Luggage storage at NYC Penn station?
 

I'm wondering if anyone knows if the NYC Penn station still has luggage storage facilities. Also, would I be able to store luggage (a normal sized carryon bag) at say 10 am if my train doesn't leave until 5-6 pm? Thanks for any info!

Last I knew, and this information was last tested about a year ago, if you have an Amtrak ticket valid for transportation on that day then you can day check a bag at the baggage check area. You will need both the ticket and a valid photo ID to do so and the cost is $5 per bag checked.

A ticket on NJ Transit or the Long Island Rail Road used to qualify for use of the baggage check room at the $5/bag/day rate. Is use of the check room now limited to Amtrak passengers only?

Amtrak storage people did it for me early last summer and I didn't have a ticket for travel with me.

Hotels around Manhattan have baggage room personnel who will do it too for the applicable fee. (I'd tip as well.) Hotel Penn comes to mind as doing it.

Actually any large hotel is pretty good for such things.

If an Amtrak ticket is required more recently, would a refundable or changeable train ticket work?

By the way, if you're traveling to an Amtrak destination that offers checked baggage service on one or more trains from Penn Station, you are permitted to check your baggage for free on a train that leaves before your train, and claim your baggage at your destination when you arrive (assuming that the baggage office is open at the destination station when you arrive). You can also check it for free on a train that leaves after your scheduled train, but then you would have to wait at your destination station for the later train to arrive, or claim your baggage the next day.

Living in NY City, I never have a reason to actually day check a bag at Penn. However, I've been with a few friends from out of state who've done day checking. I'm a bit surprised that Amtrak would do a daycheck for a non-Amtrak passenger, but I guess anything is possible.

The reason for the ticket is of course security. Otherwise anyone could in theory check a dangerous package for just the fee.

As for the type of ticket, it shouldn't matter as long as it is an Amtrak ticket.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry7130e/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104)

I expect to be at Penn next week, and will try to get clarification of the ticket policy from the baggage room folks, and report back here.

Thanks for all the replies.

My route doesn't have any trains that take checked luggage, so I'll need to use the luggage storage room. It's more convenient to use one located in the station vs a nearby hotel, especially since I'll want to go to Penn station in the morning to pick up my ticket.

$5?!?! Last time I checked at NYP it was just like other Amtrak stations, $1.50 a piece.

Actually, this is probably a smart move by Amtrak to earn incremental revenue, since demand in The City™ likely supports a higher fee.

I'm not sure when your "last time" was, but its been 5 bucks for at least 5 years now, unless they just dropped the price recently.

And there is no such thing as a typical price at other stations. In New Orleans 4 years ago it was 3 bucks per bag, unless you were a sleeping car passenger in which case it was free. On that same trip in Jacksonville it was $2 per bag, no freebees for sleeping car pax.

In Chicago you can't daycheck a bag with Amtrak, although there are lockers that can be used. I seem to think that a full day will cost around $10 or more depending on the size of the locker you use, but you may be able to squeeze 3 or 4 bags into some of the larger lockers. In St. Louis two summers ago it was supposed to be $1.50 per bag, until we actually tried to daycheck. At which time we were told that no Amtrak station does that. Go figure!

So Amtrak is all over the place on what a typical fee should be, if they even do provide daychecking.

Of course, because no potential bomber would be willing to spend $100 at the ticket window to buy a ticket to Philadelphia before checking his bag.

I've done a day-check a half dozen times in the past year, and I've never been asked for an Amtrak ticket. Sometimes I have one, sometimes I don't.

It's usually free for sleeper pax wherever there's a Met. Lounge/ClubAcla or other FC lounge. At the majority of stations I've parcel checked baggage (BHM, LAX, SAN, and SAS come to mind), the price was $1.50. I do not recall when the prices at NYP went up.

In the Chicago metropolitan lounge, bag checking is free.

No fee arriving BAL on Acela and wanting to check bags for a couple of hours while sightseeing (we then took light rail to the airport and a flight home). I don't think the agent even asked for our ticket. I believe a fee was posted but the agent didn't charge us.