Late Night in the Lounge Car...

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Rick

Train Attendant
Joined
Mar 10, 2005
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Not too very long ago, I took my family on a circle trip from Chicago to San francisco to Los Angeles and then back to Chicago. We scrimmped and saved and were able to book a bedroom suite for the entire trip. We loved the train but were shocked at all of the people sleeping on the floor of the sightseer lounge car during the night. It looked terrible and I was surprised that Amtrak allowed this. People were everywhere! It looked like a flophouse for crying out loud. I have traveled with a private room and have also traveled coach many times over the years. I've never noticed people camping out on the floor of the lounge at night like I did during this trip. In my opinion, it shouldn't be allowed. <_< It seems like it would be a safety issue in the first place, and in the second, it looked so tacky. I am curious as to other opinions on this. Thanks.....!!!
 
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I agree and have seen similar conduct on the Texas Eagle. My thoughts are that people purchase the coach ticket, which is about the cheapest way that anyone can travel, then they find the car with the most space and 'make it theirs'. People lying on the floor would be a dangerous situation in an emergency.
 
Not too very long ago, I took my family on a circle trip from Chicago to San Francisco to Los Angeles and then back to Chicago. We scrimped and saved and were able to book a bedroom suite for the entire trip. We loved the train but were shocked at all of the people sleeping on the floor of the sightseer lounge car during the night. It looked terrible and I was surprised that Amtrak allowed this. People were everywhere! It looked like a flophouse for crying out loud. I have traveled with a private room and have also traveled coach many times over the years. I've never noticed people camping out on the floor of the lounge at night like I did during this trip. In my opinion, it shouldn't be allowed. <_< It seems like it would be a safety issue in the first place, and in the second, it looked so tacky. I am curious as to other opinions on this. Thanks.....!!!
Where were they on the floor - in the center aisle, or between the seats and the windows? I think a word to the conductor would be in order, and, perhaps a call to Amtrak customer service.
 
I saw this often on the Southwest Chief - people would either sprawl out on the floor between the chairs and the windows, or across the chairs themselves. I never saw anyone actually in the center aisle. The conductors seemed to tolerate it - though I never really saw this before about midnight.
 
I have actually caught some shut eye in the lounge of the Meteor on quite a few occasions. IT was much better than sleeping in the coach car. The lounges always seem to have a much better time controlling the temp in the car than anywhere else. But I wouldn't ever sleep on the floor. I would just nestle up in one of the more farther tables and sleep. The conductor never minded it, I've even asked him/her.
 
Actually sometimes passengers are in the lounge car or domes(when they had them) or such because there is no room due to over-sold, or equipment shortage or some such.or maybe around holidays.

I remember one trip when we had to start out in the lounge car and got seats later. I remember two trips l when I had to stand in the vestibule, once for 3 hrs,and another time for about an hour.until some seats opened up.

Further, I even remember witnessing people having to sit up in a diner all night due to holiday crush. And if that is not bad enough, the train lost about five hours creepinig along around the remains of a wreck, in the middle of the night, until they could add two coaches the next morning. Chiropractors probably made a bucket off that, and rightly so. I was in a sleeper. We had to wait on breakfast the next morinng, until those two coaches could be added and the diner cleared of people "sleepiing".
 
I ve seen people sprawled out on those triple seats in the lounge car. People do sleep on the floor too. I think one of the reasons people will sleep in the sightseer car is for privacy. If you are traveling alone and are seated next to someone it can be a little uncomfortable to think of spending the night with this person. Most of the time it's no problem, but I ve encoutered seat mates who have body odor, who are quite obese or just plain obnoxious, and on an overnight trip in coach, I will sleep in the sightseer car, but I sleep in a chair , not on the floor. Sometimes I will ask the conductor if there is an empty set of seats in one of the cars that won t be occupied until daylight, and he ll let me move there.
 
I agree with Benale about sleeping in the lounge/sightseer car. Other reason would be difficult to sleep on the seat, thus much easier to sleep lying flat. As long as the center aisle is clear, it should be ok.
 
We road the Texas Eagle (for fun) from Dallas to Fort Worth. We, of course, spent most of the time in the almost empty lounge. My youngest (5) laid down on a souble seat and went to sleep. The coach attendant who was cleaning in the lounge, while I don't remember exactly what he said, said something like "I guess I will let him sleep there." (he was playing with us)

Anyway, it gave me the impression they would not normally tolerate people sleeping in the lounge. Maybe that is only during the day.
 
Whenever I ride back to school on #59, if the seat next to me in coach is occupied and there is an open chair in the lounge, I'd much rather sleep there. Not that I'm unfriendly, but I find it uncomfortable to sleep that close to a total stranger. That said, if people are sprawled out in the aisle, that's not only dangerous but disgusting!
 
I will be quite honest, on the long cross country trains the lounge car is the place to sleep. The curved chairs are by far the best. Also gazing out the large windows is a plus ;) . Some say vagrants, I say good night sleep.
 
I was on the CZ the first week of October and the "lounge car" looked like a hostel without bunkbeds. :lol: I even snapped some pics of some of the "residents" sleeping in thier "private bedrooms". There was at least 8 people sleeping in the lounge car either in the seats or on the floors at 9am. And if they were sleeping in the seats, they were taking up two seats and not one. I hadn't ever seen this before. A person or two I can understand, but it was people plain sleeping, pillows, blankets, shoes off etc. :huh:
 
Well, I don't have any real problems with sleeping between midnight and 6 or 7 am, but by 7am when people want to come make use of the observation car, Amtrak personnel ought to rouse the zombies and make them share the seats. If not, I'd say something myself.
 
I will make mention of this issue as if we are in a normal setting, with that being each passenger on board has an assigned seat being there are enough seats for all. Things are much different when Amtrak has oversold a "reserved" seat. That burns my butt because a customer is expecting that seat to be there damnit!!! If it is not available, then "what was the point of reserving my seat two months ago" is what's going through the passenger's mind! But anyway..........

I don't normally bother folks sleeping in the lounge car at a table (sitting up), etc. during the closed hours of the cafe itself. But I will have to wake you up and ask you to return to your seat if someone has complained about you sprawled out like you think you're in a sleeping car. Yes, I have about seen it all. One night on the SB "Silver Star," I came through to do my restroom check in the lounge car, and found a scantly clad woman in nothing but her bra and panties asleep, and her young 11yo son was asleep butt @#$ naked!! I mean c-mon now (and the lady was good lookin' too, but geesh out in the open like that?)!!! Also, passengers are not permitted to sleep laying down on the floor anywhere on the train (why anyone would want to do that is beyond me... I just know how dirty they get)! But again, unless someone complains, is very near business hours, or way off the wall like my example, I will leave you alone simply for the customer relations reasons! I try to keep happy passengers!!!! OBS...
 
WOW !!! The amount of disrespect for fellow passengers is awesome...the best thing Amtrak ever did was to discontinue the smoking rooms on the Superliner trains. They were someone's idea of how to segregate the smokers from the rest of the world. Unfortunately, the entire coach reeked of cigarette smoke because smoke rises and the room was on the lower level. We ALWAYS saw someone in there with their own supply of alcohol which seemed to inflate them to Superman status. Not once did we see any on board personnel do anything to quell arguments or outright drunks harrassing those that chose not to listen to their life's story of dismal failures. The OBS comment was interesting but we saw two people engaged in what should have taken place in a Motel 6 on the Sunset at 3 p.m. while sitting in the station in El Paso !!! Thank goodness we gave up smoking. It wasn't long after that Amtrak started their smoking ban.
 
what time of day was this? if it was between midnight and 6 am (when the cafe is closed), I don't know what your problem is. So you wanted to sit in the lounge and stare out windows at 3 am? and you were upset because some people were sleeping in there when you had an actual bed to sleep in?

the sensible crews take this approach: after midnight you can sleep on the floor between the seats, if you are sensible about it. someone will come through when the cafe opens at 6 and say good morning! or something, to let you know it is time to get up. then you should get up.

on lines that have replaced the viewliner with the superliner, some crews don't know that this is the right and sensible approach and i had one a**h*** conductor basically shout at me about it so i sat up and stared out the window for an hour. how this affected his train whether i was sitting up or lying down i have no idea. but since he is a conductor on a train at 3 am, yeah i can see how he relishes any opportunity to be a jerk to people.

there are probably about half a dozen spots to sleep. for people who are stuck next to a crazy or disgusting person, for people who just absolutely cannot sleep in a seat, these spots are the difference between a pleasant journey and a rolling two day hell. if that interferes with you ability to stare out the window at 4 in the morning in the lounge car, you are pretty selfish.
 
Thread resurrection; 2 yrs, 6 mo, is this a record?had8ley, you don't need to answer until October of 2011...
So Had8ley can wait until the AU Gathering in ???. Of course his means he must remember this subject until then. Good luck, I already forget what we are typing about :lol:

Aloha
 
These people that are complaining about having to sit next to a stranger must never flown on a plane and got the middle seat on a long flight. Talk about being close to your neighbor.............

I'll take a train seat any day over being crammed in one of those planes.

The worst thing to see on a plane.............A huge ugly passenger coming down the aisle and the open seat next to you is the only one left. lol.
 
I can't say I ever seem to remember people sleeping overnight in the Lounges when I've rode in Coach or Sleeper. The attendant made a last call and that was it, the car was officially closed. I do recall one time an attendant actually shagging people out at about midnight, (so he could round up the trash and sweep), when I went back from my compartment to get a night cap. I imagine though, after he or she goes off duty anything could go on in that car as long as the Conductors don't mind. Personally, I don't care for it. People don't sleep in the diner, those flat tables and soft benches may be nicer to sleep on too. Now that's not to say people couldn't nod off during the day in the lounge in one of the seats. That doesn't bother me, but what I do tend to dislike are the Lounge Car hogs who seem to spend their entire trip in the Lounge. To that I say, "Hey, give someone else a chance to sit in there, its a shared facility." Particularly on a crowded train. Sleeping overnight on the floor in the Lounge, is just another way of being a space hog. Your ticket reads "Coach" not "Go ahead and sleep in the lounge as a second class sleeping car." I would definitely call Amtrak if I noticed this happening on one of my trips. As previously stated, it looks tacky.
 
Absolutely tacky. Couldn't agree more. Don't these people have any dignity??? I don't know why, but I'm willing to overlook a struggling young student crashing wherever, or a young member of the military, but beyond that, no way.
 
Your ticket reads "Coach" not "Go ahead and sleep in the lounge as a second class sleeping car."
Until they create a 2nd class sleeping car, I have no problems with people sleeping on the floor.
Obviously there is a market for 2nd class sleepers so why not get some cars converted into 2nd class sleepers. At least for the longer ones like SSL, CZ, EB. If I can't get a good price on a sleeper for a cross country trip I am going to fly and get a round trip fare for probably the same price as three days in a coach seat. Give me a open berth sleeper at a reasonable price and I will be more likely to take the train.
 
I really think that if you are in coach, you should at least try to sleep there. I know for most people, sleeping upright in a chair is not doable. But, my thought is if you must lay flat, try to get a roomette/bedroom for your journey. To me, sleeping on a floor would be last resort because the floor will be dirty, it's really not a safe place to be, especially if someone is trying to walk around you. As for sleeping in the sightseer car, it's not designed for this purpose, even though I understand that people do use it & the staff may allow it, again safety concerns would be an issue. I have noticed a comment here and there about people wandering into the car at 3 am while people are sleeping, with the attitude that they shouldn't coming in there that early, that the person was being selfish. I find that odd. Let me give you an example: my husband & I have booked a trip with bedrooms for the whole trip. Hubby would not be able to sleep in a chair. I always wake up a minimum of 1 hour before him (dark thirty). Sometimes I can go back to sleep, but not always.

My options would be: wake him up!! (not a good idea)

Quietly have a cup in the dark in the room. (for up to 2 hours)

Get showered, dressed grab coffee and go to the sightseer lounge where hopefully, I would not be disturbing anyone.

Which would you choose? Am I being selfish by not wanting to disturb my sleeping husband or anyone else?

I realize not everyone can afford a roomette/bedroom every trip. Does that entitle you to floor space in another car?

I'm not unsympathetic, but I do think it's unreasonable for others to have to accomodate someone sleeping on the floor.

Now before I get a 'but you're rich' response, we are not. We've been talking about this trip for 3 years, and saved the money for it. Granted, we did save it rather quickly when we finally decided to do it this year, but we did save it, & it wasn't cheap. Maybe the best solution would be for Amtrak to get some old fashioned pullman style cars for those who cannot afford roomette/bedrooms. I would be surprised though if they would do that. Sorry it's so lengthy, but seriously, I will probably be in the sightseer car as early 5:00 am.

Sunchaser
 
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