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I don't think SAS hold non-checked bags anymore but maybe you can charm them into it or get lucky with new clerk or a recent transfer from another location.
[snipped comment]

Good luck with that, based on my experience last Wednesday boarding the northbound Eagle. I arrived at the station about 4-5 minutes after baggage check-in officially ended (6:48 departure, I got there about 6:07), after struggling through the doors and the full length of the waiting room (about 40 feet), there was no one at the counter, but then I heard them behind the wall loading the luggage onto a cart. I went out the side door next to the counter as I saw them emerge from another door behind the wall behind the counter, about 10 feet further up the platform. I said "I guess I'm a few minutes too late to check a bag", expecting one of 3 responses: "Yes, you're too late, sorry!", a brusk "Yes", or the real long shot "No problem, just pop them onto the cart". Instead I got berated and told it was far more than a few minutes (it was no more than 5 minutes, and it had taken a couple of minutes to get to this point), and she had seen me struggling with the door, but offered not the slightest bit of sympathy. Her attitude was not the least contaminated with any sense of customer service.

So I dragged my two large bags, one small but awkward bag and my backpack down the platform to the sleeper, where an elderly couple was also waiting to board. A minute later, a security guard told us to move to the end of the line waiting outside the station. The other man said to me "Don't they normally board sleeper passengers separately and first?" to which I agreed that is the procedure at most stations. (This was over 30 minutes before departure.) Just then the conductor came by and told us we were fine waiting where we were, along the back edge of the platform near the sleeper. Ten minutes later, the SCA appeared and called for all sleeper passengers could board now.

So the station personnel were obnoxious, but the onboard conductor and SCA (and the diner person Rachel, who had to handle all 5 meals all by herself), were all great.
 
[snipped comment]

Good luck with that, based on my experience last Wednesday boarding the northbound Eagle. I arrived at the station about 4-5 minutes after baggage check-in officially ended (6:48 departure, I got there about 6:07), after struggling through the doors and the full length of the waiting room (about 40 feet), there was no one at the counter, but then I heard them behind the wall loading the luggage onto a cart. I went out the side door next to the counter as I saw them emerge from another door behind the wall behind the counter, about 10 feet further up the platform. I said "I guess I'm a few minutes too late to check a bag", expecting one of 3 responses: "Yes, you're too late, sorry!", a brusk "Yes", or the real long shot "No problem, just pop them onto the cart". Instead I got berated and told it was far more than a few minutes (it was no more than 5 minutes, and it had taken a couple of minutes to get to this point), and she had seen me struggling with the door, but offered not the slightest bit of sympathy. Her attitude was not the least contaminated with any sense of customer service.

So I dragged my two large bags, one small but awkward bag and my backpack down the platform to the sleeper, where an elderly couple was also waiting to board. A minute later, a security guard told us to move to the end of the line waiting outside the station. The other man said to me "Don't they normally board sleeper passengers separately and first?" to which I agreed that is the procedure at most stations. (This was over 30 minutes before departure.) Just then the conductor came by and told us we were fine waiting where we were, along the back edge of the platform near the sleeper. Ten minutes later, the SCA appeared and called for all sleeper passengers could board now.

So the station personnel were obnoxious, but the onboard conductor and SCA (and the diner person Rachel, who had to handle all 5 meals all by herself), were all great.
The staff at that station need to be immersed in slime up to their necks for a period (game I play with such problems: think of innovative punishments.)
Austin does a lot better, usually.
On one occasion they announced the imminent arrival of the Eaglet, and asked boarding passengers to line up at a lectern, sleeper to the right, coach to the left. The ticket-checker came, and the man, woman, three kids, two parties in front of me had coach tickets, and the man basically said "You might as well check us in, because we are here." The Station guy asked them politely to go to the back of the coach line, the man refused, so the agent took out his phone and told his partner to call the police.
Quick shuffle of family to the left, to loud protest from the other coach passengers, and the other agent came over and said, "If you and your family want to travel today on Amtrak, you will step aside and be the absolute last to board. Or I will call the police and have you removed from the property."
Much grumbling, and mutterings, man, three embarrassed kids and wife were last to board.
Ugh. Handled well, though.
 
[snipped comment]

Good luck with that, based on my experience last Wednesday boarding the northbound Eagle. I arrived at the station about 4-5 minutes after baggage check-in officially ended (6:48 departure, I got there about 6:07), after struggling through the doors and the full length of the waiting room (about 40 feet), there was no one at the counter, but then I heard them behind the wall loading the luggage onto a cart. I went out the side door next to the counter as I saw them emerge from another door behind the wall behind the counter, about 10 feet further up the platform. I said "I guess I'm a few minutes too late to check a bag", expecting one of 3 responses: "Yes, you're too late, sorry!", a brusk "Yes", or the real long shot "No problem, just pop them onto the cart". Instead I got berated and told it was far more than a few minutes (it was no more than 5 minutes, and it had taken a couple of minutes to get to this point), and she had seen me struggling with the door, but offered not the slightest bit of sympathy. Her attitude was not the least contaminated with any sense of customer service.

So I dragged my two large bags, one small but awkward bag and my backpack down the platform to the sleeper, where an elderly couple was also waiting to board. A minute later, a security guard told us to move to the end of the line waiting outside the station. The other man said to me "Don't they normally board sleeper passengers separately and first?" to which I agreed that is the procedure at most stations. (This was over 30 minutes before departure.) Just then the conductor came by and told us we were fine waiting where we were, along the back edge of the platform near the sleeper. Ten minutes later, the SCA appeared and called for all sleeper passengers could board now.

So the station personnel were obnoxious, but the onboard conductor and SCA (and the diner person Rachel, who had to handle all 5 meals all by herself), were all great.
“Instead I got berated and told it was far more than a few minutes”. I would have asked her what she planned on doing with my bags. It could have got ugly.
 
The staff at that station need to be immersed in slime up to their necks for a period (game I play with such problems: think of innovative punishments.)
Austin does a lot better, usually.
On one occasion they announced the imminent arrival of the Eaglet, and asked boarding passengers to line up at a lectern, sleeper to the right, coach to the left. The ticket-checker came, and the man, woman, three kids, two parties in front of me had coach tickets, and the man basically said "You might as well check us in, because we are here." The Station guy asked them politely to go to the back of the coach line, the man refused, so the agent took out his phone and told his partner to call the police.
Quick shuffle of family to the left, to loud protest from the other coach passengers, and the other agent came over and said, "If you and your family want to travel today on Amtrak, you will step aside and be the absolute last to board. Or I will call the police and have you removed from the property."
Much grumbling, and mutterings, man, three embarrassed kids and wife were last to board.
Ugh. Handled well, though.
All of the agents @ the Austin( my Home Station) Station are friendly, helpful and knowledgeable!

That guy must have really been a jerk to cause the agent to consider calling the police, after clearly explaining the boarding policy @ Austin to him!
 
“Instead I got berated and told it was far more than a few minutes”. I would have asked her what she planned on doing with my bags. It could have got ugly.
Well, it was obvious what she planned on doing with my bags. Absolutely nothing. However, since I was the third passenger to board, the downstairs luggage rack was empty so my big bag and one of the other bags fit there. By squishing my smaller duffel bag (mostly clothes), I got it to fit under the seat and my backpack I hung from the coat hook. I took my backpack and small duffel out into the aisle while the SCA made up and put away my bed, so they didn't get in his way. (The SCA and the dining car attendant were both great.)
 
All of the agents @ the Austin( my Home Station) Station are friendly, helpful and knowledgeable!

That guy must have really been a jerk to cause the agent to consider calling the police, after clearly explaining the boarding policy @ Austin to him!
Yup. The family looked like they were moving on board; cooler, pillows, blankets, suitcases, bags. Obviously set for a long sentence in coach. But I bet they'd tried that before, too.
 
[snipped comment]

Good luck with that, based on my experience last Wednesday boarding the northbound Eagle. I arrived at the station about 4-5 minutes after baggage check-in officially ended (6:48 departure, I got there about 6:07), after struggling through the doors and the full length of the waiting room (about 40 feet), there was no one at the counter, but then I heard them behind the wall loading the luggage onto a cart. I went out the side door next to the counter as I saw them emerge from another door behind the wall behind the counter, about 10 feet further up the platform. I said "I guess I'm a few minutes too late to check a bag", expecting one of 3 responses: "Yes, you're too late, sorry!", a brusk "Yes", or the real long shot "No problem, just pop them onto the cart". Instead I got berated and told it was far more than a few minutes (it was no more than 5 minutes, and it had taken a couple of minutes to get to this point), and she had seen me struggling with the door, but offered not the slightest bit of sympathy. Her attitude was not the least contaminated with any sense of customer service.

So I dragged my two large bags, one small but awkward bag and my backpack down the platform to the sleeper, where an elderly couple was also waiting to board. A minute later, a security guard told us to move to the end of the line waiting outside the station. The other man said to me "Don't they normally board sleeper passengers separately and first?" to which I agreed that is the procedure at most stations. (This was over 30 minutes before departure.) Just then the conductor came by and told us we were fine waiting where we were, along the back edge of the platform near the sleeper. Ten minutes later, the SCA appeared and called for all sleeper passengers could board now.

So the station personnel were obnoxious, but the onboard conductor and SCA (and the diner person Rachel, who had to handle all 5 meals all by herself), were all great.

Honestly customer service everywhere is so much worse in recent years. I will admit once or twice when traveling on Amtrak when one of those inexplicable things happened and we got snapped at and given very little information it was bad enough that I wound up in tears - travel is stressful enough without disruptions where there's no information given and we're hustled along with no explanation and yelled at if we don't understand. (Granted, ONE of those times was in late-summer 2019 when I was returning home after helping my mom in the wake of my father's death).

But it does seem EVERYWHERE customer service is worse and grumpier. (I had a large appliance delivered last weekend, it was a cluster). I try to remain pleasant and kind and grateful but there are just so many times that people snap at you where you hit a wall and want to snap back. I haven't on Amtrak as yet, but....

And I think I've had Rachel in the diner, and she IS awesome, even if the flex meals suck.
 
I got berated and told it was far more than a few minutes (it was no more than 5 minutes, and it had taken a couple of minutes to get to this point), and she had seen me struggling with the door, but offered not the slightest bit of sympathy. Her attitude was not the least contaminated with any sense of customer service.
Yeah, that does sound like SAS. They rarely lift a finger or treat their customers with any sympathy or respect. I've seen them proudly refuse the most minor of requests and talk in circles trying to dissuade potential customers from buying tickets. It's a bit of a mess here.

Honestly customer service everywhere is so much worse in recent years.
I've noticed this as well. It's so rare to get good service anymore and in any dispute the customer is always wrong. I guess in that sense Amtrak might start looking better as modern customer service standards plummet down to Amtrak's level (if they don't get worse.)
 
It's still Open, let's just say some of the street characters you see in Dennys make New Orleans night people seem normal!😄
I got off the WB SL at San Antonio one night a couple of years ago, and my friend-who-takes-me-to-trains (since replaced) and I went to the Denny's. Full up with a very strange looking crowd, hardly any staff (post Covid, but...). We didn't stay, and wound up eating in New Braunfels. I'd be wary of walking the streets of any city late at night these days. Had I made my projected trip in March, the Cardinal an hour late, with a 2 1/2 block walk from NY Penn to hotel, I'd've been nervous.
 
I got off the WB SL at San Antonio one night a couple of years ago, and my friend-who-takes-me-to-trains (since replaced) and I went to the Denny's. Full up with a very strange looking crowd, hardly any staff (post Covid, but...). We didn't stay, and wound up eating in New Braunfels. I'd be wary of walking the streets of any city late at night these days. Had I made my projected trip in March, the Cardinal an hour late, with a 2 1/2 block walk from NY Penn to hotel, I'd've been nervous.
Back in the late 1980s, the hubby and I would walk from the convention center in downtown Milwaukee to where our car was parked at the adjacent mall late in the evening, and we were quite uncomfortable even then, as barely 30-somethings. Being in our mid-60s now and totally unfamiliar with downtown San Antonio, we decided to end our TE trip this fall at an earlier stop (Ft. Worth), which should be during daylight hours, assuming it isn't horribly late on that run.
 
I connected from the WB Sunset to the Eagle on 9 April, 2024. We arrove on #1 from New Orleans more or less on time, the station was fairly crowded, although there were a few seats inside and outside in the (for the nonce) pleasant weather. The station itself is in fairly nice condition, I noticed no aroma reminiscent of smoking. The restroom was in good condition, not Buc-EEs clean, but certainly not Greyhoundlike. A practitioner of The Art of Positive Napping, I dozed until the Westbound Sunset boarded, leaving about 6 hardy souls awaiting the Nothbound Eagle some 4 hours hence, leaving me with a row of 4 seats in which to stretch out.
Folks began to arrive for the Northbound Eagle around 0615, we boarded and left more or less on time.
Overall, the San Antonio station experience was not that bad. A couple of working vending machines. I'll take that place over any Greyhound station any time. There was at least one armed peace officer walking around, no vagrants in sight.
We departed in deteriorating weather more or less on time. There was NO breakfast service, no FLEX slop, nor was the "Cafe" service available for quite some time, so I fired up my Keurig One Cup and dined on my supplies. The AMTRAK coffeemaker was not fired up for awhile. Most of the way to Ft. Worth the weather was lousy, I detrained there and took the TRE to the Centerpointe/D/FW stop.

Cheri and I are headed for CHI in May. Alas, her first AMTRAK experience will be on the Eaglette Rented Mule, but if she weathers the trip, we plan to take the Eagle/Sunset to LAX in June.

The point of this ramble is that the Sunset/Eagle connection is annoying but doable if you don't mind sitting in the station for four or so hours. There are at least two staff bustling about, and the ambience appears secure, with AC and USB outlets in the seats!. It was my usual luck that the Westbound Sunset was on time, but DuMont's Constant was at work. I was hoping for a 2 or 3 hour late arrival, but no soap.

A doff of the MAGA cap to San Antonio for a nice place to await AMTRAK.
 
I think that, from what I've read elsewhere on these forums (and on the Amtrak website), passengers on the TE/SSL continuing beyond San Antonio in either direction MAY disembark, but are not required to. (On days when the Eaglet ends its run at San Antonio, everyone has to disembark, as the next morning's train back to Chicago counts as a separate train, even if it's using the same cars.)
On the Southbound Eagle 421, sleepers connect to the Westbound Sunset, so there is no need to detrain. ISTR one coach may connect as well, but I may be in error here.
On the Sunset Eastbound, there is a sleeper (and I think) a coach which connects similarly to the Northbound Eagle.
 
Since I haven't yet booked the trip, I will have to look into getting off at Austin instead of San Antonio. Sounds like it might be an improvement over spending the night in the San Antonio station, then perhaps hiking 1/2 mile each way to the 24/7 Denny's for "first breakfast" before "second breakfast" on the train!
If you are going to spend the night in Austin, I recommend using a hotel shuttle or LYFT/UBER from the AMTRAK station. The area around there can be dicey after dark. When I was commuting on the Eagle, the Holiday Inn On The Lake shuttle worked well.
As I noted elsewhere, food service on the Eagle is execrable, and no "breakfast" service when leaving Northbound. If you connect to the Sunset Westbound, you get wonderful Diner service starting with breakfast.
 
End of May my wife and I are returning home from DC to Austin by Capitol Limited [fam BR] and Eaglette [2 roomettes]. We will pack some food out of Union Station DC and from the Jersey Mike's in Chicago if the connection is timely.

We have tentatively decided to rely on the cafe rather than the flex meals, except for our complementary wine, and we have two questions for recent travelers on each train:
1] Which cafe food? and
2] Have you had any luck getting the attendant to sub cafe choices for flex?
 
Hey Gang, got some possible Texas Eagle good news. Amtrak has submitted a 27 million dollar grant for Fiscal Year 2025 for Food Service Improvements which includes restoring Tradition Dining to the Texas Eagle. Stay Tuned.
Ok so now we make congress or the FRA pay for each item they want?

This might be a very slippery slope.
 
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