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It's your assigned seat, and they do this because the train will fill up. Could be your seat mate gets off in two stops, and you're chill until Chico. Personally, I like to spend daylight and especially sunset hours in the observation car.
I feel your pain though. Hopefully things clear up in a few stops.
The long-distance trains have reserved seating. Although it differs from the assigned seating on an airplane, it's important to remember that the train picks up passengers along its route and will occupy the currently empty seats. Unlike a commuter train, passengers are not free to sit wherever they choose. If you truly desire a more personalized experience, I suggest purchasing a roomette for your next journey.
Amtrak's horrible at making this clear on their website. Long-hauls coaches are both reserved and assigned.
What I still haven't been able to figure out is why Amtrak has not gone to an airline style system for seat selection on the long hauls?
I work for them and I still wonder that.
My guess is still the upfront cost to replace the systems they use.
They’ve been using Arrow software since the 80s.
One time, there was a guy riding from Oakland to LA on the Coast Starlight who thought he had the row to himself, but it turned out a passenger riding from San Jose to LA was assigned to be his neighbor - I was that guy who boarded at San Jose.
On the Sunset Limited my seat neighbor had the whole row to himself. Sadly he was very obese and took up both his own seat and almost half of mine, so I couldn’t comfortably sit in my own seat.
I would imagine those boarding later are pairs and groups and families so the seats together are needed. I personally hate this as a lone traveler which is why I rarely take Amtrak coach outside the NEC anymore.
You board at Portland, the seat ahead of you is empty. The crew has a manifest so they know who is boarding downline. They might know, for instance, that there is a party of two (parent/child, a married couple, business partners, whatever) boarding downline at Albany. Rather than giving you your own seat now and then either make you move in an hour or forcing that party of two to sit separately, it’s far easier for the crew (and passengers) to give you a seat next to another single party now and keep those two seats open for that party to board later.
They’re not doing it because they hate you, there’s a method to their madness even if you can’t quite see it right away. That’s why it’s best for everyone if you listen to the crew and work with them. They have far more experience wrangling passengers and dealing with the inevitable foul-ups than you do.
The last time we took the Starlight from LAX to SAC, it was fully booked. When we boarded, there were empty seats. The car attendant explained what we have been talking about -- not everyone travels end to end. People getting on at intermediate stops is common, and we are used to it. Another reason to get a roomette if you can.
Those seats will fill up as you go. Your going pretty far. Chances are every stop as you get closer to LA the seats will start to fill up. Probably quicker the closer you get to LA. Assigned seats make it so people riding as companions don't have to sit separate. It makes more sense to have solo riders sit together than too make couples sit separate and make literally everyone sit with someone they don't know.
r/Amtrak is not associated with Amtrak in any official way. Any problems, concerns, complaints, etc should be directed to Amtrak through one of the official channels. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Amtrak) if you have any questions or concerns.*
They're assigning seats ahead of time because the train will fill up as you go.
It's your assigned seat, and they do this because the train will fill up. Could be your seat mate gets off in two stops, and you're chill until Chico. Personally, I like to spend daylight and especially sunset hours in the observation car. I feel your pain though. Hopefully things clear up in a few stops.
That’s what I did on both the Coast Starlight and Sunset Limited. I barely used my seat on either train during the day.
The long-distance trains have reserved seating. Although it differs from the assigned seating on an airplane, it's important to remember that the train picks up passengers along its route and will occupy the currently empty seats. Unlike a commuter train, passengers are not free to sit wherever they choose. If you truly desire a more personalized experience, I suggest purchasing a roomette for your next journey.
Amtrak's horrible at making this clear on their website. Long-hauls coaches are both reserved and assigned. What I still haven't been able to figure out is why Amtrak has not gone to an airline style system for seat selection on the long hauls?
I work for them and I still wonder that. My guess is still the upfront cost to replace the systems they use. They’ve been using Arrow software since the 80s.
Amtrak has a list of who is boarding when. The trains aren’t empty forever
One time, there was a guy riding from Oakland to LA on the Coast Starlight who thought he had the row to himself, but it turned out a passenger riding from San Jose to LA was assigned to be his neighbor - I was that guy who boarded at San Jose.
On the Sunset Limited my seat neighbor had the whole row to himself. Sadly he was very obese and took up both his own seat and almost half of mine, so I couldn’t comfortably sit in my own seat.
I would imagine those boarding later are pairs and groups and families so the seats together are needed. I personally hate this as a lone traveler which is why I rarely take Amtrak coach outside the NEC anymore.
Go sit there until the next stop but be prepared to move back.
You board at Portland, the seat ahead of you is empty. The crew has a manifest so they know who is boarding downline. They might know, for instance, that there is a party of two (parent/child, a married couple, business partners, whatever) boarding downline at Albany. Rather than giving you your own seat now and then either make you move in an hour or forcing that party of two to sit separately, it’s far easier for the crew (and passengers) to give you a seat next to another single party now and keep those two seats open for that party to board later. They’re not doing it because they hate you, there’s a method to their madness even if you can’t quite see it right away. That’s why it’s best for everyone if you listen to the crew and work with them. They have far more experience wrangling passengers and dealing with the inevitable foul-ups than you do.
The last time we took the Starlight from LAX to SAC, it was fully booked. When we boarded, there were empty seats. The car attendant explained what we have been talking about -- not everyone travels end to end. People getting on at intermediate stops is common, and we are used to it. Another reason to get a roomette if you can.
They like to keep pairs of seats open for couples getting on down the line. Just move anyway and offer to move back later.
Those seats will fill up as you go. Your going pretty far. Chances are every stop as you get closer to LA the seats will start to fill up. Probably quicker the closer you get to LA. Assigned seats make it so people riding as companions don't have to sit separate. It makes more sense to have solo riders sit together than too make couples sit separate and make literally everyone sit with someone they don't know.
I miss business class
I hope you got your own row, that train has a 6 hour delay now.
The train usually fills as it goes. Go hang out in the observation car.