Originally Posted by
john m flores
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There are often times where our ability to travel with our bikes is at the discretion of the travel agent or official that we happen to be dealing with at the moment and not the published rules.
On this particular trip, for example, I had no problems traveling to the start via Amtrak. On the return, however, I was told by the train conductor that the only way that they'd allow my folding bike on the train was if it can be stowed in the overhead storage.
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I have not had a train conductor start making up the rules, but the nearest Amtrak station to my home used to have a manager (and sole employee for that location) that would make up rules all the time. On one trip, I got to the station two hours early, asked for a bike box. He said I had to wait, he had an important conference call. An hour and a half later I asked him about the box. He looked at his watch and said he had authority do deny me getting on the train because I had to be there 45 minutes in advance if I had to check luggage. I reminded him that I had asked him for the box before his "important conference call", things went down hill from there.
The Amtrak overhead compartments are huge, I think your bike would have fit just fine. Amtrak carry on luggage size limit is almost as big as an airline checked bag size.
I agree with Saddle Sores, there must be more to the story on his bike box being rejected. If it was an airline other than Southwest, I suspect it might have been a small regional airline with small plane that the box would not fit in. But I do not think Southwest has any small regionals under contract like that. I used to travel a lot for work and had to bring lots of tools for work, etc. Some smaller regional planes, especially the turboprop planes have small doors and small luggage compartments. They could be problematic, sometimes we had to ship stuff separately to the motel near the work site.