Cafe Car Tips

[Orie]

Hey all,

I'm heading north on #90 Palmetto now... and I have a bit of an odd question... how are cafe car tips distributed? Do they go to the car attendant, split up among the crew, or does Amtrak just pocket it all? Just a question that came to mind as we got our third crew change and I was curious where my tip ends up. I guess for general knowledge, I'm assuming it's the same for the diner cars.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I would think it it just goes to the cafe car attendant. And crew changes are generally only the conductor & engineer. The rest of the staff are on the train from end-to-end.

In the dining car the tips may be split amongst the dining car staff including the chef. I do not know for sure.

 

[NW cannonball]

I would think it it just goes to the cafe car attendant. And crew changes are generally only the conductor & engineer. The rest of the staff are on the train from end-to-end.

In the dining car the tips may be split amongst the dining car staff including the chef. I do not know for sure.

The crew might even split the tips or not differently on different trains, for all I know.

Is the an Amtrak policy? Can the crew decide how to split the tips? No se. (I do know it's different at different restaurants at different places)

But for sure the conductor and engineer don't get tips.

 

[rrdude]

Typically, (unless this has changed) the AmCafe LSA will get all the tips from his/her tip tray/box. There are occasions that an LSA will request help from a TAC, and sometimes then the LSA may tip out his helper.

As stated, TE crew, (Conductors/AC/Engine) never share in this tip out.

As for dining crew, we'll have to wait for current or "recently-retired" staff to chime in, but back in my day, how to "do" tips was typically determined by the Steward (Head LSA today) but most of the time, the servers kept their own tips, but OF COURSE tipped out to the kitchen, as is the custom in almost every dining establishment. (even if it's not custom, any server worth their salt will voluntarily tip out the kitchen / bar staff, or their customers may wait "forever" for their orders.

(I learned this the hard way, on my first trip west on the Broadway.... took 45 minutes to get eggs and toast after I neglected to tip out the kitchen upon arrival in NYP. Once I was made aware of my mistake, and remedied it during meal service, my next egg order took about seven minutes to appear in the window........ any my tips-from customers-were safe!)

 

[the_traveler]

The café attendant works the entire route, be it BOS to WAS or CHI to LAX, thus there is no one for him/her to share the tips with. The "crew change" only involves the engineer and conductors.

 

[Orie]

Ah I only went in to the cafe once, I didn't know. Thanks everyone!

 

[Orie]

So instead of starting a new topic I thought I'd just ask this here:

I've never been on Acela FC so I bought an Aclea ticket and used 2k points to upgrade. Is it customary to tip the attendant for the food? If so, should I do it when he takes the tray or at the end of the trip or something else? Whats a usual tip for Amtrak dining service? (Usually I would use the menu prices but FC meals are 100% included and I'm not sure how to calculate that).

Thanks in advance

 

[Ryan]

I usually just tip at the end of the trip for the meal service(s) and drinks in between.

Amount would depend on the number of meals and trip duration.