Comfortable, inexpensive travel Seattle to Pittsburgh

Without purchasing a sleeper, what is the most comfortable and economic way to travel from Seattle to Pittsburgh for 2 adults?

A sleeper.

Sorry, you could travel by plane and use the two days save to decompress after that experience.

Or travel by train for three days looking out the window in your private sleeping compartment.

The most economical way will not be the most comfortable way. The most comfortable way will not be the most economical way.

Coach is a relatively inexpensive way to travel on Amtrak. I find it comfortable and easy to sleep. Seattle to Pittsburgh will be a three night trip. You might want to break the trip up with a stop over somewhere and the chance to sleep in a bed and take a shower. However plenty of folks travel in coach on trips this long or longer and enjoy it.

Coach on the train from Seattle to Pittsburgh will be much more comfortable than a bus, and about the same speed. The bus will be cheaper.

Coach on the train will be faster than driving a car, unless you drive straight through. But if you drive straight through, you will NEED those two days in a hotel at the end to recover! They're about as comfortable, but with the car you have more flexibility along the way and at your destination. The car will be cheaper...at least until you factor in hotel rooms.

I haven't checked air fares against the going rates for rail and bus. It's likely to be more expensive, but at least the misery is over quicker.

Sleeper on a train is the most expensive way to go, although it does include three nights of lay-flat accommodations which should count for something. I'd be willing to spend the money if I had it to spend. Personal observation: There have been a number of times after an overnight coach trip when I have looked back and said, "You know, I wish I had spent the extra money and taken the sleeper." There has never yet been an overnight sleeper trip where I have looked back and said, "You know, I wish I had saved that money and traveled coach." As always, Your Mileage May Vary.

There's really only one way on Amtrak: Train #8 Empire Builder to Chicago, connecting to Train #30 Capitol Limited arriving in Pittsburgh at 5am. It's a 3 night trip, unless #8 is very late and misses the connection, in which case Amtrak will usually pay for a night in a hotel and put you on the next day's train.

Coach ranges between around $250-$500 depending on how far in advance you book and how full the trains are. As per the above responses, some people can deal with sleeping in coach, and some can't.

For probably around $1,000, you could book a Roomette in a sleeper for the 2 nights to Chicago, and then coach for the one night to Pittsburgh. Food on the Empire Builder is much better than on the Capitol Ltd., and all meals are included in sleeper fare. You could even book coach for the 1st night, and switch to a sleeper for the 2nd night to break it up.

There's also the possibility that if you book coach, Amtrak may invite you to bid up to a sleeper if some rooms are unsold. I think that would happen about a week before departure.

ETA: One more thing -- only the 1st passenger in a sleeper room pays full sleeper fare. The 2nd and subsequent occupants pay approximately coach fare.

como said:

Coach is a relatively inexpensive way to travel on Amtrak. I find it comfortable and easy to sleep. Seattle to Pittsburgh will be a three night trip. You might want to break the trip up with a stop over somewhere and the chance to sleep in a bed and take a shower. However plenty of folks travel in coach on trips this long or longer and enjoy it.

Click to expand...

Coach passengers aren't allowed to use the sleeper showers on the train, nor the showers in the Metro Lounge in Chicago, but I think they can buy a day pass to the Metro Lounge. Does anyone know, if they do so, are they entitled to use the shower?

For people wondering how this works, there are two shower rooms accessible through the men's room in the Metropolitan Lounge, and I think, two more accessible through the women's room. Each has it's own key, which you get from the Metro lounge attendant. You have to leave your driver's license, or some other form of ID, and they give you the key and some towels. The shower rooms are quite large, with a bench to sit on to change and some hooks to hang clothing. The floor is flat (wheel-chair accessible) with a floor-to-ceiling (almost) curtain, so your clothes, shoes and towels won't get wet. It's about 10 times the size of the shower on the train. There are pump bottles of soap, shampoo and conditioner right in the shower, but last time, the soap was almost empty. Fortunately I had a little hotel bar of soap in my stuff. Hopefully that was a one-time thing. When you are done, there is a bin for used towels in the hall connecting the two shower rooms to the rest room. Go back to the desk in the lounge, turn in your key and get your license back, then ask for the key back again because you realize you left something in the shower. (The last bit is optional.)

The ability to take a shower, either on the train or at CUS (and maybe a few other Metro Lounges?) is a feature that makes train travel far more civilized than planes, buses or other mass transit.

I haven't tried to sleep in coach very often on a train, but have tried (and failed) many times on buses and planes. The Amtrak LD coach seats are much larger and more comfortable with more leg room than any bus or plane seat, except maybe First Class on some airlines. Still, I've never succeeded in doing more than dozing off a bit on the 66 between NYP and BOS (3AM to 8AM trip) If I ever do that again, and they've restored the sleepers on it, I would be strongly tempted to book a roomette. WAS to BOS, definitely a roomette.

Some people can do it. If you can, Amtrak coach would be much more comfortable than a bus or car. Sleeping would be unnecessary on a plane, of course, unless you take a red-eye.

Flying is going to be the quickest and possibly cheapest option, depending on when you're going. For example, a nonstop flight from Seattle to Pittsburgh on Alaska leaving about 9:30 in the morning gets you into Pittsburgh at about 5:30 in the evening, and for mid April, the cost is about $250. (We're going Seattle to Philadelphia on a mid April date, and looked into the Pittsburgh flight while planning that trip.) Once you factor in food for a transcontinental bus ride or train trip in coach, I think the air fare is pretty competitive and the time saved is considerable.

But a transcontinental train trip is an unforgettable experience. I have, in my younger days, driven cross-country and taken the Greyhound, where you see a lot of interstates. On the train, you see the country like no other way can show it to you. I've done cross-country in coach when I was a lot younger, but my body won't let me even think about it today. If you've never tried sleeping overnight in a chair, I recommend trying it out at home in a roomy armchair before committing to three nights in coach on a train. That'll give you a sense of whether you can sleep okay like that or not.

ehbowen said:

Sleeper on a train is the most expensive way to go, although it does include three nights of lay-flat accommodations which should count for something. I'd be willing to spend the money if I had it to spend. Personal observation: There have been a number of times after an overnight coach trip when I have looked back and said, "You know, I wish I had spent the extra money and taken the sleeper." There has never yet been an overnight sleeper trip where I have looked back and said, "You know, I wish I had saved that money and traveled coach." As always, Your Mileage May Vary.

Click to expand...

This, and remember the extra price you pay for the sleeper is not just for the sleeper itself but also covers meals while on the train.

A few weeks ago on a Seattle-Whitefish roundtrip on #7 and #8 I was pleased to find a new (to me) seat type in coach, both ways, that made it a LOT more comfortable sleeping for me. Same old-looking superliner coach, just new seats that were not the old cloth-covered type with the worn-out foam padding (I'm not a heavy person at all, but in the old seats could feel my old bones bottoming out in the foam after awhile). I loved the new seats, which are a thick foam more like an airplane-type seat, but nice and thickly padded. Just the right firmness for me. Also, the headrests where shaped, so I really didn't need my neck pillow. My own rule of thumb is that I can handle 1 night in coach without feeling much sleep deprivation, but if its a 2-night trip I try to get a sleeper if at all possible so I can arrive rested.
Also, that trip I finally did something I'd thought about for a long time. Round trip Seattle-Whitefish for 1 day of skiing at Big Mountain in Whitefish. Arrive Whitefish 7am, full day of skiing, Re-board train around 10pm to go home, arrive home Seattle (well, Everett) mid-morning. Family/friend visit while in Whitefish made the 1-day stop with no Whitefish overnight extra worthwhile. It worked....I'd do it again. Those new coach seats left me plenty rested (after 1 night) for a day of skiing.

Recently I also took a one-night trip in coach, and returned by sleeper. I didn't sleep much either night, but it was much nicer to get a shower, eat in the dining car, and lie flat. I mostly had two seats to myself in coach--I think it is almost necessary to either have two seats or know and like very well the person sitting next to you. There was someone sitting next to me for about two hours of my trip, and he fell asleep and was sprawling on me.

I guess one could look at the percent occupancy on a train, and determine the likelihood of having some sit next to you. But I don't exactly know how to interpret that datum--does it include sleepers? Is it the maximum occupancy for any segment, or some kind of average? The train I was on was listed as 80% full. The sleeper was sold-out, and almost all seats were occupied for only about three hours. Overnight, everyone had two seats available.

Maglev makes a very good point, that coach occupancy overnight makes a big difference to your experience. If you are traveling in the summer, I would expect pretty high occupancy in coach, even overnight. Shoulder season, spring or fall, you might have better luck. Given that you are traveling with someone you know, you won't be risking 'seat mate roulette,' no matter what. But if you get lucky, you may both get two seats to yourself overnight, and there are no dividers between the seats, so that makes sprawling across them easier.

A blanket or long coat or such is important to have for coach travel in my experience, day or night. Decades ago pillows were offered but, just as the airlines have discontinued blankets, pillows long along were discontinued as an amenity. (I think for a while some railroads charged 25 or 50 cents to have one.)

When I was in high school (late '70's), I'd take the train to Florida for vacations and ride in coach. The car attendant would give pillows to all the passengers. Nowadays, a big problem is that there is no place to store all those pillows. Even current sleepers have limited storage for clean linens, and dirty laundry ends up in the shower or H-room if it's not occupied. I've heard the VII's don't even have clean linen storage.