cw05

This will be my first trip on amtrak. I was wondering what the differences between the seating choices: reserved coach seats compared to superliner lower level coach seats...or is it even necessary to get a reserved seat, however it is around the holiday time when numerous people are going home...

bardo1

<<or is it even necessary to get a reserved seat(?)>>

It depends: what day?, what time?, which route?

happytrailstoyou

I would reserve a seat rather than run the risk of having to make do with leftover seats not reserved by others with more foresight. I would select a seat facing in the direction of travel and with no seat facing my seat.

capxxx

On some routes you are required to make a reservation -- without it, you won't be allowed on the train. But you don't reserve a specific seat, the reservation just gets you onto the train.

sunbum1944

I think that when I rode the rails on Amtrak- we were given boarding passes when we got on the train with an assigned seat number- I cant remember exactly but dont think we had any choice of where we sat.

escargot

Don't know where you are traveling - that might make a difference - I take the Amtrak frequently between NYC and Boston - I don't have the option of an exact seat assignment - depending on time of travel and reason, I either book on the Accela first class, which gets me in that section but no specific seat assignment and if there are two of us we have always been able to sit together; only once on a holiday were we separated for a portion of the trip.

Otherwise, I have a regular ticket and try to get on the quiet car -

if you can't figure it out, ask which direction the train will be traveling in so you can sit facing in the direction of travel if you want that.

FainaAgain

I think you need to be disabled to get a lower level seat, but I may be mistaken.

Reserved coach seat doesn't give you a seat number, it only means there must be a seat for you, they will not sell more tickets then there are seats available (did you fly Southwest? this is similar)

I travelled couch once during a holiday, all train was sold out, the car conductor was assigning seat numbers at the time of boarding.

If this is not a holiday, you'll only have the car number assigned. Before boarding, get a boarding pass at the station, something similar to the flight boarding passes.

Now, this was about traveling on the West Coast, there are different types of trains in the East, I was told.

dfr4848

As most posters have said, a lot will depend on the route you're taking. On all long-distance trains and some short-distance trains, reservations are required - you'll generally get seat assignment at check-in. On the lower level on superliners, most of those are for disabled travelers, but not all - again it depends on the route. [I don't know what the actual difference is in the seats themselves between the lower level and upper level.] Upper level seats are pretty comfortable for day time travel - but not for overnight IMO. Some short-distance trains do not require reservations. Many of these trains are in the Northeast Corridor, but reservations are required for some of them. The Amtrak web site will tell you which routes require reservations.

Regardless, if you're traveling over the holidays, reservations would be highly recommended.