Amtrak Mistakes To Avoid

For sleeping in coach (which I do every trip): Amtrak sells a "Comfort Pack" at many stations and in the lounge car for $10. It is a soft draw-string bag containing a blanket (AC is cold at night), eye shades, ear plugs, and a U-shaped inflatable pillow. I bought one and use it on every trip.

Omg yes, the KEY is noise canceling headphones! I took the coast starlight solo from LA to Tacoma and 32 hours of dealing with people that have no sense of how loud they speak is a pain. I wore mine most of my trip because of how many ppl around me had loud/endless conversations. 🙃 (At a stop somewhere in Portland, a man lashed out at a woman for face-timing her entire family at 5 a.m., on speaker phone, for our whole car to hear. I was rooting for him lol).

I would love nothing more than for there to be MORE Amtrak routes than there currently are. I feel it's a much more enjoyable experience than flying.

I work for Amtrak and I approve this message! Thank you for riding with us!!

This lady definitely has it nailed. My wife and I have traveled Amtrack on numerous occasions and consider ourselves seasoned rail passengers. Everything this woman says is gospel listen to her.

Another tip, wifi and cell signal dont always work. Make sure to download some books or movies just incase. Also bring a battery pack to charge devices just incase the plug doesn't work.

Amtrak has always been amazing for me. I still enjoy traveling the country by rail. It's an adventure.

I rode the Empire Builder solo and enjoyed my own roommette. I'm a hopeless introvert but some of my best memories were meeting people in the dining car. Everyone had an interesting story to tell about their trip.

Good tips. I have travelled extensively on Amtrak since 1980. Yesteryear had better service and options. In the sleeper car and trans/dorm car, I have never had a problem with my belongings going missing. In coach, things can disappear, including baggage store on the public luggage racks, on rare occasions. I think people should be aware, but not overly paranoid. Bring only the bare essentials and nothing of real value...everything will be fine. I love looking out the windows at night...it is my favorite time, especially in the sleeper car, I leave the curtains open so I can see. Keep up the great content.

I was on Amtrak two weeks ago and they were having trouble with the electricity for the café and they ended up getting everyone on the train free subway.. TWICE

Another tip is that Amtrak has a firm policy of no saving seats. This works out better for couples than it does for singles. I was headed home and had been sitting in a seat for a few hours. I got up to use the restroom leaving my book, drink, etc at my seat. I was gone 5 minutes max. When I got back, someone had taken the seat and would not move. I retrieved my things, they didn’t even get up when I had to dive under the seat. Decided that was a good time to retreat to my roomette.

One suggestion I would add is to avoid “same day” long distance train connections. Let’s say for example, your 3-train journey is the Coast Starlight, Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle, and California Zephyr, I would definitely recommend doing 1-night hotel stays in the city where the connections occur to avoid “same day” train connections.

With all forms of travel, especially with Amtrak, plan to get to your destination a day early, if not more. Then when things go wrong, and they usually do, you have at least a day to plan alternatives to get to that wedding, birthday, graduation, etc., on time....

My Amtrak trip from Chicago to Klamath Falls Oregon was of the most enjoyable and memorable experiences of my life. The staff treated passengers like we were royalty.

Excellent advice darlin', I've road the trains many times and I wish I had your council then, it would have made my trip far more enjoyable

MY FIRST TRAIN RIDE , FROM BOSTON TO CHICAGO. BY WAY OF NEW YORK. ( TRAIN WOULD STOP THERE FOR TWO HOURS ) 1969. THE RED CAPS ( PORTERS ) TOOK CARE OF ME ALL THE WAY.

I love to travel by Amtrak and wish I could do more of it. I had a very bizarre experience on one trip though that even Amtrak personnel said they thought was weird. I was on The California Zephyr, #6 from San Francisco to Chicago in a Superliner roomette and then on to Washington on the Capitol Limited. Since the roomette doesn’t have space enough for much luggage, I had to place my large suitcase on a rack in the hallway outside my room. The morning of the last day out (the day we were to arrive in Chicago), I opened my door to retrieve my luggage and discovered that it was gone. The conductor searched everywhere for it and finally concluded that it had to have been stolen by a guy who occupied a deluxe bedroom in the same car and vacated the train during the night in Omaha. The conductor realized that it had to have been that guy because he had left his OWN suitcase in the deluxe bedroom. The guy had apparently decided to leave his own suitcase and make off with mine instead. As you know, deluxe bedrooms don’t come cheap so the conductor and I figured the guy’s suitcase might have some high value items that I could claim as compensation for my stolen suitcase. When the conductor opened it, it had nothing but neckties in it however! The conductor was obviously feeling bad for me by that time and said that the least he could do was let me take a shower in the guy’s now vacant deluxe bedroom and use the room for the rest of the trip. He wrote up a theft report and changing trains in Chicago, I went on to Washington on the Capitol Limited. A day or two after I had gotten home in Washington, I got a call from Amtrak. They said that a good Samaritan had found my missing suitcase still locked and completely intact abandoned in the middle of the street a few blocks from the Omaha Amtrak station! He took it to the Amtrak station there where they discovered that it was my stolen suitcase. Amtrak then put it on another train and forwarded it on to Washington on the next day’s trains. I retrieved it at Union station the next day and nothing was missing from it. Go figure. The one thing I have learned from that is to travel a little lighter and to make sure I keep anything valuable in the roomette with me. Sadly, I also don’t think of Amtrak trains as being as secure as I once did but I don’t hesitate to continue to travel on them. I’m just a little more careful and can't wait to make another trip in an Amtrak sleeper. And kudos to that conductor too. He was great.

I grew up in a railroad family, so this is really interesting..

Your observations are right on. Traveling with my son, we found my plan of a backpack and larger locked suitcase was far superior to his keeping track of a backpack, camera pack and 2 smaller bags. There just isn't room in the sleeper and small bags too easy to lose or potentially stolen.

I've travelling on Amtrak train even before Amtrak merged private Railroad Company for over 52 years. I hopped once or twice a year acrossing in any part of USA as I love it and no matter if the train is delays or on time because trains travel is a blast with a wonderful socially different people from all over the places and a beauty by looking a view passing in different areas too.