Amtrak creates Metropolitan Lounge single-visit pass for coach customers (updated)

WASHINGTON — Amtrak is now offering a single-visit pass to coach passengers at its Metropolitan lounge, for $50 at New York’s Moynihan Train Hall and $35 at other stations where the lounge is offered. Access to the lounge is free for Acela First Class or sleeping-car patrons, and is available for 1,500 points (redeemed online in advance) for Amtrak Guest Rewards members.

In addition to New York, Metropolitan Lounges are located at Amtrak stations at Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, Boston, Philadelphia, and Portland, Ore. Food and beverage selection, quality, and quantity vary by location.

An earlier version of this report noted that Amtrak’s press release announcing the single-visit pass makes no reference to the previously imposed “three-hour rule.” That limits limits visitors’ lounge arrival to three hours before departure unless they are connecting from another Amtrak train the same day or are in the SelectPlus or SelectExecutive Amtrak Guest Rewards membership tier [see “Amtrak introduces time restriction …,” Trains.com, June 30, 2025]. There is also no mention of the three-hour restriction in the description on Amtrak’s lounge page

Amtrak has since clarified to Trains.com that entrance for the single-visit pass or for passengers departing in a sleeping car accommodation or Acela First Class still cannot commence more than three hours before the train’s scheduled departure.

However, there is a policy revision regarding luggage storage. Travelers can now store luggage in Metropolitan Lounges if they arrive earlier the same day. Under the original rules, bags could not be left more than three hours in advance. For passengers arriving earlier, luggage had to be checked at a separate Amtrak baggage counter in the interim. It can now be stored at the lounge, but passengers still are not allowed to stay there with it more than three hours in advance of their train’s departure.

Amtrak Chief Commercial Officer Eliot Hamlisch statement in the release says, “Opening the doors to our Metropolitan Lounge for all our guests adds more time to relax and travel comfortably and conveniently when traveling with Amtrak.

— Updated Aug. 6 at 6:50 p.m. with Amtrak clarification on three-hour restriction regarding Metropolitan Lounge visits.