Don't use Flixbus
Don't use Flixbus to go to Eastern Europe. A friend of mine and I went to Slovenia, and when we wanted to go back to Graz, bus arrived but then turned out to be broken. Can happen. In the meantime, other Flixbusses with destination Graz arrived, and our Flixbus App showed that seats were available, but the drivers still weren't allowed to take us in, I don't know why (maybe different subcontractor?). We could see the vacant seats inside. 2 hours later a substitute bus from Zagreb arrived and we went inside and sat down. Bus driver came up, hit me on the shoulder and yelled: "You! Out!". I was surprised but kept my calm and asked why. He couldn't speak more English, but a fellow passenger explained to me, that the substitute bus brought everyone back to Zagreb, where almost everyone else had started their journey the same day. I asked the rude driver and other Flixbus drivers outside how to get back to Austria, and got the response "Not my problem!!". They were all covered in sweat and very nervous. We didn't know what was going on and just ordered two more tickets for another Flixbus 2 hours later. This time, the driver was very nice and brought us home. Conclusions: (1) Don't use Flixbus (at least not outside Austria/Germany), it's too risky. (2) Don't trust what the App says. It even tells you "bus on time" when there's no bus. If it says 'seats available' it doesn't mean that you'll get one. (3) Don't expect any help from the drivers, they don't work for Flixbus but a subcontractor and don't identify with Flixbus. (4) Seat reservations don't mean anything, people just refuse to get up (on both to and from Maribor), even when the driver tells them to. The city of Maribor and its people are very nice though!
25 August 2023
Unprompted review
