Boarding the train at Midnight

[celtical]

I took a trip from Buffalo to Chicago to New Orleans in the spring. The first part of my trip was boarding the train in Buffalo for a midnight departure. Train originated in New York and was a few hours late

due to an accident on the tracks. The problem was when the twenty or so passengers boarded it was chaos. All the seats were full or single passengers were spread out sleeping on both seats. We were

standing in the aisle as the train left. Eventualy the conducter showed up and shouted for people to give up a seat. As you can imagine when I sat down the guy was not to happy and grumpy having been

woken up and told to move over. Things got better as passengers dissenbarked as we reached other stations. On the whole not a good ride to Chigago.

In contrast the ride from Chicago to New Orleans was just great, I must add though that I booked an cabin. Food was great and staff was proffesional.

 

[jmbgeg]

I took a trip from Buffalo to Chicago to New Orleans in the spring. The first part of my trip was boarding the train in Buffalo for a midnight departure. Train originated in New York and was a few hours late

due to an accident on the tracks. The problem was when the twenty or so passengers boarded it was chaos. All the seats were full or single passengers were spread out sleeping on both seats. We were

standing in the aisle as the train left. Eventualy the conducter showed up and shouted for people to give up a seat. As you can imagine when I sat down the guy was not to happy and grumpy having been

woken up and told to move over. Things got better as passengers dissenbarked as we reached other stations. On the whole not a good ride to Chigago.

In contrast the ride from Chicago to New Orleans was just great, I must add though that I booked an cabin. Food was great and staff was proffesional.

I have never traveled in coach on an overnight train, but have walked through the coach cars at night and seen passengers sprawled out in the seats. Unless the coach attends regularly walk through the car and wake up people who may have taken more than one seat (and maybe they do), what you experienced is not surprising. The conductor took the appropriate remedial action.

 

[Jim G.]

Non-moveable armrest between seats could help solve the problem.

 

[RRrich]

Why not allow single pax to use both seats if they are available? :blink: If they are not available the Conductor/attendant can take care of the problem :help: but if I am in coach overnight and have no seatmate why can't I get a bit more comfy?? :giggle:

 

[Jim G.]

Because you bought and paid for one seat. Duh. Thats the problem whith a lot of things in this country. No respect, no courtesy, no concern about other peoples property, just "all about me". I was looking for parking place at theater Fri. night. I found three jerks that parked across the white divider line and took up two spaces for their "pride and joy". Enough is enough. Wake up and think of someone beside yourself. Go back and read celtical's post. Slowly and try to figure out what was said.

 

[boxcar479]

agreed with jimg, my family of three counting me departed buf back in June and were going to start an AGR award in Toledo. I mentionedthis to the conductor who shrugged it off, as we were waiting to board coach for our ride to Toledo the conductor searched us out and allowed us to go ahead and occupy the bedroom instead of making the 6: 30am switch at Tol. boy that was greatly appreciated.

 

[Acela150]

Non-moveable armrest between seats could help solve the problem.

Agreed! But how likely is that to happen? :help:

 

[FriskyFL]

Non-moveable armrest between seats could help solve the problem.

Agreed! But how likely is that to happen? :help:

Why the traditional lack of center armrests in US LD trains?

 

[The Cardinal]

I have to disagree with those on here blaming the coach pax for spreading out at night. The majority of my cross country trips are in coach, as that is all I can afford. While I do not lay across the seat next too me, should it be vacant, I do spread out a bit. I make sure though that should someone need my seat at one of the late night stops, my things are still on my side and all I have to do is scoot over. In fact, on a few of my trips, the car attendant actually came through at night and offered to move those of us sitting next to someone we were not traveling with, to empty seats so we could in fact stretch out. The conductors/car attendants know how many people to expect at those stops and it is up to them to wake people sitting alone and taking up two seats and have them move over for their new seat mate. Now, copping an attitude with your new seat mate because you were woken up and forced to move over is of course unacceptable because as mentioned you are only entitled to one seat. And given the prohibitive cost of sleepers for most of us, I don't see how allowing coach pax to get comfortable at night, should space allow, is a problem.

 

[Jim G.]

Too bad, "The Cardinal' still don't get it. Reread celticals post slowly. Since you don't get it, let me explain. Twenty people standing in the aisle in chaos, looking for a seat they PAID FOR, but could not sit in, because someone else thought they deserved more than they paid for. The greedy ones figured someone else could be inconvenienced, but "not me". EVENTUALLY, the conductor came by and shouted at the morons to do what they were supposed to do in the fist place. One, and probably most, were grumpy and unhappy. Not apologetic, but ticked off. All this resulted in celticel having a bad trip through no fault of his. Some people can always justify their bad behavior.

 

[Ryan]

Jim, there's a big difference in the behavior that you're describing and the what Cardinal is talking about. One is perfectly acceptable, the other not so much.

 

[EB_OBS]

This is why the best coach attendants keep more control over the seating in their cars. Some passengers may refer to them as "coach ****s" or other derogatory terms, however, these are the people who, when you get on in the middle of the night, ensure that there will be seating for you and other passengers getting on down line.

Good coach attendants can manage to get many single travelers sitting together and thus saving some double seats for couples, families and groups boarding down line. This also ensures there is easy enough to find seats for nighttime stops as well.

As has been stated in the thread already, yeah feel free to relax and spread out, however you only paid for one seat and you should promptly remove yourself and your belongings from the seat next to you when other passengers are boarding.

 

[MikefromCrete]

If you're riding in a coach and no one is sitting beside you, there's no reason you can't stretch out in both seats. When passengers get on, then, of course, you need to retreat to one seat. Seems like the situation in Buffalo was handled as well as possible (although the conductor or attendant should have announced before arriving that there would be additional passengers boarding and everyone should retreat to their single seats). Putting non-retractable arm rests between seats would make everybody uncomfortable.

 

[RRrich]

Sounds like someone gets extremely testy when inconvenienced - either because he is not ushered to an empty seat when he boards, or because someone wakes him when they need to be seated.

Take a chill pill - we have to get along and insulting folks ain't the way to do it!

 

[AKA]

I took a trip from Buffalo to Chicago to New Orleans in the spring. The first part of my trip was boarding the train in Buffalo for a midnight departure. Train originated in New York and was a few hours late

due to an accident on the tracks. The problem was when the twenty or so passengers boarded it was chaos. All the seats were full or single passengers were spread out sleeping on both seats. We were

standing in the aisle as the train left. Eventualy the conducter showed up and shouted for people to give up a seat. As you can imagine when I sat down the guy was not to happy and grumpy having been

woken up and told to move over. Things got better as passengers dissenbarked as we reached other stations. On the whole not a good ride to Chigago.

In contrast the ride from Chicago to New Orleans was just great, I must add though that I booked an cabin. Food was great and staff was proffesional.

LSL always an adventure. CL the conductor assigns seats. A very good feeling to know you have a seat number. Sometimes I have had to seek help to move someone, buy not often.

The LSL crew seems lazy. The CL crew is on the ball and seat assingment could and should work on all LDs.

 

[Ispolkom]

This is why the best coach attendants keep more control over the seating in their cars. Some passengers may refer to them as "coach ****s" or other derogatory terms, however, these are the people who, when you get on in the middle of the night, ensure that there will be seating for you and other passengers getting on down line.

And that's almost always how it's been when I travel on the Empire Builder overnight in coach. Coach attendants are usually very efficient at doubling up singletons, so that in most cases Mrs. Ispolkom and I can sit together. Conversely, a couple of times a coach attendant has told us that the train was uncrowded, and that we were welcome to spread out.

I don't often ride coach on other long-distance trains, so I don't know how things work out elsewhere.

 

[TimePeace]

All other comments aside, an arm rest between seats would just bring the train experience closer to the flight experience. Next someone will suggest seatbelts and no one can get up and walk around either. It is a ridiculous idea.

Better attendant control over seating on crowded trains: yes. Stretching out overnight in coach when the car is half full: yes.

 

[Guest]

It is not rude for a passenger to stretch out on an empty seat. I have had coach attendants seat me in a particular seat because the other guy was getting off soon and I would have a double for the night.

There are two failures I see in how the OP described things. The first is the coach attendant didn't wake these people up beforehand to make them shift into one seat. Every time I go north out of Atlanta they always make people collect their things before they board. The second is the conductor shouting. I don't know if the OP chose this word to mean a loud voice or an angry voice, but I typically use the angry definition for shouting and it should not be done in a customer service industry.

 

[lthanlon]

What's especially annoying are the passengers who really stretch out and extend their feet across the aisle. A lot of them take great delight in feigning deep slumber when you politely ask them to please get their feet out of the way.

 

[SCrails]

My first do-it-yourself Amtrak trip in 2000 (as opposed to an earlier trip where someone else made all the arrangements) my companion and I got snapped at by train staff because of this. Our assigned seats were taken up by sleeping people and we simply sat elsewhere, not knowing the protocol. I thought the "snapping" should have been reserved for those taking up our seats. Better yet, no snapping needed - the conductor or attendant only needed to awaken them, give us our seats, and move on.

This was the southbound Meteor from Charleston, SC, to Miami, FL. All in all, that was still a good trip.

 

[cpamtfan]

I boreded atrain at midnight in Pittsburgh 2 weeks ago. Atleast 50% of the car was taken up by single people taking up seats, almost all asleep. Traveling with 3, it wasn't too bad.

The coach attendent helped people boarding by waking the seat hoggers up. Then he went to bed lol.

 

[GG-1]

Aloha

I just caught up with this thread And feel I need to ask the posters to show some Aloha spirit. Seems like the crew and passengers missed the boat. The crew apparently was not ready for the number of people boarding, and the passengers were rude in reacting against the new passengers boarding wanting a seat. If one pay's for one seat then one seat is all they are due. If load is light then the are lucky. But being upset for getting what you requested is just idiotic.

OK off Rant

Aloha

 

[jdcnosse]

I've traveled four times now overnight in coach, and I am one of those who stretches out if I have no seat partner come 11pm. However I fully understand that if they were to need that seat, I would give it up. I figure that the conductor or passenger would say something like "hey, wake up we need that seat" and I wouldn't be grumpy, I'd be like "okay, I'll slide over no problem" because like previous people have said, I paid for one seat. However on my last trip from FLG to GRR, on the SWC #4, there were maybe 20 people in my car from FLG until KCY. That is an entire day and night (as #4 leaves FLG around 5am, arrives in KCY around 7am the next morning?). Those of you who are arguing against this can't say that you wouldn't have stretched out a little bit after the entire day of not having anyone sit next to you.

However I'm different maybe, as I'll take up that extra seat, but only if it stays empty...if Amtrak needs it for a paying customer, then I will give it up because I didn't pay for two seats, just one.

 

[chandj]

I've traveled four times now overnight in coach, and I am one of those who stretches out if I have no seat partner come 11pm. However I fully understand that if they were to need that seat, I would give it up. I figure that the conductor or passenger would say something like "hey, wake up we need that seat" and I wouldn't be grumpy, I'd be like "okay, I'll slide over no problem" because like previous people have said, I paid for one seat. However on my last trip from FLG to GRR, on the SWC #4, there were maybe 20 people in my car from FLG until KCY. That is an entire day and night (as #4 leaves FLG around 5am, arrives in KCY around 7am the next morning?). Those of you who are arguing against this can't say that you wouldn't have stretched out a little bit after the entire day of not having anyone sit next to you.

However I'm different maybe, as I'll take up that extra seat, but only if it stays empty...if Amtrak needs it for a paying customer, then I will give it up because I didn't pay for two seats, just one.

Agreed. I haven't traveled in Coach but I do take up the extra seat in Business class on the Pennsylvanian whenever I'm lucky enough to have one beside me. However, I vacate it at boardings and would also do so if asked, as I didn't pay for it.

 

[acelafan]

I took a trip from Buffalo to Chicago to New Orleans in the spring. The first part of my trip was boarding the train in Buffalo for a midnight departure. Train originated in New York and was a few hours late

due to an accident on the tracks. The problem was when the twenty or so passengers boarded it was chaos. All the seats were full or single passengers were spread out sleeping on both seats. We were

standing in the aisle as the train left. Eventualy the conducter showed up and shouted for people to give up a seat. As you can imagine when I sat down the guy was not to happy and grumpy having been

woken up and told to move over. Things got better as passengers dissenbarked as we reached other stations. On the whole not a good ride to Chigago.

In contrast the ride from Chicago to New Orleans was just great, I must add though that I booked an cabin. Food was great and staff was proffesional.

This is a BIG pet peeve of mine; it's one thing if the train is half empty and there is plenty of room to stretch out but quite another when the coach is full and people are standing around looking for seats while all the seat slobs are taking up two spaces.

This happened on #67 a few months back - it was a sold out train and the middle of the night in Newark when a bunch of Girl Scouts got on. I felt bad for them looking for seats while 15 seats were taken up by one person sprawled out. I told them to get the conductor (they did). If it was me, I'd have no problem raising my voice and saying "Excuse me!" Common courtesy is running thin in this country and it ain't just on Amtrak.