Sunset limited to coast starlight

[Steve4031]

I know I connected from the swc to the cs last year. The sunset is scheduled to arrive 15 minutes later making the connection 1 hour 50 minutes. I believe this is below the two hour window iirc.

 

[yarrow]

i thought it was a one hour window for a guarenteed connection. anyway, we did sunset limited to coast starlight as a guarenteed connection in october without problem

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

The Sunset has been "good" about arriving as much as an hour or more early into LAX giving plenty of time to connect. The last time I connected, I had plenty of time to explore the station, grab a sandwich at Philippe and relax in Traxx for a while before boarding.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

The Sunset has been "good" about arriving as much as an hour or more early into LAX giving plenty of time to connect. The last time I connected, I had plenty of time to explore the station, grab a sandwich at Philippe and relax in Traxx for a while before boarding.

I had a 2+ hour late SL a few weeks ago. But yeah, for the most part it's been relatively good. Certainly there is no issue with Amtrak selling this ticket as a legal connection.

 

[Steve4031]

Thx. Might do a points redemption chi-lax-sea in April.

 

[gregoryla]

I just booked reservations from the Sunset to the CSL and Amtrak confirmed that it's a guaranteed connection.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

If the connection misses, then it's Bus City and/or Amtrak California to intercept the Starlight at a station north.

 

[LoneStarJeffe]

For my trip in March, I choose to spend a night in LA and catch Coast Starlight the next day. It will give me time to see some sights of Los Angeles and also avoid stress worrying about a delayed arrival on the Sunset Limited. That may not be an option time wise or dollar wise for others. I do not think there is any clear choice and if it is a legal connection then Amtrak can and should support you in case of any delays.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

If the connection misses, then it's Bus City and/or Amtrak California to intercept the Starlight at a station north.

Excellent point. Even if you do misconnect Amtrak will have options to get you back on your original train thanks to all the additional resources at their disposal. I would not worry much about this connection at this time.

For my trip in March, I choose to spend a night in LA and catch Coast Starlight the next day. It will give me time to see some sights of Los Angeles and also avoid stress worrying about a delayed arrival on the Sunset Limited. That may not be an option time wise or dollar wise for others.

The OP has indicated that this is likely to be a points redemption, which Amtrak generally considers as broken if you attempt any stopovers. It would be nice if Amtrak reconsidered this limitation and allowed stopovers to be added for less than a new redemption. Say, if you could add a stopover to your roomette redemption for an extra 5,000 points or so. That would make my points more useful to me and would allow me to avoid getting stuck with a coach ticket due to a missed connection.

 

[Steve4031]

I'm looking at two plans. I'm aware of the potential consequences of late trains. The ssl has a bunch of padding so the a chi lax sea points redemption is a good way to maximize 20k agr points. If I can get the agr agent to book it, I'll do this one. Plan b is chi-pdx-lax. Both trips would be done in April. So weather delays would be minimized. I appreciate the assistance from all.

 

[NY Penn]

Both trips would be done in April. So weather delays would be minimized.

If last spring is any indication, April is the middle of flood season - chaos on the EB and CZ, and a few cancellations on other trains as well.

 

[saxman]

Both trips would be done in April. So weather delays would be minimized.

If last spring is any indication, April is the middle of flood season - chaos on the EB and CZ, and a few cancellations on other trains as well.

Except this year will have minimal flooding. There's hardly been any snow this year.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

Both trips would be done in April. So weather delays would be minimized.

If last spring is any indication, April is the middle of flood season - chaos on the EB and CZ, and a few cancellations on other trains as well.

Except this year will have minimal flooding. There's hardly been any snow this year.

So far----Winter is just getting started :angry: