Ok. I never have the sound on on my computer since I usually have my “ears” off at home.
Southwest Chief discussion
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Maybe these were passengers from the previous day's train which was cancelled due to a freight derailment? Amtrak may have offered them a choice of coach seats on the next SWC or some sort of refund or payment towards alternate transportation, and these folks chose the train.
billosborn
Train Attendant
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That make sense. Anyone else have thoughts/insights?
This is pretty common on the NEC and in California where Passengers, after a Service Disruption, are often put aboard a " Rescue" Train which often is already Full.
I've had to sit in the Cafe Car and even stand many times till people get off and seats Open up.
billosborn
Train Attendant
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That makes perfect sense - the previous day's SWC had been cancelled, so these folks opted to continue their trip a day later, and if they called Amtrak Customer relations they would have received compensation.
chadamfleetrailfan
Train Attendant
It was great to see the Operation Lifesaver unit 203 leading on Chicago-bound #4 today (3/28/23) passing through Fullerton, CA...
Some questions
I will be in a roomette on the Southwest Chief. I can imagine needing ice from time to time. Do I ask the attendant? Bug the dining car steward? How would this ice be provided? Should/can I provide a large cup or container so that I won't have to bother anybody so often?
I don't drink tea but I have a miniature Nespresso device that needs hot water. I am assuming that getting hot water with a meal is easy. Can I get it in the roomette?
I understand that either the sleeping car attendant or the dining car steward will come through the sleeping car and take reservations. Is that just for the next meal or can you make the reservations for the whole trip? I've read that you can make reservations for lunch and dinner. What about breakfast? Since the people in coach can come in and pay for meals is there some danger of not getting seated?
I will be in a roomette on the Southwest Chief. I can imagine needing ice from time to time. Do I ask the attendant? Bug the dining car steward? How would this ice be provided? Should/can I provide a large cup or container so that I won't have to bother anybody so often?
I don't drink tea but I have a miniature Nespresso device that needs hot water. I am assuming that getting hot water with a meal is easy. Can I get it in the roomette?
I understand that either the sleeping car attendant or the dining car steward will come through the sleeping car and take reservations. Is that just for the next meal or can you make the reservations for the whole trip? I've read that you can make reservations for lunch and dinner. What about breakfast? Since the people in coach can come in and pay for meals is there some danger of not getting seated?
You ask the car attendant. They'll often bring you a cup or two unless you specify a bucket, they have waxed cardboard buckets they can use. Some attendants are not terribly thrilled about getting ice.
You can get cups of hot water from the café on the lower level of the Sightseer. They're free.
The dining car LSA (lead service attendant) or someone they delegate will come through the sleeping cars a couple hours before each meal service that reservations are required for. That's always for dinner, most of the time for lunch, never for breakfast which is first come, first served. There is no danger of not being seated for breakfast as long as you present yourself in the diner by last call. If they fill up at any time during breakfast service, the LSA will start a wait list. Note that breakfast coming into LA is abbreviated. They'll make last call around San Bernardino and stop seating at Riverside.
They'll announce they are coming through for reservations before they start. You should be in your room with the door and curtain open when they do. If your door is closed and especially if the curtain is drawn they'll skip it. They won't disturb a passenger for reservations. They do the Sightseer last, so the choice of times will be limited by then. You get the reservations one meal at a time, you cannot do them for the whole trip.
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Here is what I am hoping is a dumb question. I paid for a roomette on the SWC. I did this is on the Amtrak website. It was a single amount. When I read about ticketing I see that there are separate amounts, one for the roomette and one for the passenger. Were these two amounts combined in what I paid or am I missing something? The pass in my Apple Wallet has by name and a roomette number...
trimetbusfan
Lead Service Attendant
Yes.
Roomette fare structure is room fare + rail fare. Amtrak combines these two amounts when booking. (And often times, they will only show the total amount). If you have a ticket, your good to go.
Amtrak has suppressed showing the rail fare/accommodation charge split entirely on the website now. I think someone at Amtrak thought it confused people and when they did the appalling and incompetent "modernization" of the website it vanished. The last vestige, the old "Multi-City" dialog, was "modernized" and it doesn't show anymore there, either. Nevertheless, that is still how Amtrak sleeper fares are constructed. These days the only place is still shows is on the "eTicket and Receipt" email. It doesn't show on the boarding pass, nor on the "receipt" section of the ticket on the mobile app. I don't have an Apple, and I don't appear to have an option to add an Amtrak ticket to Google Wallet, but since it doesn't show in the mobile app, it makes sense to me that it wouldn't show on Apple Wallet.
Thanks. Found the "eTicket and Receipt" email. Now I feel better.
