How is checked baggage retrieved when leaving the train

[user 6862]

On the SWC from LA we will leave the train at Kansas City. As KCY isn't the terminus how do we retrieve our checked bags? By that I mean, do we have to go find the baggage car before the train leaves or does our baggage magically appear on the platform?

Thanks

 

[AmtrakBlue]

They will offload it onto a cart. How that particular station handles it, I don't know. I do know that you must have your checked luggage "tag" in order to retrieve it.

 

[zephyr17]

I think at KCY they take it up to the Amtrak space in KC Union Station. It is like two stories or more between the platform and the walkway along the old concourse and there isn't an escalator, so most people just take the stairs rather than waiting for the elevator. Plus getting into the station proper once you are up the stairs is a fairly long walk. It isn't really practical to pick up the baggage trainside without inducing a few heart attacks in the patrons.

Most stations with checked baggage service, you pick it up inside the station. A few stations have full-fledged carousels (Chicago and LA come to mind), but most just bring it in a set it out. There are some stations, like Everett, WA, where you pick up the luggage off the cart on the platform. At all station the baggage check is verified.

 

[TinCan782]

Many stations have a baggage pickup area in the station...larger ones have the airport-type conveyors.

 

[the_traveler]

At Kansas City, it is brougt to, and received at, the ticket counter or the luggage room (right next to the ticket counter).

It all depends on the station how and where it is retrieved. Some stations have an "airport style belt", some you get at the ticket counter, some you get it off the cart, etc... but you will be told as you arrive. However, the most important thing to remember is that you need your baggage claim check! Without it, you can not (easily) get your bags! (They compare the numbers.)

 

[ciship]

I live in KC. They will roll all the luggage up to the ticket counter area inside the station and unload it there.

 

[ciship]

I have the same question for New Orleans. Where do we pick up our luggage upon arrival?

 

[ehbowen]

In New Orleans, they will unload the luggage onto carts and then transport it to the main terminal building. Last time I was there we picked up our checked luggage from the carts just before entering the main terminal from the trackside entrance. Sometimes they take it all the way into the terminal and you pick it up inside. If they don't make it clear, then just ask any Amtrak employee...they'll know.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

It isn't really practical to pick up the baggage trainside without inducing a few heart attacks in the patrons.

Sounds a bit like the endless hand wringing over the five minute stroll from the tracks to the station in Sacramento. How do passengers make it to the station in the first place if they can't carry their own luggage for five minutes without suffering a heart attack? I don't get it.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

My rule of thumb for when I'm traveling by a mode other than my vehicle is if I cannot handle ALL of my luggage by myself then it gets thinned down until that goal is met.

 

[SubwayNut]

Except when your moving home from college by Amtrak. The only thing I shipped east were my books (the book rate is such a good deal), maybe spend $30 total with my 4 college years worth collection of books. It was also the only time I've asked to be pick-up at NYP. Between checking three suitcases and a forth box because of overweight-ness (Denver couldn't be bothered to charge me the $10 I should have paid, it was just before Amtrak cut us down to 2 suitcases), my carry-ons and sending a couple suitcases back with my parents by air (they had free checked bags) it was an extremely inexpensive way to move. Base price of flying would have been slightly cheaper on that trip but that was the one trip I took the train for the baggage allowance.