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BuffaloBoy

BuffaloBoy

Service Attendant
Joined
Apr 23, 2015
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191
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I know that I am entitled to use the First Class Lounge at CUS as I will be arriving in a roomette, but I will be in coach for my connecting train. Will I be able to board from the lounge?
 
Depending upon which connecting train you are taking, you can check the board in the lounge to see what track your train will be boarding from. If you are boarding a train that has sleeper service (EB, CZ, SWC etc), then you could just follow the line as those passengers go out to the train and then find your coach and wait for the attendant to let you on. If it is another connecting train then you would need to go out to the coach boarding area.. south or north lounges, and board with the other coach passengers. But you can stay in the Metro Lounge until it is time to board your train.
 
Railroad Bill said:
Depending upon which connecting train you are taking, you can check the board in the lounge to see what track your train will be boarding from. If you are boarding a train that has sleeper service (EB, CZ, SWC etc), then you could just follow the line as those passengers go out to the train and then find your coach and wait for the attendant to let you on. If it is another connecting train then you would need to go out to the coach boarding area.. south or north lounges, and board with the other coach passengers. But you can stay in the Metro Lounge until it is time to board your train.
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For those in the lounge in NYP, coach passengers also left from the lounge and the escort showed them which cars to board when we went though there in March/April.
 
The Chicago Met Lounge gets crowded with TE, CZ, SWC, and EB builder all departing close to each other. The conductors check people off and take tickets so you don't have to mess with that once on board. In Chicago, they board the Sleepers out of the rear of the lounge down along the side of the out to the platforms. I find not fighting the crowds easier to roll my bag out to the my car. Additionally, when the train is late from the yard, the lounge is a more comfortable place to wait.
 
Lonestar648 said:
The conductors check people off and take tickets so you don't have to mess with that once on board.
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Actually, only some conductors do that. I'd say maybe only 40% of the time I've been in that lounge have I had my tickets lifted in the lounge.
 
KmH said:
It is my understanding you get sleeper passenger benefits during any day you have booked a sleeper berth even if most of your trip that day is in coach.
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Absolutely correct; at least when it comes to Met lounges/Club Acela's.
 
True, not all conductors come to the MET Lounge in Chicago, but riding the CZ, TE, EB, SWC, CL, LSL I have had a conductor do the pre-boarding collection. In WAS, NYP, and BOS I have never had a Conductor come to the lounges.
 
Last week I used select plus to sit in the lounge and wait for the cz. I had a coach ticket. The sleeping car passengers were boarded and coach passengers were asked to wait and board later. I was then escorted to pre-board area. I boarded from there.
 
I prefer boarding from the lounge. The procedures used above was awkward . The agent from the lounge left me by the entrance for preloading.

While waiting to be admitted into the pre-board area, This 50 year old white woman with no uniform comes up and tells me I'm not allowed to cut in front of the line. I told her "you don't work for amtrak so you have no business giving me instructions." She says "I know what I'm doing." I say, "I've ridden every line and know more than you. So go other there and sit down and stop bothering me."
 
Recently the/a Conductor lifted sleeper/coach Coast Starlight tickets in the SAC station before we all made the hike out to the boarding platforms..
 
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When I was waiting to board the Eastbound Capitol Limited, I checked into the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago and was asked about a dinner reservation. We then boarded about 15 minutes later. I checked with SCA to confirm the room number that he had on the manifest and I sat down in my roommette and began to get comfortable. From the time we left Chicago to when I got off at Washington, D.C., I never got my ticket scanned. I was a little nervous about it when I got ready to leave on the westbound CL, but the reservation was still good. Maybe the conductor just checked people off of the manifest.

Anyway, I found the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago and Club Acela in Washington,D.C. as great places to just relax and wait. I especially enjoyed the Club Acela for escaping the noise of Washington's Union Station and relaxing.
 
I like Railroad Bills advice, I think I will just try to follow the flow and just blend in! And if it doesnt work? I'll just do what they say, and enjoy the adventure.
 
wjh2 said:
When I was waiting to board the Eastbound Capitol Limited, I checked into the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago and was asked about a dinner reservation. We then boarded about 15 minutes later. I checked with SCA to confirm the room number that he had on the manifest and I sat down in my roommette and began to get comfortable. From the time we left Chicago to when I got off at Washington, D.C., I never got my ticket scanned. I was a little nervous about it when I got ready to leave on the westbound CL, but the reservation was still good. Maybe the conductor just checked people off of the manifest.

Anyway, I found the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago and Club Acela in Washington,D.C. as great places to just relax and wait. I especially enjoyed the Club Acela for escaping the noise of Washington's Union Station and relaxing.
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On our last trip (six sleepers), not once was ticket scanned. The conductors either use manifest or SCA for info. In business class on part of the trip, they failed to scan and since our follow-on was a sleeper, I knew that this could cause a problem so I hunted down the conductor. He said he would stop by. He did while I was in restroom and my wife said he profusely apologized for his negligence.
 
Lonestar648 said:
In WAS, NYP, and BOS I have never had a Conductor come to the lounges.
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That's cause at all of those points trains are either Originating or Changing Crews. WAS and NYP the lounges can be full NYP can be SRO a lot. Not to mention the amount of time a train sits at NYP coming from Boston is what's scheduled, coming from Sunneyside it's no more then 20 minutes, going to BOS it's the same as coming from BOS. Not to mention the hoards.
 
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