How often does Amtrak loose luggage?

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evilprncess

Joined
Sep 5, 2008
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Location
Albany, OR
I really am not paranoid, however, after having my luggage lost several times on airlines I NEVER check my luggage anymore on planes. My question is how good is Amtrak about getting your checked luggage to your next connection and off the train at the same stop you are? We are going from Oregon to Anaheim via the Coast Starlight and I am a little nervous about our luggage actually making it to Anaheim. We are not bringing anything valuable but I don't even want to think about going multiple days as Disneyland with only one change of clothing. Am I safe checking our baggage?
 
evilprncess said:
I really am not paranoid, however, after having my luggage lost several times on airlines I NEVER check my luggage anymore on planes. My question is how good is Amtrak about getting your checked luggage to your next connection and off the train at the same stop you are? We are going from Oregon to Anaheim via the Coast Starlight and I am a little nervous about our luggage actually making it to Anaheim. We are not bringing anything valuable but I don't even want to think about going multiple days as Disneyland with only one change of clothing. Am I safe checking our baggage?
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Are you getting a room or are you in coach?

If a room, there is ample storage space on the lower level of the sleepers such that you won't need to check your luggage.

I don't know what is available for coach passengers.

For the record, on a five leg trip in October, including one transfer in Chicago, our checked luggage made it every time.
 
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We will be traveling coach. I am glad to hear that a much more complex trip than ours had the luggage make it. As I said in my first post, I have just had one to many bad experiences on airlines with baggage. We ended up not getting our luggage on our honeymoon and we were flying on a Cessna in the Virgin Islands (they put our luggage on the plane next to us on the tarmack) :angry: It just amazes me. I will not stress on this trip and just enjoy! Thank you. :)
 
Chatter is right. Unlike an airport with many choices (flights), your station will have only one or two choices (trains) on which they can put your bags, and probably only one at the time you are boarding.

Don't sweat it.
 
Of course, just like with the airlines, make sure there is nothing in your checked luggage you may need during your trip, as it usually cannot be accessed while the train is moving.
 
Only had them lose my bags once.

Chicago to Schenectady on the LSL.

They took the bags off at Syracuse by mistake.

By the time I got to SDY they had found the bags and put

them on the next train. Got them in about 1 hour.

On the return trip they put the wrong station ID on the bag tag but I noticed it and got it corrected.

Some days are like that.
 
I'm like you. I didn't want to take the chance of my suitcase not making it to my vacation destination, so I didn't check it. There's an area in the coach car where you can put your luggage.

However, I did check it on the return trip and it got to Chicago with no problem.
 
While I have had lots of problems with airlines, Amtrak has never even once came close to loosing my checked luggage.

It also tends to be more personal on Amtrak. By that I mean, you are standing there on the platform, and can watch them unloading the luggage from the car, and eventually hand it to you. You see the actual person doing it.
 
I've NEVER had my checked bags lost or delayed in a train. I HAVE had them delayed on a plane. Unlike at an airport, your bags may come off your plane and there may be 50 flights departing within a few hours, most times there may be only a few trains departing within a few hours that even offer checked baggage! (And if you board at a station like DEN or ABQ or PVD, there is only 1 train a day that even offers checked baggage service!) So the chances of them "forgetting" to put your bag on the train are slim!

If you chose not to check them, there is ample space on the lower level of the Superliner (in both coach and sleeper) or at the ends of the car and above your seat (on a single level car). But then YOU will have to switch them at the connecting station, or to get a Red Cap to help you.

If both stations offer checked baggage service, I have no problem with checking bags on Amtrak!
 
Tony said:
While I have had lots of problems with airlines, Amtrak has never even once came close to loosing my checked luggage.
It also tends to be more personal on Amtrak. By that I mean, you are standing there on the platform, and can watch them unloading the luggage from the car, and eventually hand it to you. You see the actual person doing it.
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Is this true on #49 if your baggage is in the Boston baggage car (just behind the P42s) and you're in a sleeping car (which is almost at the back of the train)? I'm wondering if the platform length is such that the train will make multiple stops, with the Boston luggage detraining before the sleeping car passengers. (I'm especially interested in SOB.)
 
I've only checked on Amtrak once - it was on the LSL and had no problems.

My parents were taking my sister off to college for the first time and decided (at my encouragement) to take the train. They booked tickets NHV-PGH (New Haven to Pittsburgh), checked all my sister's stuff in NHV two days before, and then boarded their train at STM. The luggage was slated to go NHV-WAS on the overnight Regional (only train with checked baggage through NHV) and then up on the CL to PGH. It was supposed to arrive a day before their arrival, as the CL gets in at 11:30 PM, a few hours after the Pennsylvanian, which is what they took. They arrived to find it not there, however it arrived that night on the CL, so I wonder if Amtrak just held it in WAS till the day of their arrival. They were staying two blocks from the train station in PGH, and my dad was very pleased that Amtrak let him take a large rolling cart to bring all their luggage back to the hotel. They have since taken the train several additional times to PGH.
 
Joel N. Weber II said:
Tony said:
While I have had lots of problems with airlines, Amtrak has never even once came close to loosing my checked luggage.
It also tends to be more personal on Amtrak. By that I mean, you are standing there on the platform, and can watch them unloading the luggage from the car, and eventually hand it to you. You see the actual person doing it.
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Is this true on #49 if your baggage is in the Boston baggage car (just behind the P42s) and you're in a sleeping car (which is almost at the back of the train)? I'm wondering if the platform length is such that the train will make multiple stops, with the Boston luggage detraining before the sleeping car passengers. (I'm especially interested in SOB.)
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IIRC when 449/49 is run as a combined train there are two baggage cars. Generally this means that both baggage cars will be worked at the same time, while the attendants handle all the ground work. I could be wrong though. I'll see what I can find out.
 
battalion51 said:
IIRC when 449/49 is run as a combined train there are two baggage cars.
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Right, my recollection is that Green Maned Lion's trip to ALB to watch the trains get combined indicates that the Boston baggage runs directly behind the P42s, and the New York City baggage car is at the very back of the train, with the sleepers right in front of the New York City baggage car.

battalion51 said:
Generally this means that both baggage cars will be worked at the same time, while the attendants handle all the ground work. I could be wrong though. I'll see what I can find out.
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Part of my question is whether the platforms are actually long enough for the whole train, given that the LSL is apparently the longest Amtrak train except for the Auto Train (which has its own special characteristics with having no intermediate stops).
 
I wouldn't bet on all platforms being able to handle the longer LSL that's running these days, but SOB is probably one station that can handle it. And if it can't, it's also possible that they might have the sleeping car pax walk up to the first sleeper, assuming that no one needing an accesible exit/entrance is in the trailing sleepers.
 
AlanB said:
And if it can't, it's also possible that they might have the sleeping car pax walk up to the first sleeper, assuming that no one needing an accesible exit/entrance is in the trailing sleepers.
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But that's only useful if they know they don't need to remove luggage from the New York City baggage car.
 
Mr. Sush said:
Is there a list showing if a station has baggage service or not? Thank you.
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You can also look at the schedule, and if you see a "luggage symbol" next to the time at the station, that station offers checked baggage service at that station for that train.

But even if that station offers check baggage service, unless it is shown for that train on the schedule, your train may not offer it. An example is PVD - it offers checked baggage service, but only on #66 and #67 and not on any of the many other NEC trains.
 
I believe New Haven is an example that demonstrates that having checked luggage on a particular train, and having some checked luggage service at that particular station, does not imply that every train with a baggage car that stops at that station offers checked luggage at that station. #67 has checked luggage at New Haven, but #66 doesn't.
 
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