flixbus.com

a catalogue of disasters

I took outbound and inbound trips London Victoria - Amsterdam Sloterdijk, Route N814, on Tue 22 and Wed 23 July, which coincidentally (but it is relevant) were on the same coach, 42F4 (Polish licence plate OP 5902 T). There were already inconveniences on the outbound leg as there was no power to the power points in my seating row, and there was no working internet on the coach, a major inconvenience. But this was as nothing compared to the return leg, which had major problems exacerbated by a crew whose attitude and lack of professional standards were wholly unacceptable. First, of course, there was again the power issue (though I was in a different row this time!) and still no internet. But then the crew did NOT check or scan passports or ID cards on boarding, something that may have prevented the later issue I will detail. We left Sloterdijk 24' late. Much time was wasted on extended breaks en route to Calais so that by the time we reached Antwerp we were running 31' late, Bruges 35' and Calais 40' late. Had the basic checks been taken at Amsterdam and had we arrived at Calais on time, the next problem would not have turned into the crisis it became, because we would have had time in hand. A passenger was detained at the UK Border control in Calais and after a certain period of time had elapsed with no active updates from the drivers to the passengers, we were told not to worry, we'd still make it for the 02:30 DFDS ferry. The coach SHOULD therefore have proceeded to the embarkation point so that IF that passenger was released in time, they could rejoin the coach – but if not, Coach N814 could still make the ferry. In any event, there were many other later Flixbuses after ours that could have taken that passenger if they were released later on… It was not until much later – after the 02:30 ferry had sailed – that the driver admitted we'd missed it and he had no idea when the next ferry was. When we moved from the Border Control to the embarkation point, we were then told we'd been rescheduled onto "the next ferry", the DFDS at 06:05. But this was not true, it was not the next Dover ferry – there were ferries at 03:45 (Irish) and 04:30 (P&O), both with available space, that we could have taken, but our driver seemed unwilling or unable to actively pursue this possibility. (It would not be the case that Flixbus is only using DFDS ferries, because on the outbound leg, we sailed with P&O.) Consequently, we sailed on the 06:05. On reaching Dover, the driver only arrived at the coach after all the passengers, then had a problem unlocking, adding to the tensions that were already running high. We disembarked at 07:00, 4 hours late, therefore hitting the peak rush-hour traffic in London and arriving at Victoria at 09:32 (scheduled time was 05:35), with NO apology from the crew. The driver took numerous wrong turns, ignored queue lane rules, went up dead ends and made U turns as we approached Victoria, adding to the delay and stress. I sought a full refund of the full inbound leg ticket and my missed scheduled onward train to my destination, but Flixbus refused any refund or any compensation. BE WARNED.

Date of experience: Jul 22, 2025