Southwest Chief trip in 2025 questions

[Kjaney]

I’m planning a trip to Vegas and the Grand Canyon traveling by train in 2025. I’ll be traveling solo. As I’ve started researching, I’ve made some decisions and have questions. Right now my plan is to
1. Take Amtrak from Michigan to Chicago
2. Take Southwest Chief to Vegas, I know the last leg is on a thruway. I’ll be booking a roomette
3. Spend time in Vegas with family, then rent a car and drive to Grand Canyon
4. Board the Southwest Chief in Flagstaff to return to Chicago
5. Take the final train from Chicago to Michigan

First questions:
1. What is the thruway from Kingman AZ to Vegas like? I’ve see references to it bing a bus and a van.
2. Is there a waiting area near the drop off in Vegas? I know it’s at the airport but not sure where.
3. Is it convenient to have someone pick me up there?
4. The train leaves Flagstaff at 4:20am. Ideas on what to do that night? Hang out at the station? Get a hotel room, check out about 2 and find my way in the middle of the night to the train station?

Baggage. I was planning on one 28in piece to check, one regular size, i.e. 20 in carryon, a 2nd smaller carryon that will be attached to the larger one and a personal bag. I’ve just learned my local Amtrak station is unstaffed and doesn’t offer checked baggage.

Questions:
5. How do I get my checked piece to Chicago if my station is unstaffed and doesn’t offer this?
6. What happens to the checked bag when I arrive in Chicago and need to get on the train to my local unstaffed station?
7. Does the checked bag remain checked all the way to Vegas, or do I have to haul it on the thruway?

Lastly, I want to go in April or September. Thoughts on which would be better at the Grand Canyon?
Thanks everyone for your help!

 

[Cal]

Baggage. I was planning on one 28in piece to check, one regular size, i.e. 20 in carryon, a 2nd smaller carryon that will be attached to the larger one and a personal bag. I’ve just learned my local Amtrak station is unstaffed and doesn’t offer checked baggage.

Questions:
5. How do I get my checked piece to Chicago if my station is unstaffed and doesn’t offer this?
6. What happens to the checked bag when I arrive in Chicago and need to get on the train to my local unstaffed station?
7. Does the checked bag remain checked all the way to Vegas, or do I have to haul it on the thruway?

5. You would have to bring it on with you as carry-on for the first leg. There should be large luggage racks in the train along with overhead racks, so storing it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Staff would be there to help you get it on board the train. At Chicago, you would then go to the counter and check it through to Flagstaff.

6. It would be offloaded and be sent to the baggage claim in Chicago Union Station (it's just like an airport baggage claim, just smaller). There you would then take it and you would carry it back on to the final train back to Michigan as carry on luggage.

Those are the only two questions I know unfortunately. I'm sure someone else will be able to answer everything else. Hope it all works out!

 

[Rasputin]

Question 4: Be aware that the waiting area in the Flagstaff station is not spacious. Be sure to check the station hours to be sure that it is open when you plan to wait there. I would recommend checking your luggage at the station the night before you leave instead of in the morning.

For a place to stay in Flagstaff, I would suggest looking at the Highland County Inn. This is a family run motel where the family lives on the premises. Check out the location on Google. As I recall it is about 10-15 minute walk to the station so you certainly don't have to leave the room at 2 to make your train. 3:30 a.m or so would be more like it. The rooms have outside entrances and the front desk is not staffed all night (when you leave you deposit your key in a slot by the office.) If you arrive real late you ring a bell and they open the office and check you in. We have stayed there at least three times.

Also be aware that it can be difficult to get accommodations in Flagstaff during special dates for Northern Arizona University. Especially avoid graduation.

The Weatherford Hotel is also close to the Amtrak station but we have never stayed there.

Lumberyard Brewing Co. and the State Bar, both of which are near the station, are good places.

Hope your trip goes well and please post a report.

 

[Kjaney]

New option under consideration:
1) check out of Grand Canyon hotel, drive to Flagstaff, and get on the Amtrak the next morning @ 4:20am
2) check out of Grand Canyon hotel, drive to Albuquerque (about 7 hours) and get on the Amtrak the next morning about 11:30.

I really don’t know that I want to end my trip with a 7 hour drive, but at the same time that might be a safer option then trying to get to the Flagstaff station at 3 am.

Thoughts?

 

[Bob Dylan]

New option under consideration:
1) check out of Grand Canyon hotel, drive to Flagstaff, and get on the Amtrak the next morning @ 4:20am
2) check out of Grand Canyon hotel, drive to Albuquerque (about 7 hours) and get on the Amtrak the next morning about 11:30.

I really don’t know that I want to end my trip with a 7 hour drive, but at the same time that might be a safer option then trying to get to the Flagstaff station at 3 am.

Thoughts?

Can you turn in your car in Flagstaff that time of the morning?

Not much is Open in Flagstafff that time of the morning!

I'd suggest spending a night in a Hotel in Flagstaff, having dinner and gettig a few hours of sleep( there are several close to the Amtrak Station) after turning in your car during business hours!

 

[John Santos]

I’m planning a trip to Vegas and the Grand Canyon traveling by train in 2025. I’ll be traveling solo. As I’ve started researching, I’ve made some decisions and have questions. Right now my plan is to
1. Take Amtrak from Michigan to Chicago
2. Take Southwest Chief to Vegas, I know the last leg is on a thruway. I’ll be booking a roomette
3. Spend time in Vegas with family, then rent a car and drive to Grand Canyon
4. Board the Southwest Chief in Flagstaff to return to Chicago
5. Take the final train from Chicago to Michigan

Sounds like a great trip!

First questions:
1. What is the thruway from Kingman AZ to Vegas like? I’ve see references to it bing a bus and a van.

When I took it in the opposite direction in 2019, it was a large van (3 or 4 rows of passenger seats plus some luggage space behind the last seat, so about 10-12 passengers. It was full.

2. Is there a waiting area near the drop off in Vegas? I know it’s at the airport but not sure where.

The waiting area was inside one of the terminals. There was a Starbucks where I sat drinking coffee while waiting for the bus. When it arrived (a little early) the driver came inside and found me. I asked him how he knew I was one of his passengers. He had spotted the Amtrak tags on my luggage.

3. Is it convenient to have someone pick me up there?

There is normal airport drop-off/pickup right outside the doors. I'm sure there are specific rules for cabs, rideshares, cell-phone pickups and buses like any major airport, but it is probably self-explanatory. I had dropped off a rental car and the rental agency bus took me to the terminal.

4. The train leaves Flagstaff at 4:20am. Ideas on what to do that night? Hang out at the station? Get a hotel room, check out about 2 and find my way in the middle of the night to the train station?

The Amtrak bus took me to Kingman, the east-bound Chief picked us up at about 1AM. The station waiting room was open. I don't know how they work it at Flagstaff; I was asleep in my roomette long before we got there!

Baggage. I was planning on one 28in piece to check, one regular size, i.e. 20 in carryon, a 2nd smaller carryon that will be attached to the larger one and a personal bag. I’ve just learned my local Amtrak station is unstaffed and doesn’t offer checked baggage.

Questions:
5. How do I get my checked piece to Chicago if my station is unstaffed and doesn’t offer this?

(Edit: What Cal said, but I'm leaving my comment in case it clarifies something, I hope!)

Depends on the local train. Most local trains have space at the end of the car for luggage and overhead storage (much bigger than an airplane's overhead. You may have to get it up there on your own or the conductor might help. A commuter train during rush hour would be different from an Amtrak regional train.

When you arrive in Chicago, you can get a Red Cap to transport your bags (and you as well, unless you insist on walking!) to the Metro Lounge.

To check luggage, you need to have checked baggage service at both the origin and destination. I don't know if either Kingman or Flagstaff has checked baggage. If not, you will probably have to use the luggage racks.

Each Superliner sleeper car has a large luggage rack just inside the door. I think Superliner coaches have two such racks. Sometimes the rack has been full but usually there is room for one or two bags for each passenger. By airline standards, a 28" bag is pretty big, but I had no problem fitting my 31" roller bag on a Superliner luggage rack last month.

6. What happens to the checked bag when I arrive in Chicago and need to get on the train to my local unstaffed station?

My experience has been the Red Caps (or other baggage handlers) load the checked luggage onto one of their golf cart trailers and bring to just outside the door to the Metro Lounge where you can collect it. When your local train departs, they will then transport it to the train for you. They did that for me connecting from the Eagle to the Lake Shore (no checked baggage to Boston) a few weeks ago. If there was end-to-end checked baggage, they would have just brought the checked luggage with Boston tags from the inbound train to the outbound train without my having to deal with it in Chicago.

In the other direction (LSL to TE), they transported my luggage from the sleeper to the Metro Lounge, where I put my carry-ons in the storage room and then wheeled my big bag to the luggage check about 100 feet away. There is construction going on in Chicago, which complicates things a little. You should be able to do the same. When the TE departed, they brought my smaller bag and carryon to the platform, dropping me and my luggage off at the door to my sleeper.

7. Does the checked bag remain checked all the way to Vegas, or do I have to haul it on the thruway?

Don't know. It depends on if they have checked baggage service in Kingman. The bus driver would most likely help you drag it over to the bus (not far) and would either load it in the back or assist you.

Lastly, I want to go in April or September. Thoughts on which would be better at the Grand Canyon?
Thanks everyone for your help!

September is beautiful there. I think it is much less crowded after Labor Day, and its a high elevation (5-7,000 feet depending on where you go), so fall comes early. I've been there a couple of times in summer, once in January and once in mid-October, which was past peak foliage and everything on the North Rim closed the previous weekend (no restaurants open, so I had to survive the day on one extra larger Snickers bar purchased at the gas station 30 miles north), but it was still beautiful. (We visited both sides in October; the South Rim was still open and I think the big hotel/restaurant is open year-round.) But I wouldn't pass up April, either.

 

[Trucker72]

We boarded in Flagstaff 2 years ago. Station was open, no problem, and it was only about a 2 or 3 block walk from our hotel. The streets were well lit and we felt safe during the walk.

 

[Palmland]

Rather than consider a 7 hour drive to Albuquerque from Flagstaff, how about a more scenic 4 hour drive to Tucson? Stay at the Congress Hotel next to the station and board the Sunset/Texas Eagle at about 8am.

 

[zephyr17]

Two items.

First Flagstaff is staffed and is open all night according to Amtrak.com (it's closed from 8 am to 5 pm), so you could stay in the waiting room if you chose. No comment on how to handle the rental car.

Second, you have no choice but to carry on luggage destined for Kingman (Las Vegas, NV). As to short checking at Flagstaff to Chicago on your return, short checking is almost always a bad idea. If the SW Chief is late, always a strong possibility, but not late enough to miss the connection, you may be faced with the choice of either abandoning your luggage or missing your connection. It can take 20 minutes or more for you bag to be delivered to the carousel and boarding gates close 5 minutes prior to departure at Chicago.

Just carry everything on. Amtrak carry on allowances are much more generous than airlines, including allowing larger bags than airline carry ons. Superliners have a big downstairs rack for larger pieces and your Michigan service train will have luggage storage at one end of the car in addition to the overhead rack. I routinely take long, transcontinental Amtrak trips and virtually never check luggage.

https://www.amtrak.com/onboard/baggage-policy/carry-on-baggage.html

 

[Eric in East County]

I routinely take long, transcontinental Amtrak trips and virtually never check luggage.

https://www.amtrak.com/onboard/baggage-policy/carry-on-baggage.html

We, too, no longer bring anything with us on our long-distance trips that needs to be checked as baggage. Having everything with us at all times gives us greater flexibility should unforeseen circumstances force us to change to our travel plans in mid-trip. If two seniors in their late 70's can do it, anyone can and should.

 

[Willbridge]

The Las Vegas <> Kingman bus connection has worked well for me. The only problem was with a cab driver who "knew" that Amtrak Thruway buses left from the South Strip Transit Center. There is a Thruway bus to Bakersfield from that location, but as your reservation will show, the Kingman bus leaves from the airport. The airport has a loading area for shuttle vans and charter buses.

I should add that all of the drivers have been top notch.

2017 photos