Assigned seats in Coach and other questions...

[AKA]

Talk about respecting seat assingments. There was a topic a while back. {What kind of people ride Amtrak ?} Look around next time you ride. Many times its a free for all in coach. In the middle of the night you are lucky to find a coach attendent. Lots of rules, little enforcement.

 

[JohnF]

The coach seating seems reasonable to me. When I rode the Coast Starlight that is how the attendant was doing the seating. He had little signs reserving seats for parties of 2, 4 etc and some for singles. If you ride coach you have to expect to have a 'partner' in the other seat. As for the roomette, if you had the money why didn't you just reserve one to start with????? Personally, unless I just couldn't afford it, I would never ride coach overnight. I had to do that when I was growing up because we had no money. We also could not afford to eat in the diner usually so my grandmother always brought stuff to eat at the seat. Railroad operated diner's were always expensive and they were money loosers too, just like today's Amtrak.

One thing I read on here is how people will book coach and then try and partner up with someone that has a roomette and share after they get on the train. I had no idea people did that here in the US. I know in Europe, if you take a night train you have no idea who you might be sharing the room with.

When I rode the Canadian, it has a cafe/dome/lounge for coach passengers and two diners for first class. Coach was just open seating in their diner. For sleeping car passengers(most of the train) there were always three seatings for each meal and they varied the times from day to day so you did not always have the same one. It worked really well. Also, they never ran out of food. Meals were of course included for first class and coach had to pay. It's a first class operation compared to my Amtrak experiences.

 

[amtrak51]

We have taken coach twice. On the Cardinal, we could sit where we wanted to. On the Lake Shore limited a very bossy attendant told us where to sit.

The Cardinal seems to have that you get there when you get there feeling doesn’t it. Not once have I ever been assigned a seat, even during Thanksgiving weekend. The conductors and crew are always so friendly, so I don't know if it's them being nice or if it's Amtrak policy to not assign seats and just the attendants trying to make their job easier. On the other trains I've traveled I have been assigned a seat only twice but, it was when I was traveling with my Boy Scout troop to Colorado on the CZ. I'm going back to Colorado this year and to Raton, NM on the SW Chief with my BSA troop + a "short" ride or two too CHI on the Cardinal.

 

[VentureForth]

OP just said #68, which like airlines, Amtrak has rows by number, seats by letter. The way I interpreted the OP was that there was someone in row 68, perhaps seat A and OP was to sit in seat B. Seeing row #62 was empty, took it upon his/herself to move up a row.
Again, not a real big deal, but without communication could explain why the service attendant (against better customer service ideals) reacted the way s/he did.

Uh, no....seats are INDIVIDUALLY numbered on Amtrak LD trains, NOT just a numbered row/lettered seat. In fact, if you look at the seat number above each seat, you'll notice there is no letter of any kind. What does a mother with a child do if, boarding late at night, she enters a car and finds nothing but single occupants in window seats, leaving her to sit across the aisle from her child? That is why seat assignments MUST be done, and respected.

I [almost] humbly stand corrected.

 

[renocub34]

As for buying 2 tickets to have both seats, I have done that several times on long distance trips, and have only had a problem with it once, and that time it was with a car attendant, not a conductor. What happened was I got on #5 in Chicago to come back to Reno. It was a full train, and I was one of the first ones on. I found 2 seats at the back of the car, and sat in one and put my bag in another. When the conductor came by to get my ticket, I gave him both of them. He smiled and say, "Well, that's one way to do it" and placed my seat check card (with a number 2 on it), and went on his way. The car attendant came by and frowned at me and said "You will need to move that bag. We have a full train and someone will need to sit there". I said I have a ticket for both seats, and the attendant said "It doesn't work that way." I said I paid for the seat and I wont move it. I went and got a conductor, and he came back to my seat where the car attendant was waiting. The conductor looked at the car attendant and said "That seat belongs to Mr. Samsonite! That bag paid for that seat, and it will continue to stay in that seat. I called Customer Service and was told by the manager of the California Zephyr that If I buy a ticket for 2 seats, I am entitled to 2 seats. However, they may not be together. So if you buy 2 tickets, make sure that you are the first on the train.

 

[HP_Lovecraft]

Whenever I take my 3 young kids, the conductor would always walk the train, and check to see if any of the 4-way seats were being used by 2 or less.

And generally, the conductor usually warns those riders ahead of time that they can sit there, until it is needed, so there is never any problems.

I've also seen that same conductor tell the engineer to move ahead and not let a passenger board because they were taking there time walking up the platform. As well as kicking off some drunks in the middle of nowhere.

They are people too. and have to deal with the good and the bad. Communication goes a long way.

 

[glomor]

Thank you all for your helpful information. I will be boarding the SW Chief soon for my return trip. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out. I'll let you know when I get home. Thanks again!

 

[Green Maned Lion]

As for buying 2 tickets to have both seats, I have done that several times on long distance trips, and have only had a problem with it once, and that time it was with a car attendant, not a conductor. What happened was I got on #5 in Chicago to come back to Reno. It was a full train, and I was one of the first ones on. I found 2 seats at the back of the car, and sat in one and put my bag in another. When the conductor came by to get my ticket, I gave him both of them. He smiled and say, "Well, that's one way to do it" and placed my seat check card (with a number 2 on it), and went on his way. The car attendant came by and frowned at me and said "You will need to move that bag. We have a full train and someone will need to sit there". I said I have a ticket for both seats, and the attendant said "It doesn't work that way." I said I paid for the seat and I wont move it. I went and got a conductor, and he came back to my seat where the car attendant was waiting. The conductor looked at the car attendant and said "That seat belongs to Mr. Samsonite! That bag paid for that seat, and it will continue to stay in that seat. I called Customer Service and was told by the manager of the California Zephyr that If I buy a ticket for 2 seats, I am entitled to 2 seats. However, they may not be together. So if you buy 2 tickets, make sure that you are the first on the train.

I have just one thing to say about this:

:lol: FOCROFLMFAO! :lol:

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Early post: "I know in Europe, if you take a night train you have no idea who you might be sharing the room with."

Europe is starting to get away from selling berths and is moving to the Amtrak like selling of the room. CityNightLine DB Rails overnight service is selling Single Deluxe Rooms, of course you still have the opiton of getting one berth in an Double Deluxe Room. Or better yet go to Eastern Europe and sleep in a T6 as an single and get five other people in the same room, not of the same gender. Which in Western Europe they at least keep the men and women in different rooms.

http://www.sparnight.de/nachtzugreise/view/en/index.shtml

<_<

 

[PetalumaLoco]

Early post: "I know in Europe, if you take a night train you have no idea who you might be sharing the room with."
Europe is starting to get away from selling berths and is moving to the Amtrak like selling of the room. CityNightLine DB Rails overnight service is selling Single Deluxe Rooms, of course you still have the opiton of getting one berth in an Double Deluxe Room. Or better yet go to Eastern Europe and sleep in a T6 as an single and get five other people in the same room, not of the same gender. Which in Western Europe they at least keep the men and women in different rooms.

http://www.sparnight.de/nachtzugreise/view/en/index.shtml

<_<

I like the idea of the 6 berth room in the Couchette car, for family travel.

They're getting 60 pax sleeping in this Couchette car (PDF).

I wonder how expensive it is?

 

[Ispolkom]

Early post: "I know in Europe, if you take a night train you have no idea who you might be sharing the room with."
Europe is starting to get away from selling berths and is moving to the Amtrak like selling of the room. CityNightLine DB Rails overnight service is selling Single Deluxe Rooms, of course you still have the opiton of getting one berth in an Double Deluxe Room. Or better yet go to Eastern Europe and sleep in a T6 as an single and get five other people in the same room, not of the same gender. Which in Western Europe they at least keep the men and women in different rooms.

http://www.sparnight.de/nachtzugreise/view/en/index.shtml

<_<

I like the idea of the 6 berth room in the Couchette car, for family travel.

They're getting 60 pax sleeping in this Couchette car (PDF).

I wonder how expensive it is?

The couchette car isn't too bad really, if you don't mind sharing a compartment with 5 strangers. 20 years ago, when I first took one from Paris to Pisa, they didn't segregate by gender. By that time I was an experienced train rider in the Soviet Union, and knew that gentlemen volunteered for the upper bunk.

The Soviet version of the couchette is the platskartnyi vagon, which has "compartments" with two sets of double bunks and no doors, and another row of double bunks down the passageway. It was sort of like a barracks on wheels, and must have slept at least 60 people, and was not the most comfortable way to travel. It was a bit too communal for my tastes, and the coal-fired samovar at the end of the train car always ran out of tea. On Russian sleepers there still is no sorting by gender in compartments, so passengers often rearrange themselves to their preferences.

 

[PetalumaLoco]

The couchette car isn't too bad really, if you don't mind sharing a compartment with 5 strangers. 20 years ago, when I first took one from Paris to Pisa, they didn't segregate by gender. By that time I was an experienced train rider in the Soviet Union, and knew that gentlemen volunteered for the upper bunk.
The Soviet version of the couchette is the platskartnyi vagon, which has "compartments" with two sets of double bunks and no doors, and another row of double bunks down the passageway. It was sort of like a barracks on wheels, and must have slept at least 60 people, and was not the most comfortable way to travel. It was a bit too communal for my tastes, and the coal-fired samovar at the end of the train car always ran out of tea. On Russian sleepers there still is no sorting by gender in compartments, so passengers often rearrange themselves to their preferences.

Thanks Ispolkom, I always enjoy how different cultures handle these things.

 

[zoltan]

One thing I read on here is how people will book coach and then try and partner up with someone that has a roomette and share after they get on the train. I had no idea people did that here in the US. I know in Europe, if you take a night train you have no idea who you might be sharing the room with.

THERE'S AN IDEA! Excuse me while cogs whir and lights flicker on and off in my head.

Supposing I like my seatmate, or generally anyone else in the carriage wants to do so, one could agree with another lone coach passenger to split the cost of a roomette, right? On the off chance someone would want to go 50-50 with a strange English Student with a liking for trains, that could just about make a roomette affordable for me.

And here's my thoughts on assigned seats: I do hate seeing people occupy a pair of seats, or even worse, four seats around a table, to themselves on British trains (which are all unreserved, but with a seat assigned for you optionally if you book your seat in advance), and then a group get on and have to sit apart. If people are going to be selfish like that (I will always move if a group gets on and I have four seats to myself), then assigned seats may have to be the solution for Amtrak conductors.

On the Downeaster from Boston to Portland, ME, while seating isn't assigned because of the nature of the service, what they do is have the groups of four with signs saying "reserved for parties of three or more", and the conductors can, and do, enforce it. When I attempted once to move into one such group of seats, the conductor told me I could as long as I took my seat check with me, but that I was moving with no argument if I saw a group get on board, with which I would have happily complied if it had come up.