Passenger Trains > Does Amtrak re-sell space in sleeping cars, etc

Does Amtrak clean / make up a sleeper if it is vacated en route? 

If I book a sleeping car room from Trenton NJ to Rocky Mount NC, is that room vacant all the way from RMT to Miami?  I know Amtrak routinely holds space for customers boarding en route.  If it does clean / make up a room, is that the attendant's job?

they turn those over , and the attendent should change the sheets and clean it up, wipe it down you would hope.

You would hope, depends on the attendants, I'm sure though. And some will care more about cleanliness than others

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/21 11:28 by goduckies.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does Amtrak clean / make up a sleeper if it is
> vacated en route? 
>
> If I book a sleeping car room from Trenton NJ to
> Rocky Mount NC, is that room vacant all the way
> from RMT to Miami?  I know Amtrak routinely holds
> space for customers boarding en route.  If it
> does clean / make up a room, is that the
> attendant's job?


Yes, rooms can and do flip several times during a trip. And yes, the sleeping car attendant is responsible for cleaning and making them up between passengers.

Your quote:
" I know Amtrak routinely holds space for customers boarding en route".

Once the system was totally computerized, have never known this to happen.

Under the manual reservation system this was standard, with major stations holding blocks of space both chair car and sleeper.  Well versed with this having started in 1952 and have done a brief story on  how it was done on the SP during the 50's for the SP historical Society.
 

When I was riding the Star (somewhat) regularly, several times boarding in Columbia I'd wait in the cafe car until the attendant could make up the room or I'd hear the attendant tell other passengers he or she had to make their room up.  I would wonder though with current covid procedures if they just let the room sit until the end of the trip and de-funk everything at once.

mundo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Your quote:
> " I know Amtrak routinely holds space for
> customers boarding en route".
>
> Once the system was totally computerized, have
> never known this to happen.
>
> Under the manual reservation system this was
> standard, with major stations holding blocks of
> space both chair car and sleeper.  Well versed
> with this having started in 1952 and have done a
> brief story on  how it was done on the SP during
> the 50's for the SP historical Society.
>  

No question the "old way" delivered superior service to customers on SP.

I was a little surprised to book a sleeper trip to Florida from NJ a few years ago, and found every room was sold out from NY and Newark.  But, rooms were available from Rocky Mount and South.  A call to my friendly Amtrak rep, and that room became mine from Newark a few days later.  They said the Amtrak system holds rooms for en route booking, and releases them a few days before departure if they haven't been sold. 

I believe all reservations now go through the national sales desk. You can't buy an upgrade to sleeper from the conductor anymore.  Or so I've been told.

They  sell the  room  again if  possible. My RECENT  experience is the  room is  well cleaned  by  staff!!

Bedding is changed and trash emptied. When boarding downline, I always being disinfecting wipes and rub down the interior. Never really encountered a dirty room, but just some very tried and worn out ones.

Posted from Android

rooms on the CZ often turn over at Denver and sometimes at Glenwood Springs and Salt Lake City, based on my person travel experience on this train

The Pullman Company did a great job on cleaning and refreshing rooms that had been vacated enroute.  Ofcourse Pullman porters and conductors had years of experience in the operation of the cars.

Amtrak has had just one year of experience (50 times). 

I had a horrendous time getting from Chicago to Sacramento one time aboard a sleeper on the CA Zephyr. Here was my room assignments:

Chicago to Denver - Bedroom
Denver to Glenwood Springs - Roomette
Glenwood Spring to Salt Lake City - Roomette
Salt Lake City to Sacramento - Bedroom 

Thankfully I was able to play those musical chairs all with in the SAME sleeper car......

I saw a roomette in the Cardinal flip FOUR times in one trip - once in Indy, then Cincy, then White Sulpher Springs, then Charlotte. 

Like Jp1822, I've been involved with 'what's my room # right now?'.  I had to rebook a trip back from LAX with less than a week lead time and found I had to do it as a number of 'shorts'.  All in the Train 422 thru sleeper LAX-ALP in room #14 (my personal favorite), ALP-FTW in the Family Bedroom (first and only time there!) and FTW-CHI in #6 (I think it was).  Knowing that each room I left had to be flipped at that stop, I moved all my stuff into the racks downstairs and had the SCA come in early and 'do his thing'.  We were both happy.  And I gave them both (swapped at SAS) generous tips for making extra work for them.

On the Empire Builder, I saw the family room flipped twice enroute as well.  The 'man in the middle' of the flips said it was cheaper than a roomette from Havre to St Paul, probably as it had already been booked Seattle-Havre and St Paul-Chicago.  With Covid around, these days I think they have to spray and wipe an extra disinfectant to make sure each room is free of those 'bugs'.

What happen in the reservation office and what happen on board are not the same animal. You should not try to compare.
Having worked later selling tickets for SFE UP,, I can tell you the training provided by the SP was far Superior to the others. The old high seniority SFE clerks, were just as bad, if not worse then the SP.

Further in he 50's it was some good service,  maybe not to UP or SFE standards.

Too many bad mouth the SP of the 60's and the automat cars, 

But anyway am sure the Automat cars will make a comeback on all the new corridor equipment, as it set up to be on the California San Joaquin service.
Watch TO light up then. Thanks, I will be gone off the earth by then.

As to holding space, I did overlook that when conductors were selling space on board, they would block out space from the Computer.
Sales depended a lot on the Condutors.  On the Texas Eagle, it worked well, as the  revenue of the train showed it.  They would offer to up-grade from coach to sleeper, which then allowed them to resale the coach space.  Smart!  Eagle was a team spirit, at least on the south end.

But new management of Amtrak took care of all that sucess.

I have noticed that the computer reservation system is not turning over rooms immediately enroute anymore.
At Topeka and Newton, often the person's room that was getting off, was assigned the same space to a person boarding.
That was always awkward, and had the attendant get up from sleep just to make up a new bed, and clean the room.
With Covid, I don't think that's a practical function of the booking process anymore.  Many times, the car attendant is asleep
at these middle of the night stations, it's the conductors discretion to reassign the passengers to a fresh room.  The formerly
occupied room can then be properly cleaned during the daylight hours.  Most people are okay with a room number change,
unless it's losing roomette #2, which was booked months ahead, or being put in bedroom A, which we all know is more like a compartment.

If the turn over is done right away, no time to truely disinfect or clean the room. It's funny folks think that riding in a sleeper car will "protect them" fromt the virus. The Superliners are so old, no way that air system in providing fresh clean air into the sleeper cars. Folks are breathing in others air and don't have no protection from the virus or any cold when someone brings it onboard. I remember a trip on Train 5 back in 2012 when the sleeper next to us had to be closed off after most of the car got a horrible flu bug. Road travels and planes are the way to go these days especially now that ticket prices are lower to ride in Amtrak coach than on a bus (Greyhound, Trailways, Peter Pan, etc..) 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/21 06:15 by grlhughes.

On a recent trip on the SW Chief, our attendant flipped a room for boarding passengers at Albuquerque. Not sure where the original couple got off, could have been either Lamy or Albuquerque.