Flagstaff in the Wee Hours

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We're taking the SW from Fullerton to Flagstaff, then renting a car for a week.

The Chief gets into Flagstaff about 4:30 a.m. but the rental car office doesn't open until 8 a.m.

Any suggestions on what to do?

Is it best to wait in the station?

Can you wait in the station?

We're in roomettes so we figure if we get to sleep by 9, at least we'll have 7 hours of sleep.

But those three-plus hours of waiting in the wee hours can pass awfully slowly.

Any advice is greatly appreciated from those who have had a similar experience.

Or should we just pray that the Chief is delayed by 3 hours into Flagstaff? :)
 
3 hours late out of Fullerton into Flagstaff is crazy even by Amtrak standards (but not unachievable). I would call the rental car company to see if there is any way they can meet you at that time, or have the car ready to go and have you sign everything ahead of time.
 
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3 hours late out of Fullerton into Flagstaff is crazy even by Amtrak standards (but not unachievable). I would call the rental car company to see if there is any way they can meet you at that time, or have the car ready to go and have you sign everything ahead of time.
Thanks for the good idea and we just tried it, but since it's a regular office at the Amtrak station, no dice. And all the other Flagstaff offices have the same hours, including the airport. Guess there's just not enough business to have earlier business hours.

My wife is strongly urging we fly instead to Phoenix and rent there, which we might well do at this point, and try a later trip on the SWC sometime.

The more we think about it, the less we want to hang around in the early morning in Flagstaff, esp. since we have a lot of driving to do later that day.

I guess some cities have to get the lousy arrival and departure times, in this case poor old Flagstaff.
 
we had the early arrival into flagstaff last february. there is a hertz desk in the depot but it didn't open until 8. we rented from enterprise and they met us at the depot and, iirc, they opened at 7:30. no problem waiting in the station for us.
 
we had the early arrival into flagstaff last february. there is a hertz desk in the depot but it didn't open until 8. we rented from enterprise and they met us at the depot and, iirc, they opened at 7:30. no problem waiting in the station for us.
Did they meet you when the train arrived around 5:30 (MST)? If so, I think we'll give them a try. Did you arrange the early pickup when you reserved the car or just before you started the trip>

Thanks for advice. There may be a way to salvage our trip by train!
 
If the train times don't fir, you could go with enterprise or you could also go by Greyhound. I would not suggest flying such a short distance.
 
We just had the same experience at PRO (Utah). Train (CZ) arrived at 4:30 AM (on-time unfortunaltly) and had to wait at the locat Marriott until 8 AM until the local on-site Hertz office opened.

The FLG staton will be open at that hour and there are vending machines, rest rooms, and very hard benches in the waiting room. I don;t know what else within walking distance is open at that hour. It is doubtlful that #4 will be that late, but with Amtrak, one never knows.
 
we had the early arrival into flagstaff last february. there is a hertz desk in the depot but it didn't open until 8. we rented from enterprise and they met us at the depot and, iirc, they opened at 7:30. no problem waiting in the station for us.
Did they meet you when the train arrived around 5:30 (MST)? If so, I think we'll give them a try. Did you arrange the early pickup when you reserved the car or just before you started the trip>

Thanks for advice. There may be a way to salvage our trip by train!
Well, called both the local Flagstaff offices of Enterprise, Avis and Hertz. All say you have to wait around until 8; leave the baggage with the station agent and walk around downtown until they open. You must have had a very lucky arrangement with Enterprise for them to pick you up three hours before they open!

But thanks anyways for the information. We've cancelled our Amtrak plans (no 10% penalty, by the way? maybe because we did the reservations in June?) and will try and take the Chief in future years.
 
Hi, I live in Flagstaff, and can hopefully answer your questions. First of all, the #4 SWC routinely arrives about an hour late, so your wait in Flagstaff will likely be shorter than you think. There is just about zero chance of your train arriving on time: the shortest delay in the past month was 21 minutes (www.amtrakdelays.onlineschedulingsoftware.com).

Second, I highly recommend venturing outside the train station. The ticket counter is open from 3:15 am to 10:45 pm, the people behind the counter are friendly, and will let you leave your bags in the baggage room for a few hours. Flagstaff is very safe, and you shouldn't have any issues early in the morning. In terms of things to do, Flagstaff is situated in a very scenic location, and has lots of beatufil places for an early morning stroll/hike. My recommendation is Buffalo Park, which is less than 2 miles away from the train station. The Loop Trail there as beautiful views of the mountains, and the Mesa Trail has views of the city below. There is also a network of Forest Service trails north of the park if you're feeling really adventurous. To get there early in the morning, you can take a taxi from the train station. There should be some hanging out outside, but if not, there is a courtesy phone in the station you can use to call for one. The fare should be under $10. For the return, you have an option of taking the #2 bus, which starts running at 6:15 am on weekdays and 7:15 am on weekends. The schedule is here: http://www.mountainline.az.gov/route_2.htm , the stop for Buffalo Park is Gemini Dr., and the fare is only $1.25.

In addition (or alternatively), you can stroll around downtown for a while, which is worth seeing, have a leisurely breakfast at Macy's Cafe (http://www.macyscoffee.net/), which opens at 6 am, and before you know it, it will be time to pick up your car.

Let me know if you have any more questions. I highly recommend taking the train to Flagstaff and enjoying it for a few hours, as opposed to flying to Phoenix and driving from there.
 
Let me know if you have any more questions. I highly recommend taking the train to Flagstaff and enjoying it for a few hours, as opposed to flying to Phoenix and driving from there.

A great idea!

Just a heads-up on car rentals. Picking up a rental at an airport location, like PHX Sky Harbor, is much, much higher than the off-airport sites. Even if you plan to visit southern Arizona, you are better off with Amtrak to FLG and renting your car there. In my research for a recent tiip, I found Enterprise the cheapest (particularly Mon- thurs) but Hertz had more off-airport locations (Hertz refers to them as "Local Editions") to return the car if you are doing a one-way. Enterprise is also more accomodating as far as picking you up/dropping you off. They both participate in the Amtrak Guest Rewards program if you suscribe.

On top of that it was 111 degrees in Phoenix today...probably in the 80's at Flag!
 
By the way, Hertz at least tends to have their counter open for both arrivals unless a train is absurdly late (i.e. my WB Chief last spring coming in at around 4 AM passed Hertz's "turnover time").
 
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