Maple Leaf seating question
 

In a few weeks I'm taking the Maple Leaf from NYC to Toronto, traveling in Business Class, which is just half a car on this train.

An option has sprung up for the three of us to join the train at Croton-Harmon, but I am concerned that by this point there might not be 3 seats together (either 2 plus one across the aisle or 2 with one behind). Last time I took the Maple Leaf, further along the route, Business class seemed to be 100% full.

What do you think? Would we be better off boarding at Penn?

Tough call. You definitely could get shutout, Croton is a pretty popular stop, I would strongly recommend getting on at least at Yonkers (which the Maple Leaf does stop at as of this writing).

Another factor is what day of week are you leaving and/or what the loads are looking like. I would probably book NY-Toronto and board at Yonkers or Croton if the loads are looking light.

Thanks. It's Easter Sunday, April 1. Is there a way to check loads?

On the Amtrak website, when making a booking for April 1, it's not showing business class availability for a reservation greater than 7 people.

Yeah this is a tough one. I myself personally will go to the originating station just so that my group can sit together. For example, on the San Joaquin, I've Ubered to Jack London Station vs taking the Amtrak Thruway to Emeryville which is much cheaper, just so we could get group seating. Generally, if I'm up in SF on the San Joaquin, it is during a long holiday weekend so getting on sooner is important to grab the seat that we want.

Yeah I'm showing 4 empty seats in Business, the BC on the Maple Leaf has a capacity of 12, so you might have issues, but you can always ask when on board if others will switch with you...

or change seats at a downline stop if someone gets off.

Bob H

Actually, the Club-Dinette car, home to BC on the leaf, seats 15 people.

Thought it was 3 x 4 rows, the more the merrier in this car, seats are the best on amtrak :)

Thanks everyone.
I think we've decided to get on at Penn. Of course if Amtrak offered assigned seating, in line with basically any other long-distance train the world, then this wouldn't have been an issue...

They're experimenting with it on Acela: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amtr...ment-whoa.html

I saw that! Not before time!

​​​​5 X 3. And those seats, the frames at least, were the First Class seats on the now retired Metroliners.