different as far as illicit pets go during the ban.

According to the policy, you have to pay a fee and the fact you are carrying pet shows on you ticket. The number of legit pets allowed on any given train is limited. That’s is how the 7 hour rule is supposed to be enforced, LD or Corridor, the conductor is supposed to check for the pet on the ticket. As it stands, if they do check, then pulling the service animal con probably mostly works.

I would like to see the policy enforced consistently, though doing anything consistently is too much to ask of Amtrak. Full disclosure, I have been a pet owner most of my life, but never traveled with them unless I was moving. Both dogs and cats like routine and travel is anything but routine. Travel is stressful for them, bringing them along may make you feel good, not so much for your pet. I mostly got pet sitters when I traveled.

 

[MARC Rider]

Well, pets are not permitted in the sleepers at all. They are only allowed in coach for trips that are 8 hours or less and required to be in a carrier at all times.

If he wanted to, the conductor had cause to put them off the train for just bringing it into the sleeper in the first place. Carrier or no carrier.

Looks like the dog is in the Sightseer lounge.

 

[Rasputin]

This is Amtrak. You can pull just about anything there. Rules and consistent service mean nothing except when they provide an excuse to cancel a train outright.

 

[Bokey]

I recently took the Auto Train from Sanford to Lorton as I have done many times before. I was pleasantly surprised to meet 3 dogs on this trip. I talked briefly to the owner of 2 of them, who said his older dog was taking his 18th trip on the Auto Train. These 2 were medium sized dogs, neither appeared to be assistance animals. The guy said he and his dogs were in sleeper accommodations. He acted like it was perfectly normal.
The third dog was a little chihuahua, who rode with its owner downstairs in the coach car I was in. All 3 dogs were extremely well behaved - I never heard any of them make a sound. I only knew the little dog was in my car because I went outside at the Florence stop for a few minutes during the night and they were out for a walk.
So, I thought, happily, that I had missed a memo. But, everything on the websites still says no pets on the Auto Train.
Does anyone know what is happening, if anything, with pets on the Auto Train? Personally, I have been riding the Auto Train for many years, the past several years as a snowbird. For those snowbirds who don't use the train, a major reason they drive is that they have pets. This is a large market. Not without challenges, but they do it in Europe and Canada.

Auto Train will accept service animals ONLY. Not emotional support animals and not comfort animals. No ID is needed for a service animal just a good story to allow it to travel. Probably 95% if the dogs on Auto Train are not legitimate service animals. Truth be told.