Inspired by this blog post about an overnight journey by coach on Flixbus, I will describe my experience using their sister operation Flixtrain.
Last December I needed to get from Munster to Hamburg, and the cheapest way to do this was by Flixtrain. Flixtrain [at the time] operated only two routes having taken over the operations of the only two open access operators attempting to run in Germany. These were Locomore, operating between Stuttgart and Berlin, and HKX, Hamburg-Koln-Express, operating between Hamburg and Cologne.
Booking on the Flixbus (bus) website was easy enough, although it seemed unusually punitive regarding carrying excess luggage, which I suspect is working/policy carried over from the coach operations. At 39 Euros, the fare was extremely competitive compared to Deutsche Bahn, who were only selling the equivalent of a standard open. However it was a Friday afternoon, a time when you should be able to fill trains without many discounted tickets available.
I didn't know what to expect from Flixtrain: their journey time was competitive with DB, but was aware that their rolling stock (carriages) were relatively old (which isn't usually a problem) having seen HKX trains previously. However, on the morning of the day of travel I received a text message from Flixbus:
Although I got the jist of it before putting it through Google Translate, a few minutes later an English version arrived:
I used Google maps to work out the quickest possible road journey time between Munster and Hamburg, and not withstanding the diversion to Osnabruck, and then the fact a coach will not be able to take advantage of the autobahn [lack of] speed limit, the arrival would be much too late for my plans: meeting friends and continuing on to Rostock by train.
Therefore I reverted to plan A, and bought a Deutsche Bahn ticket at the walk up fare, figuring I'd claim something from Flixbus/Flixtrain and failing that try to get a refund via my credit card.
The Flixtrain was timetabled to depart at 12:49, same as the replacement coach service. It did not show any sign of delay/cancellation on the departure screens. As I was waiting for the DB service from Munster to Hamburg that I now had a ticket for, this arrived on the adjacent platform.....
I can't fault Flixbus Facebook/social media team for their speed in replying to me, but like so many transport social media people they didn't have a clue what was going on and didn't seem to bothered about asking Flixtrain for an explanation.
What was weird though was that other people boarded the train at Munster. Had they all got the text message? Was it targeted at certain customers?
To their credit, upon sending a copy of my DB ticket, Flixbus did refund the additional DB fare.
The Flixtrain was on time: had they had a technical issue (such as having to remove a defective carriage) I'd expect some delay to have been incurred. My suspicion is that the Flixtrain service was overbooked, maybe intentionally, and they decided to use a coach to take [perceived] excess demand. Maybe this is their Friday afternoon/run up to Christmas standard operating plan.
I don't think I'll book again to find out!
Last December I needed to get from Munster to Hamburg, and the cheapest way to do this was by Flixtrain. Flixtrain [at the time] operated only two routes having taken over the operations of the only two open access operators attempting to run in Germany. These were Locomore, operating between Stuttgart and Berlin, and HKX, Hamburg-Koln-Express, operating between Hamburg and Cologne.
Booking on the Flixbus (bus) website was easy enough, although it seemed unusually punitive regarding carrying excess luggage, which I suspect is working/policy carried over from the coach operations. At 39 Euros, the fare was extremely competitive compared to Deutsche Bahn, who were only selling the equivalent of a standard open. However it was a Friday afternoon, a time when you should be able to fill trains without many discounted tickets available.
I didn't know what to expect from Flixtrain: their journey time was competitive with DB, but was aware that their rolling stock (carriages) were relatively old (which isn't usually a problem) having seen HKX trains previously. However, on the morning of the day of travel I received a text message from Flixbus:
Although I got the jist of it before putting it through Google Translate, a few minutes later an English version arrived:
I used Google maps to work out the quickest possible road journey time between Munster and Hamburg, and not withstanding the diversion to Osnabruck, and then the fact a coach will not be able to take advantage of the autobahn [lack of] speed limit, the arrival would be much too late for my plans: meeting friends and continuing on to Rostock by train.
Therefore I reverted to plan A, and bought a Deutsche Bahn ticket at the walk up fare, figuring I'd claim something from Flixbus/Flixtrain and failing that try to get a refund via my credit card.
The Flixtrain was timetabled to depart at 12:49, same as the replacement coach service. It did not show any sign of delay/cancellation on the departure screens. As I was waiting for the DB service from Munster to Hamburg that I now had a ticket for, this arrived on the adjacent platform.....
I can't fault Flixbus Facebook/social media team for their speed in replying to me, but like so many transport social media people they didn't have a clue what was going on and didn't seem to bothered about asking Flixtrain for an explanation.
What was weird though was that other people boarded the train at Munster. Had they all got the text message? Was it targeted at certain customers?
To their credit, upon sending a copy of my DB ticket, Flixbus did refund the additional DB fare.
The Flixtrain was on time: had they had a technical issue (such as having to remove a defective carriage) I'd expect some delay to have been incurred. My suspicion is that the Flixtrain service was overbooked, maybe intentionally, and they decided to use a coach to take [perceived] excess demand. Maybe this is their Friday afternoon/run up to Christmas standard operating plan.
I don't think I'll book again to find out!
