There've been a few posts mentioning that sleeper passengers are entitled to use Amtrak lounges (where they are offered).

If I do not book all of my segments in sleepers, which segments qualify me for use of the lounge--the arriving ones or the departing ones?

In other words, let's say I'm taking the Capitol Limited from WAS to CHI and the Empire Builder from CHI to SEA. If I upgrade the CL but not the EB, do I qualify? What about the opposite--riding in coach on the CL but departing in a sleeper on the EB?

If I upgrade on-board to a sleeper on the CL to CHI (and am either ending my trip there or continuing on the EB in coach), can I use the lounge there? Would the conductor give me a new ticket indicating that I was a sleeper passenger on that train?

I think you should be able to use the lounge at either end of the sleeper segment.

If you upgrade on board you should get a receipt for your new accommodation.

If that's the case, that's a good motivator for me to purchase an on-board upgrade if I'm teetering on the fence (as I was on the Cardinal last August).

Will have to try sometime...

While it is always possible that you could bump into an uninformed employee; the rule is if one is traveling in a sleeper today, then one is entitled to use any lounge in the system. It does not matter if you are arriving or departing, it only matters that you are about to spend or have already spent part of the day in a sleeper. Make sure that you hold onto your ticket stub in order to use a lounge in a city where you are arriving.

It also doesn't matter if one arrived or is about to depart a given city in a sleeper. In other words, if you were to depart Boston, NY, or Philly on a regional train to DC, whereupon you will board the Capitol Limited in a sleeper, then you are allowed to use the lounge in the above city where you board the regional, as well as the lounge in DC. One needs to show both the regional ticket and the sleeper ticket to gain this benefit though.

And yes, even on board upgrades count, although obviously only for arriving cities. You’ll need to show the receipt that you got from the conductor, as well as the original ticket stub.

I would understand AlanB's advice to mean if I traveled from NYP to PGH on the Pennsylvanian (Business Class) and connected to the Capitol Limited to CHI in a Sleeper, I could use the Acela Lounge in New York. Also, upon arrival to Chicago, I could use the Metropolitian Lounge there.

Good to know. Now that you've said that, I think it's been addressed before (sounds familiar). But thanks for reiterating it for me.

Now, I just have to find a train whose sleepers are not sold out and proceed with an on-board upgrade! (It seems to be getting harder these days...)

Yes, although just barely since the Capitol Limited's scheduled departure is 11:55 PM. If they were to move that departure time back by 5 minutes, then you would no longer be able to use the lounge in NYP.

Thank You, AlanB.

Just wanted to second all this -- I've had no problems getting into the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago with a sleeping car ticket stub for the train on which I had just arrived; didn't matter to them whether I was waiting for a connecting corridor train, or ending my trip in Chicago and just wanted a quiet place to wait for a friend who I was meeting up with.