Eurolines/Flixbus

I spent a few days in Paris last week (due to my desire not to see in Brexit here in the UK) and used the Eurolines/Flixbus service from London Victoria.

On the outward journey last thursday (30/1) I used the Eurolines service from to Paris Gallieni. I was originally booked on a Flixbus service and had paid extra to reserve a front seat but arrived at Victoria earlier than expected and ended up buying a new ticket (I asked a Flixbus driver on an earlier coach if I could travel early and was told no). No reserved seats but ended up getting a seat on the back row which was reasonably comfortable. Chargers weren't working and the on board toilet didn't have soap. Apart from when we disembarked for a passport check upon reaching the tunnel in Folkestone there was no comfort stop en route. Seemed to be one driver throughout the trip too. Route from Calais to Paris was via Charles De Gaulle Airport. Also was really shocked upon reaching the Eurolines terminal about how you had to use an escalator to exit and there didn't seem to be a lift for wheelchair users or those with heavy luggage.

Returned on Saturday 1st February on the 1415 Flixbus service from Bercy Seine. Sat in the front seat which I had paid extra to reserve. Coach was half full if that so lots of room for passengers to spread out and the driver used two of the front seats for his belongings. Ran non stop to Calais spare for a 10 minute service station stop and upon reaching Folkestone ran non stop to London. Driver was a really lively character and made the journey a really pleasant experience. Coach was a modern bova and reasonably comfy although again there was no soap in the on board toilet and most of the chargers were not working.

Anyone else on here ever used Eurolines or Flixbus and if so what was your experience like?

I used Flixbus for the first time in early January, the 14.45 from Wrocław to Liberec. The coach was almost new, on time, spotless and comfortable. The two young lads driving did an excellent job, driving smoothly and carefully at all times (something that isn't always the case on continental buses lol). Apart from the fact that the service was much faster than the rail equivalent (the admittedly gorgeous journey via Szklarska Poręba ) the clincher for me was their policy of allowing customers to buy and choose two seats together. For a big fat lad like me, that was a godsend, guaranteeing me a comfy journey and meaning that some other poor sod didn't have theirs ruined by being squeezed in next to me! I'd definitely use them again. Oh, and they are happy for customers to have a few quiet tins of beer to help while away the trip

I'd use coaches more often if I could guarantee a reserved double seat at a reasonable price, as I too am a bit wide (both by podge and by build) for one coach seat, nor is there usually enough legroom (but this can be worked around by sitting in the aisle seat and "manspreading" into the window seat). At present on most operators you can't even do it by paying two fares.

Bletchleyite said:

I'd use coaches more often if I could guarantee a reserved double seat at a reasonable price, as I too am a bit wide (both by podge and by build) for one coach seat, nor is there usually enough legroom (but this can be worked around by sitting in the aisle seat and "manspreading" into the window seat). At present on most operators you can't even do it by paying two fares.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that pretty much puts me off coach travel normally, I think it would be a great idea for Megabus etc to try- it made the journey as good as 1st class for me. I'm 6 foot, and the legroom on the Flixbus Volvo coach was more than adequate. The fare for a 3 hour ride was 12 euros per seat

beermaddavep said:

Yeah, that pretty much puts me off coach travel normally, I think it would be a great idea for Megabus etc to try- it made the journey as good as 1st class for me. I'm 6 foot, and the legroom on the Flixbus Volvo coach was more than adequate. The fare for a 3 hour ride was 12 euros per seat

Click to expand...

I'd consider it even if it was double the currently available fare. I don't see why they should care whether they sell two seats to one person for their own use or to two people, the effect is the same.

Bletchleyite said:

I'd consider it even if it was double the currently available fare. I don't see why they should care whether they sell two seats to one person for their own use or to two people, the effect is the same.

Click to expand...

If I'm not mistaken, this is possible on just about every megabus trip now, and has been since September?

My Missus has switched from Eurostar to Flixbus for her trips between London and north-east France due to the ongoing French rail strikes.
Apart from the journey time, the main downside is the dreary coach station at Paris Bercy if she has to change there and the rather long connections.
However, it's vastly cheaper than Eurostar and she says she may stick with them when the strikes are over.
CL

RT4038 said:

If I'm not mistaken, this is possible on just about every megabus trip now, and has been since September?

Click to expand...

You can select seats, but you can't book two seats that I can see. If there is an unoccupied seat it will presumably be given to a standby if there is one.

beermaddavep said:

I used Flixbus for the first time in early January, the 14.45 from Wrocław to Liberec. The coach was almost new, on time, spotless and comfortable. The two young lads driving did an excellent job, driving smoothly and carefully at all times (something that isn't always the case on continental buses lol). Apart from the fact that the service was much faster than the rail equivalent (the admittedly gorgeous journey via Szklarska Poręba ) the clincher for me was their policy of allowing customers to buy and choose two seats together. For a big fat lad like me, that was a godsend, guaranteeing me a comfy journey and meaning that some other poor sod didn't have theirs ruined by being squeezed in next to me! I'd definitely use them again. Oh, and they are happy for customers to have a few quiet tins of beer to help while away the trip

Click to expand...

How is the two seats together enforced ? What if someone asks tosit in the seat?

What puts me off coach travel too > the megabus overnights , would happily pay for extra seat and no one next to me .

Bletchleyite said:

You can select seats, but you can't book two seats that I can see. If there is an unoccupied seat it will presumably be given to a standby if there is one.

Click to expand...

Well yes, you can't buy one ticket and reserve two seats, but I doubt you would be expecting an operator to allow this anyway. But you can buy two tickets and buy two seat reservations, next to each other. In this case you will get both seats to yourself and the empty reserved seat will not be given to a standby. There is an 'exceptional circumstances' rule, and in that case you can claim your extra ticket and reservation cost back. Probably best to tell the driver that you are using both tickets when you check in on boarding, to avoid any assumptions of 'no-show' being made!

Note that this facility is only available if you pay the two seat reservation fees - you can't buy two tickets in the unreserved section and claim that the empty seat next to you is yours!

Flixbus almost always use coaches with adjustable width seats, where you can pull the aisle seat about 10 cm away from the window seat. Not many people seem to know about this but if I have the window seat I always move the aisle seat to maximum distance away as soon as I sit down.

It improves privacy hugely and means you don't have to touch your neighbour unless he/she is very fat.

The usual argument (European buses are better because they are better funded) doesn't apply here as Flixbus is entirely commercial. So there is no excuse for National Express and Megabus not to have them.

route101 said:

How is the two seats together enforced ? What if someone asks tosit in the seat?

Click to expand...

There is no unallocated seating. Most tickets are prebooked via apps etc.
Turn up and go passengers pay the drivers assistant and are allocated a seat by him/her before they board the coach, once all seats are allocated then that's it! Every ticket clearly shows your seat number(s). As an aside, I am soft enough that if someone was desperate to travel, I'd let em as long as they paid me half my ticket price back, although that situation is very unlikely to happen since they wouldn't be allowed on the bus without an allocated seat in the 1st place. As for someone already on board wanting to swap their seat for my free one- I can't see anybody being daft enough to swap a normal seat and sit next to a big fat bloke

Eurolines is now bought by Flixbus, although not every route has been part of the purchase package.

But generally, over the past few years I've avoided Eurolines like the plague. I've made numerous journeys by coach, from Brussels to/from London, Rotterdam, Cologne, Strasbourg, Frankfurt, and Berlin.
I travelled once with Eurolines, and found their service to be of much lower quality than with - at the time - Megabus. Loads of buses that are running superlong distance, with low-quality Eastern European buses, and likewise staff that have serious issues in communication. And my bus also broke down near Ghent; the windscreen wipers stopped working, just as it started to rain. There was no service agent provided for the driver - although he tried - and a random garage he drove to was closed at that hour of the night. With no help being offered to him by contrl, he decided to just drive on, and ended up in a huge downpour with his nose against the window to see *something* through the front window.
Flixbus and Megabus always had better service; seats a bit spacier, I regularly see/hear drivers calling in to a helpful service hotline in case of questions or problems, and a good app to track buses and departures (although there are some buses on which this isn't working, which does sometimes happen if the 4G network of the bus is improperly configured for (part of the foreign) journey.

Overall, I've had mostly very good experiences with Flixbus, while Eurolines was much less so, also with some of my friends who used Eurolines.

Thought Eurolines is a bit old school, just dont think of it .

beermaddavep said:

There is no unallocated seating. Most tickets are prebooked via apps etc.
Turn up and go passengers pay the drivers assistant and are allocated a seat by him/her before they board the coach, once all seats are allocated then that's it! Every ticket clearly shows your seat number(s). As an aside, I am soft enough that if someone was desperate to travel, I'd let em as long as they paid me half my ticket price back, although that situation is very unlikely to happen since they wouldn't be allowed on the bus without an allocated seat in the 1st place. As for someone already on board wanting to swap their seat for my free one- I can't see anybody being daft enough to swap a normal seat and sit next to a big fat bloke

Click to expand...

I see , ive been on coaches in Eastern Europe where you get a seat allocated but no one really sat in there seats.

RT4038 said:

Well yes, you can't buy one ticket and reserve two seats, but I doubt you would be expecting an operator to allow this anyway. But you can buy two tickets and buy two seat reservations, next to each other. In this case you will get both seats to yourself and the empty reserved seat will not be given to a standby. There is an 'exceptional circumstances' rule, and in that case you can claim your extra ticket and reservation cost back. Probably best to tell the driver that you are using both tickets when you check in on boarding, to avoid any assumptions of 'no-show' being made!

Note that this facility is only available if you pay the two seat reservation fees - you can't buy two tickets in the unreserved section and claim that the empty seat next to you is yours!

Click to expand...

I stand corrected, I understood it would be like the railway where you can buy two tickets and two reservations all you like, but if nobody is actually sitting in the second seat it's fair game.

Is this written anywhere?

Bletchleyite said:

I stand corrected, I understood it would be like the railway where you can buy two tickets and two reservations all you like, but if nobody is actually sitting in the second seat it's fair game.

Is this written anywhere?

Click to expand...

Section 15 of their Conditions of Carriage covers it.

Everyone booking a megabus ticket is guaranteed a seat, there is no 'overbooking' nor any 'open' tickets like the railway. If you do not reserve a seat when booking, you must sit in a vacant seat in the unreserved section of the coach. If you reserve a seat [and you choose this seat from a diagram on booking from the reserved portion of the seating], then you must sit in that seat.

RT4038 said:

Section 15 of their Conditions of Carriage covers it.

Everyone booking a megabus ticket is guaranteed a seat, there is no 'overbooking' nor any 'open' tickets like the railway. If you do not reserve a seat when booking, you must sit in a vacant seat in the unreserved section of the coach. If you reserve a seat [and you choose this seat from a diagram on booking from the reserved portion of the seating], then you must sit in that seat.

Click to expand...

They do take standbys, don't they? Or is that just Nat Ex?

Edit: Section 15 does indeed seem to cover it though, specifically referring to refunds of the fare for any "unoccupied" seat (I guess that means extra seat) that you have reserved but don't have the benefit of.

Given that this is a service some of us would appreciate even if having to pay double fare, and given that one passenger is less of a nuisance than two (think the high WCML Anytime fares for an example of this), I'm surprised they don't publicise this more clearly. Knowing I can ensure two seats I would now consider using an overnight service, I wouldn't even consider it if I had to sit squashed up against someone for that length of time.