Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge at Los Angeles Union Station
While we are very familiar with airport lounges thanks to the Priority Pass membership, Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge at Los Angeles Union Station was our first train station lounge.
We got to visit it before our trip on Pacific Surfliner. The lounge access came with our Business Class tickets.
Table of Contents
Overview
Amtrak is the national passenger railroad of the United States. It operates over 30 US train routes, covering more than 500 destinations in North America.
Out of hundreds Amtrak stations in the country, only these one have lounges:
- Boston, MA – South Station
- Chicago, IL- Union Station
- Los Angeles, CA – Union Station
- Portland, OR – Union Station
- New York, NY – Moynihan Train Hall
- Washington, DC – Union Station
- Philadelphia, PA – William H Gray III 30th Street Station
These lounges offer a quiet seating area, complimentary snacks and non-alcoholic beverages, and free Wi-Fi.
The lounges are staffed with attendants who can assist with reservations, ticketing and local information
Select locations also offer complimentary access to conference rooms. They can be booked on a first-come, first-served basis.
Plus there are unattended, separate waiting rooms aka “unstaffed lounges” in New Orleans, St. Louis, St. Paul/Minneapolis and Wilmington stations.
Lounge Location
Los Angeles Union Station is the largest railroad station in the Western USA. The station building is grand and absolutely beautiful with marble and tile walls and terra cotta floors.
Fun fact: LA Union Station is quite a movie star (not surprising given its location!). You can see it in such movies as The Italian Job, The Dark Knight Rises, Blade Runner, Pearl Harbor, and many more. Plus numerous TV series and music videos.
The Metropolitan Lounge is located on the second floor of Los Angeles Union Station. To find it, head towards the car rentals and then take the elevator on the left to the lounge.
Lounge Access
As I have mentioned in the beginning of the post, the lounge access came with our Business Class tickets.
The lounge is also available to Amtrak sleeping car passengers, and Amtrak Guest Rewards members (Select Plus and Select Executive levels).
The Lounge
The lounge hours are from 5 am to 10 pm.
The lounge is on the smaller side with a few tables and several rows of armchairs with tray tables. There were just a few passengers in the lounge when we were there, but I could imagine it getting crowded on a busy day.
Refreshment choices on the day we visited were:
- Chips
- Cookies
- Soda
- Coffee
- Tea
The Service
Final Thoughts
While this was not our favorite lounge visit, we always appreciate an opportunity to escape a busy transportation hub to enjoy some snacks before continuing on our adventures. We loved zipping around the train tracks and platforms in the golf cart on the way to our train!
