Checked baggage- early checking, late pickup?

[Eris]

I've ridden this route many times, in a sleeper and in coach, but always to a non-manned/no-baggage station. This trip I've booked one station further so we can check some bags, as we're moving down there soon so this is a way to bring some of our easier to pack stuff... But anyway, I'm unfamiliar with checking bags on Amtrak!

I understand that I can check bags up to 24 hours before the trip (though I can't actually find this on Amtrak's site?), and that's going to be useful so we don't feel so harried the morning of departure. We live close enough to the station (Seattle) that we can run the bags up the day before, so we're going to try to be packed early enough to do that.

What I'm wondering is, is it possible to not claim the bags at the other end until the next day? We'll be arriving to the Los Angeles area fairly late in the day and my mother will be picking the three of us up, and it would be nice if we could leave the checked bags and the I could come back by myself in the morning and fit everything in the (smallish) car we have access to down there. This may be ridiculous, I suppose...

 

[zephyr17]

Amtrak will hold bags at the destination for that long. IIRC, they will start to charge a storage fee after 72 hours.

And yes you can check the bags the day before.

 

[Guest]

Just to mention the possibility that if you drop off your bags a day early, they could go out that same day on an earlier train. That would mean that the "clock" at your destination on how long they have been sitting there unclaimed, might have 24 more hours on it than you thought.

 

[transit54]

It definitely is possible... I have had family do it in the past under similar circumstances.

 

[the_traveler]

Just to clarify, they will hold your bags at your destination city for 2 days (I believe it's 48 hours) free of charge before they start accessing a daily storage fee.

And as stated, if you check your bags early they may be sent on an earlier train than the one you're booked on - especially if there's more than one train a day with checked baggage. As an example using PHL to RVR, you're booked on the Silver Meteor but you check your bags early. The Meteor is an afternoon train, but the bags may be put on the Silver Star (the morning train) instead!

 

[Swimmingcat]

This is good to know (in regards to Amtrak) -- I think most airlines (correct me if I'm wrong), won't let you check bags more than 4 hr prior to your flight? (taking a friend to Denver airport this summer, I think I saw signs about that). And they want you to claim them when you arrive. I would think that most stations have adequate storage space for bags, plus in this 'rush-rush' world it's nice to see Amtrak offering services such as this, for exactly the reasons that Eris states.

 

[Eris]

Oh, this is *great*, thanks! I wouldn't care if they left early, too, but since this trip is SEA to VNC, I think the only possible choice is to put them on the Coast Starlight (which is 1x/day, so I won't be checking anything before the previous CS leaves).