Ultimate Guide to the Amtrak USA Rail Pass
People generally don’t think about train travel being a thing in the United States the way they think about it in Europe, but if you want to travel across the United States by train, the Amtrak USA Rail Pass is the way to do it!
Of course, we know this is a lot of information, but if you’re seriously considering using the USA Rail Pass, this is your ultimate guide to understanding how it works, all the restrictions, and all the possibilities in one easy-to-read format!
CONTENTS
What is the Amtrak USA Rail Pass and How Does It Work?
Amtrak’s USA Rail Pass gives you 10 train rides (aka “legs”) to use in 30 days to go almost anywhere in the United States. We used all 10 legs to cross the country and back, spending time in 7 cities along the way (8, depending on how you count it), many of which we had never been to before. It certainly was a bucket list trip!
Other passengers we met on the trains were using the USA Rail Pass to go across the country one-way and then fly back (not using all 10 of their legs), and there are many others who use the trains themselves as the vacation. We think the way we set up our trip was perfect, as we got to see huge portions of the country that we never had before while spending a few nights in-between in a new city, but it sure could be exhausting at times. Many other passengers were surprised when we said we were going to use all 10 legs of our passes, but we wanted to prove what an amazing time you can have if you do! You can read all about the route we took in the ’Our Experience’ section below.
Restrictions on the Amtrak USA Rail Pass
Time Restrictions
Once you purchase your Amtrak USA Rail Pass, you have 120 days to finish using it, but all of the travel must be completed within 30 consecutive days, within those 120 days.
For example, you cannot start your 30 days of travel 110 days after you purchase your pass; that would only give you 10 days of travel. On the other hand, if you start your travel 60 days after you purchase the pass, you still only have the next 30 days to use all 10 legs on the pass. All travel must be completed by the 120th day, so you must either start your 30 days of travel no more than 90 days after you purchase the pass, or you’ll have to forfeit the extra days.
While we were planning our trip, we were actually given false information by an Amtrak employee, stating that you just had to start your final leg by 120 days after purchasing the pass, but when we went to book our last train leg online with the pass (which would be a 35-hour ride), it gave us an error. We called again and explained the situation to another Amtrak representative, who cleared it up for us that the travel must be completed by the 120th day, but since we were told the wrong thing by a different Amtrak employee before, they helped us get our last train scheduled in the time frame we had planned, departing on the 120th day but not arriving to our destination until the 121st.
The USA Rail Pass is NOT a Ticket
Purchasing the USA Rail Pass does not mean that you get to just hop on and off of Amtrak trains at a whim; you still must make reservations for each individual train that you want to take. If there’s availability, you can make all your reservations last-minute, but we don’t recommend it. Learn more about this in the Reservations section of this article.
Coach Class Only
This is the biggest deal breaker for most travelers considering the Amtrak USA Rail Pass: your ticket is good for coach class ONLY.
No, you cannot pay to upgrade to a private room in the sleeper cars. No, you cannot pay to upgrade to business class. Not even for the overnight trains or the 46-hour train ride on the Empire Builder. USA Rail Pass holders are in coach class, period.
Before you get too bent out of shape, please note that coach on Amtrak trains is very different from coach on an airline. Although the specific details of coach class vary depending on the train route, a few things are consistent:
There are only 2 seats on either side of the aisle, so there is no middle seat.
The seats are wide and cushioned, and they recline.
You will be able to see the views out of the large windows on both sides of the train no matter where you are sitting in coach.
We review the coach seat set-up on each Amtrak train that we take, so you can hear about what the train is like on each individual route.
We’ve been told by other travelers that Amtrak used to allow USA Rail Pass passengers to pay to upgrade to a private room, but this is no longer the case and there’s no telling if Amtrak is ever going to allow it again or not.
It’s worth noting as well that sometimes having coach seats can actually be better because if you’re in a private room, you usually only have the views out of one side of the train, which sometimes means you’re looking at the rock face of a mountain instead of the incredible view of the valley on the other side. There is an observation car on many trains (but not all), but if it’s full then you’ll be stuck with whatever view you have in your room. However, if you have coach seats, you’ll still be able to see out the large windows on both sides and you’ll often be able to move around to empty seats to see out the other side for a little while if you want (just please do not hang out in someone else’s seats while they’re gone).
Route Restrictions
Almost every Amtrak route is available for you to use with the USA Rail Pass… almost. Here’s a list of the lines that are NOT included:
Canadian stations on the Maple Leaf route (it’s the USA Rail Pass, after all)
Acela route between Boston and Washington, D.C. (not to worry, the Northeast Regional also does this route and is included on the pass)
Auto Train between Washington, D.C., to Orlando, FL (the Silver Service / Palmetto also does this route and is included, it just won’t carry your car)
Specific Thruway Buses numbered 7000-7999 (for whatever weird reason)
You also cannot use this pass to go back and forth on the same route every time. You are limited to two roundtrips between the same two stations, as well as all the stations in-between, on a given route. Amtrak offers multi-ride passes for regularly commuting between two stations instead, but the USA Rail Pass is meant to be used to explore more of the country than that!
One more thing that Amtrak seems to have recently added in is that the USA Rail Pass is not applicable to Flexible Fares; it is only available for Saver and Value Fares. We haven’t run into any issues with this, but we want to mention it just in case.
What Counts as a Leg on the Amtrak USA Rail Pass
Anytime you board and then get off a train OR bus, that counts as one leg on your USA Rail Pass, even if it’s a connection to get you from point A to point B.
For example, traveling from Los Angeles to San Francisco on Amtrak, you board the Coast Starlight train to Emeryville, but then have a connecting bus to get across the Bay from Emeryville to San Francisco proper, which takes less than 30 minutes. Because the journey from LA to San Francisco is a train AND a bus, it counts as 2 legs on your USA Rail Pass. On the other hand, if you take the Coast Starlight train from LA to Emeryville but don’t book your trip all the way to San Francisco, but instead you take other transportation across the Bay into San Francisco proper (such as an Uber or public transit), it will only count as 1 leg on your USA Rail Pass.
At the same time, if you are boarding a route, getting off, and then getting back on, it will count as 2 separate legs.
For example, the California Zephyr Amtrak train travels all the way from Emeryville, CA, to Chicago, passing through Denver (among many other cities) along the way. If you take the train directly from Emeryville to Chicago in one go, it counts as 1 leg on your USA Rail Pass, but if you get off the train in Denver and get back on the same route the next day, it counts as 2 legs.
Blackout Dates
There are NO blackout dates for the Amtrak USA Rail Pass!
Luggage
The Amtrak luggage policy is particularly generous, especially if you’re used to air travel where they nickel and dime you at every corner. On Amtrak, you’re allowed 2 personal items, 2 carry-on items, and 2 checked bags, all for FREE. If needed, you can check two additional bags for a $20 fee per bag (for a total of 4 checked bags per person).
However, not all routes and stations offer checked luggage, so you should check each route you’ll be taking as well as each station page on the Amtrak website for your departure and arrival stations to make sure all 3 parties offer checked luggage service.
Checking bags means that you’ll need to arrive at the station a minimum of 1 hour before train departure, because that’s usually the cut-off point for them to accept any more checked bags. And we do recommend that you check as much of your luggage as possible so you’ll have as little as possible to keep track of while you’re on the train.
All trains have open-shelf storage space for large carry-on bags (although some have more space than others), but it’s going to be right next to the doors to board and get off the train. On the double-decker trains like the Coast Starlight, California Zephyr, and Empire Builder, that means that any large carry-ons you bring will be out of your sight for the majority of the ride, but still accessible. It’s a good idea to get a small TSA lock for your suitcase for these instances, just in case another passenger decides to go snooping. We didn’t have any problems with that on the trains, but still, it could happen.
For smaller carry-ons, there is a small, open shelf above the seats in coach, and on most trains there’s plenty of legroom to keep items at your feet as well. For our overnights on the train, we put our backpacks with valuables under the raised leg rests at our seats for extra security, and again, we didn’t have any problems.
As far as size and weight restrictions, we’re giving you a straightforward breakdown below, but you can also visit this page on Amtrak’s website.
Luggage | Max Weight Each | Max Size Each |
Personal Item | 25 lbs | 14 x 11 x 7 inches |
Carry-On Bags | 50 lbs | 28 x 22 x 14 inches |
Checked Bags | 50 lbs | 75 linear inches |
Amtrak was not particular AT ALL about weight and size of our carry-on bags, but they DO weigh your checked bags every time, so make sure you’re within the restrictions on those.
As far as other special items, check out this page of Amtrak’s website for all the details and restrictions. They cover medical equipment, baby items, bicycles, surf boards, skis, sports equipment, and so on.
Food & Drinks
Food and drinks are not included with the USA Rail Pass because you’re in coach class. Since you can’t upgrade to the sleepers, you’ll be on your own for food and drinks, but not to worry: there is a cafe on each train. You are also allowed to bring on your own food and non-alcoholic drinks onboard, which is what we usually did. We always used one of our personal bag allowances for a food bag from the local supermarket, full of non-perishable items we would use for meals and snacks.
We have another article coming very soon all about food and drinks on Amtrak trains, so make sure you’re signed up for our newsletter (at the bottom of this page) so you’ll receive that guide as well.
Age Restrictions
You must be 16 years old to travel without restrictions on Amtrak trains and other services. They have strict rules for unaccompanied minors ages 13-15 that can be found on this page of their website. Children 12 and under must travel with another person who is at least 18 years old.
Pets
To our amazement, Amtrak actually does allow pets on their trains. There are a ton of restrictions, with extra fees, but it is possible. Here’s the criteria:
Only dogs and cats are allowed
Must weigh no more than 20 lbs with the combined weight of the pet and their carrier
Extra fees apply, which vary by route, but are usually $29-$39
Maximum travel time is 7 hours, including transfer time between trains on multiple-segment trips
Maximum of 5 pets per train - This means you should book as early as possible!
Only 1 pet per customer
Pet must be at least 8 weeks old
Pets must remain in their carrier at all times while in the stations and onboard the trains
Pets must remain with you at all times but cannot go into food service cars - This rule doesn’t make sense if you’re traveling alone, but that’s what Amtrak says *shrug*
The carrier must be kept on the floor - Amtrak says it must be placed under your seat, but that doesn’t make sense with how most of the seats are set up with their leg rests *another shrug*
Their carrier must be leak-proof and well ventilated
The carrier can be no larger than 19” long x 14” wide x 10.5” high
This pet carrier counts as a piece of carry-on luggage
Pets are not allowed on the Auto Train, Keystone Service, Pennsylvanian, San Joaquins, Capitol Corridor, or Thruway Buses
You must sign a Pet Waiver for every travel segment. At most stations, you must complete this at the station at least 30 minutes prior to boarding. At some smaller stations, you must fill it out with an Amtrak employee as you are boarding.
It is also worth noting that this criteria does NOT apply to service animals but DOES apply to emotional support animals. You can read more about the distinction and service animal expectations on this page of Amtrak’s website.
Cancellation Policy
As always, cancellation policies can be super complicated. We’ll break it down for you in plain terms:
If you haven’t booked any legs yet using your USA Rail Pass, then you have 120 days from the original date of purchase to get a full refund.
If you have booked any individual legs using your USA Rail Pass, you have until 48 hours prior to departure of your first scheduled leg to cancel the whole pass for a full refund.
If you have booked a leg using your pass and it is departing in less than 48 hours, you can get a refund minus a 25% fee.
If you’ve booked one or more legs using your USA Rail Pass but need to make changes, there are no change fees.
Once you start your first leg that you booked with your pass, it is non-refundable.
If you book a leg and miss it without canceling that individual reservation, the entire pass is not refundable.
The USA Rail Pass is non-transferable.
Of course, for all the most up-to-date information, visit this page of Amtrak’s website.
Where Can You Go with the Amtrak USA Rail Pass?
Now onto the fun stuff!
As we mentioned, a lot of fellow travelers we’ve talked to who have used the USA Rail Passes used the train itself as their vacation instead of using it as a mode of transportation to visit different places like we did. Personally, I think the way we used it is MUCH better, as there are hundreds of places you could visit on Amtrak trains, including huge cities and tiny towns. Although we used it to visit big cities, I think it would be perfect to use to explore smaller towns that you wouldn’t normally choose to fly into.
Here’s a list of some of the major destinations you could choose to visit using the USA Rail Pass:
Western USA:
San Francisco
San Diego
Portland
Seattle
Tucson
Glacier National Park (Whitefish, MT)
Northeastern USA:
New York City
Boston
Philadelphia
Washington, D.C.
Buffalo
Albany
Baltimore
Providence
Virginia Beach
Central USA:
Chicago
St. Louis
Kansas City
Minneapolis
Milwaukee
Cleveland
Cincinnati
Indianapolis
Albuquerque
Oklahoma City
Southern USA:
New Orleans
Orlando
Miami
Jacksonville
Tampa
Atlanta
San Antonio
Dallas
Memphis
Charlotte
Raleigh
There are nearly endless possibilities of where you can go with Amtrak’s USA Rail Pass because there are tons of tiny towns between each of those major cities! Check out Amtrak’s full list of routes to explore all the possibilities, but be warned: it’s easy to fall down a rabbit-hole spending hours poring over the options. (And don’t forget about the restrictions we mentioned for the passes!)
How to Make Reservations with the Amtrak USA Rail Pass
First things first, how much does an Amtrak USA Rail Pass cost? At full price, a pass is $500 per person for all ages 2+. Amtrak also offers sales once or twice a year to get $100 off that price, so we recommend signing up for Amtrak Guest Rewards so you’ll receive their newsletter and be notified about sales.
Pro Tip: When signing up for Amtrak Guest Rewards, make sure your name on your account is exactly how it appears on your ID. Otherwise, you won’t actually earn any points.
Even at the $500 price point, the USA Rail Pass is an amazing deal for long trips with multiple trains, just make sure you understand all the restrictions before booking, such as the time constraints and the fact that there are NO upgrades allowed from coach class.
We did the math and our route would have cost us around $950 per person if we had done the same trips without the USA Rail Pass, so it really is a GREAT deal!
Now remember, the USA Rail Pass is not a ticket. You must reserve each individual train or bus ride using your pass after you purchase it, and we recommend booking all of your legs before you leave on your first one because there are some routes that frequently sell out, such as the California Zephyr and the Northeast Regional. Even if there’s only a short section of the route that is sold out and you want to take the entire route, as often happens on the California Zephyr, they cannot sell you a ticket because of that short portion of the route that is already full. When we were leaving Washington, D.C., to go to Boston on the Northeast Regional, we nearly missed our train and tried to book a later one, but all other trains departing later in the day were already sold out, so we just had to hurry up and make it to the one we already had booked, which we did.
With that being said, you CAN make changes to your individual leg reservations at the last minute if there is availability, without penalties, which is just one of the reasons why it is so important to have the Amtrak app on your phone while you’re traveling. You’ll be able to book, view, manage, and check in for all segments of your trip using the app, as well as view the timeline for the route you’re currently on. Trains often run a little late, as is the nature of ground travel, but the conductor will rarely tell you about it. Checking on the timeline while you’re en route to your destination will help you keep track of when you can actually expect to arrive.
Pro Tip: As you board each train, take screenshots of the route timeline in the Amtrak app so you can still reference it even if you don’t have cell service on the train.
Speaking of possible delays, it is unwise to book any train layovers the way that you would book them for air travel, with just a couple hours cushion. We did this once on our trip, transferring in Chicago from the California Zephyr to the Capitol Limited, and the last several hours on the California Zephyr were a bit stressful, as we were running late and weren’t sure if we’d make our connection. Most Amtrak trains only depart once per day, and some only once every few days, so if you miss it, you could be stuck for quite a while. It’s better to just plan to stay overnight and enjoy the city in-between rather than stress out about missing a connecting train and being stuck overnight with nowhere to go.
If you do miss a connecting train due to another Amtrak delay, you can call customer service (1-800-872-7245) to rebook your leg without it costing you on your USA Rail Pass. However, if you miss a train for any reason other than an Amtrak delay and you don’t cancel your ticket before the departure time, it will still cost you 1 leg on your USA Rail Pass.
As far as what credit card to charge the pass purchase on, it was classified as a travel purchase for us. Hopefully that information helps you get the most points you can out of it!
So start planning your route, look for the sales, and get excited! Refer back to the ‘What Counts as a Leg’ section of this article as you’re planning so you understand just how many legs you’ll need to get where you’re going.
Our Experience
We mapped out our route based mostly on visiting friends and family all over the country, then we filled in a gap or two with other places we hadn’t been before. We stayed in most cities for 2-3 nights between the train legs, so we jokingly refer to this trip as our “highlights tour”.
Leg 1: the Coast Starlight train from Los Angeles to Emeryville
This scenic train ride follows the Pacific coastline for quite a while from southern to central California, then moves inland to travel through wine country as you continue north to the San Francisco area. Read our full review of this train ride here.
Leg 2: the California Zephyr train from Emeryville to Denver
The most scenic train ride in the country! Get waterfront views as you depart the San Francisco area, then head into Tahoe National Forest, where you’ll have hours of hills covered in pine trees and you’ll pass by Donner Lake. Day 2 of this 34-hour train ride is even more spectacular, winding through Rocky Mountain canyons, some of which are only accessible via train or the river below. This was our favorite route of the whole trip! Learn more about it here.
Leg 3: the California Zephyr from Denver to Chicago
This portion of the route was rather forgettable in comparison to the other routes we did, but necessary in order to get across the majority of the country so we could make it to the east coast. Chicago is a major transportation hub for Amtrak and houses what many people believe is the most impressive Union Station.
This was the only time that we had a short layover planned - 3.5 hours - and we do not recommend doing that. Our train coming into Chicago was running late, and we stressed for the last few hours on this route about if we would make it in time. The train ended up making up the time (which happens often) so we still made it, but it would definitely be better to not put yourself through that since most Amtrak trains only depart once per day. If we had missed our connecting train, we would have had to find accommodations in Chicago to stay the night and get on the next train the next day. Granted, if that were to happen, we would have raised hell with Amtrak about paying for our overnight accommodations since it would have been their fault, but again, who wants to deal with that while you’re traveling?
Leg 4: the Capitol Limited from Chicago to Pittsburgh
This train route actually goes all the way from Chicago to Washington, DC, but we only took it overnight to Pittsburgh, where we stayed with friends for a few days. This train was also running late, dropping us off in Pittsburgh 2 hours late, but that meant that we arrived at 7-something in the morning, so it wasn’t that big of a deal for us. Just remember to stay flexible when traveling by train!
Leg 5: the Pennsylvanian from Pittsburgh to New York City
This route surprised us with its beauty, traveling through the forested Allegheny Mountains and around World Famous Horseshoe Curve. Since we were riding in early October, we got to see some lovely autumn colors. See everything about the Pennsylvanian train in our review here.
Leg 6: the Northeast Regional from New York City to Washington, D.C.
At only 4 hours, this was our shortest train ride of the month, and it’s also the least comfortable train we rode. Amtrak trains differ depending on the route you’re taking, and the Northeast Regional is definitely more of a commuter-style train, not a leisure train. It’s still more comfortable than an airplane though. We describe what coach is like on this route in our review article here.
It’s worth mentioning too that the Northeast Regional is Amtrak’s most popular route, so make sure you book your tickets for it as far in advance as possible because they often sell out.
Leg 7: the Northeast Regional from Washington, D.C., to Boston
After a few days exploring D.C., we hopped back on the Northeast Regional to travel all the way back up through New York City to get to Boston. The sights were surprisingly nice, seeing lots of rivers and lakes, the Long Island Sound, and awesome skyline views of Upper Manhattan.
This was the only time during our month-long trip that had such significant delays that we had to cancel our plans for later that day, but the delay was out of Amtrak’s control. There evidently was a fire on an overhead bridge in Philadelphia that we were supposed to pass under, so we instead had to wait at another train station while it was being resolved before we could pass through. We ended up being 5 hours late arriving in Boston.
Leg 8: the Lake Shore Limited from Boston to Chicago
We started our journey back across the country heading west on this route, which was somehow at the same time very scenic and very disappointing due to the scheduling making us miss the actual lakefront views of Lake Erie in the dark. Massachusetts put on a beautiful autumn display for us though, and we arrived in Chicago on time. See more and learn from our big mistake on this route in our full review.
Leg 9: the Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle
This leg was by far the most disappointing of our trip, and unfortunately it was also the longest. 46 hours through the Northern U.S., traveling along the Great Plains of North Dakota and Montana for the majority of the time while the sun was up. Thank goodness for the incredible scenery of the Pacific Northwest for the last few hours of the ride, coming into Seattle. You can see our very honest review with all the details you need to know about this route here. Read this before you book it!
Leg 10: the Coast Starlight from Seattle to Los Angeles
Finishing out our month strong on this scenic route was definitely the way to go! It was another long ride, clocking in at 35 hours, but at least the scenery was nice, traveling past iconic mountains (although difficult to see through the forests) and again along the Pacific coastline as we arrived home to Los Angeles. We even got a gorgeous sunset over the ocean to welcome us home!
To see all of our videos about Amtrak train travel, including route reviews, sight highlights, and quick Q&A’s, check out our Amtrak playlist on YouTube.
Our Verdict
This was a bucket list trip and it was super affordable thanks to the USA Rail Passes! It would be such a fun family vacation too; you could let each member of the family choose somewhere to go, then map out each place and build your route! You can visit major cities or tiny towns, whatever floats your boat!
I’m so glad we used these passes the way we did for our first time using them because we got to visit so many major cities one or both of us had never been to before and we got to visit friends we hadn’t seen in years. However, next time we use the USA Rail Passes, I think we’ll go to smaller towns that would be harder (or more expensive) to fly to. The beauty of this pass is that you actually get to SEE so much more of this enormous country than you do just flying over it, and you can do it with a drink in your hand since you’re not driving!
Quick Reference Guide
What | |
How It Works | Use 10 train segments to travel all over the United States in 30 days. See the Restrictions section of this article for all the nitty-gritty details. |
Destinations | There are practically endless options for places to visit with the USA Rail Pass, including big cities and small towns, so there’s something for everyone! |
Time Commitment | Make a BIG vacation out of this as a bucket list trip like we did! |
Cost | $500 per person for all ages 2+ |
Credit Card Category | Travel |
Reservation Info | Buy your USA Rail Pass on Amtrak’s website, then use it to book all of your individual train legs on their website or app. |
Our Verdict | The USA Rail Passes are such a great value! Train travel isn’t for everyone, as it’s much slower, but you get to see so much more of the country this way and the seats are far more comfortable than on an airline. These passes make long-term travel way more affordable! |
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