Amtrak Guest Rewards - TRAXX lounge at LAUPT

The Amtrak timetable references the TRAXX lounge at Los Angeles for passengers on train 4, except the reference is in the Coast Starlight timetable. Does anyone know what this lounge is and if it can be accessed by Amtrak passengers?

Amtrak has worked out an agreement with the owners of the Traxx lounge & resturant, to allow Amtrak to use the lounge for its first class sleeping car passengers departing on the Coast Starlight. Since that train leaves at 10:15 AM, the passengers are gone long before the bar actually opens for normal business. It's for that reason that only those departing on the Coast Starlight get this perk in LA.

This of course gives the passengers a nice place to sit and relax while waiting for boarding, and they have juice, coffee, and light snacks available. They'll set up a little podium and one just shows your sleeper tickets to the Amtrak employee at the podium to gain entry. Typically the conductor will also take your tickets too while you're sitting in the lounge.

The lounge is towards the front of the station by the main entrance. If you are walking in the main entrance, the lounge will be to your right just after you pass a big hall. The resturant will be on your left shortly after that, so if you've reached the resturant, you've gone to far.

Of course if your walking away from the tracks towards the main entrance, reverse things. You'll pass the resturant on your right first, with the lounge on the left right after you pass the resturant.

The reference to train 4 in the timetable was a typo; the lounge is indeed only for passengers of northbound Coast Starlight train 14 as AlanB indicated.

The times I have used the TRAXX Lounge, I didn't see much in the way of snacks, but coffee and juices were on the bar for self-service. There's also a bartender who serves complimentary sodas or will sell you eye-openers from the full bar.

I'll be using it next Saturday. I can post pictures and recent experiences then. Any chance I can get a free newspaper there?

I believe that I saw some newspapers around. Not sure if other's brought them in or if Amtrak provided them.

I must say that you LA'ers with AGR status or sleeping accommodations are getting gyped. You have ample Amtrak service to earn S+, plus 3-4 LD trains with first class sleeping compartments, all departing your station, and you've got no lounge to show for it !! You should organize a letter writing campaign to Amtrak and include LA Union station management.

Amtrak has been trying for a while to get permission to setup up a lounge, but the most likely area (way up front where the old ticket windows used to be), apparently gets rented out from time to time and the station owners don't want to give Amtrak permission. Or so my understanding of things goes.

Perhaps it's that Amtrak isn't offering enough dough to convince the owner to turn over that space.

I was here last week and I was not very impressed. Not enough seating (I got crammed into a table by the dimly lit bar and had no room to put my luggage anywhere). No snacks when I arrived at 9 AM and the soda from the bar was quite flat. Luckily I was only here for about ten minutes before we boarded.

It was nice to have the conductor take our tickets here though.

No free newspapers. They did have a Starlight amenities folder last spring, so you could preview coming attractions.

The bar help was just "there."

Amtrak has been trying for a while to get permission to setup up a lounge, but the most likely area (way up front where the old ticket windows used to be), apparently gets rented out from time to time and the station owners don't want to give Amtrak permission. Or so my understanding of things goes.I would have suspected that the location of the old restaurant would have been the prime spot for a lounge.

I wouldn't be surprised, however, if that space gets rented out from time to time, as well.

I would have suspected that the location of the old restaurant would have been the prime spot for a lounge.

I wouldn't be surprised, however, if that space gets rented out from time to time, as well.

Yep, both the old ticket windows and the old restaurant get rented out for both personal events (weddings and the like), and, since this is L.A., for filming (I've seen both locations in movies and TV shows). I'm sure whatever Amtrak is willing to pay, it wouldn't be as much as the building owners make off the occasional rentals.

For what it's worth, the Coast Starlight timetable dated October 26, 2009 corrects the typo and correctly indicates that the lounge is available for passengers of train 14.

When I used the lounge in April it was just 'okay'. Free coffee was offered plus alcohol was available for a fee. No pastries or other food that I recall, but there's plenty of places in the station you can get that from.

There were only ~15 passengers if even in the sleepers so crowding wasn't a problem, but I can see during the summer it wouldn't be very good.