Seats on the City of New Orleans

[Peter N]

Hi Amtrak experts

My partner and I are fairly experienced European train travellers but are making our Amtrak debut next Easter Monday with a one way New Orleans to Memphis ride on the CoNO.

We're thinking of booking the upper level coach, based on the discussions we've read elsewhere on the forum. From a look at the Amtrak ticketing website there doesn't appear to be an option to select particular seats. Is it just first come first served? What would you guys regard as good seats for this trip?

I see that New Orleans has a Baggage Checking service. How does this work, and are you expected to tip the guy who takes your bags?

Feel free to point me to other posts if this has been covered in detail elsewhere.

Many thanks

Peter

 

[Ryan]

Hi Peter, welcome!

Seat are not assigned at the time of booking, the most likely course of action is that you will be directed to a particular car based on destination (Amtrak tries to group people by destination so people don't miss their stops and to prevent noise from boarding/alighting from disturbing through passengers), and then possibly assigned seats by the coach attendant in that car.

Other than window/aisle, there isn't a whole lot of difference in seats. At the ends of the cars can be noisy from the end doors, but on the bilevel trains like the CoNO, you also get noise from the stairwell in the center of the car.

 

[Ryan]

For baggage, checking is airport-like. Drop your bags at the counter (someone who has been to New Orleans) can give you more detail, and pick them up at the end. No tips, unless you enlist the services of a Red a Cap to get your bags from the street into the station.

 

[Peter N]

Thanks Ryan, looks like we can go ahead and book. We'll probably go the upper level.

I notice the Amtrak rewards program gives you some bonus points if you travel within 90 days of joining, so we may as well hold off joining the program until less than three months from our date of travel.

 

[Ryan]

That's a good plan. You also get points for referring someone, so one of you should sign up and then refer the other to collect a few more points.

 

[Peter N]

Thanks Ryan, looks like we can go ahead and book. We'll probably go the upper level.

I notice the Amtrak rewards program gives you some bonus points if you travel within 90 days of joining, so we may as well hold off joining the program until less than three months from our date of travel.

Hmm, just got a note from Amtrak to say you have to be a USA or Canadian resident to be in the program. No biggie...