Bonn passengers affected Flixbus regrets glitches concerning trip to Frankfurt
BONN · After seven young athletes from Bonn were stranded in Berlin on Whit Monday night because their booked Flixbus was cancelled without an explanation, another Flixbus caused annoyance among Bonn passengers on Sunday.
Around 3 p.m. on Sunday, a Flixbus was scheduled to leave the long-distance bus stop at the Museum Mile in Bonn for Frankfurt am Main. But the bus was overbooked. One passenger reported to the GA that the bus only had 49 seats, but 52 people were in possession of a valid ticket. Two passengers without a seat were sitting on the emergency seats next to the driver, two more were standing in the corridor of the bus. According to the passenger who contacted the GA, there must have been a passenger who did not pay for a valid ticket.
When the driver started checking the tickets, he received a call on his mobile phone saying that he was not allowed to take people who were standing in the aisle. Two passengers had to leave the bus. The two volunteers were found relatively quickly, they gave up their seats and waited for the next bus at 6:15 p.m. With a delay of 28 minutes, the bus started its two-and-a-half-hour journey to Frankfurt. The passenger also told the GA that contrary to what was stated at the time of booking - there was no Wlan and no plug-ins either. “It was a replacement bus," the passenger told the GA.
Flixbus confirmed to the GA that after clarifying what had happened, they determined the bus driver had made a mistake. "We can confirm that two passengers were sitting in the emergency seats and two in the aisle. This does not comply with our safety regulations. For Flixbus, safety is a top priority for all passengers and drivers. The affected passengers would also have had to be rebooked," explained Sebastian Meyer of Flixbus. He could not confirm that a passenger on board had not paid for a ticket. The originally scheduled bus had to be replaced by another bus at short notice. "Due to the short notice, our bus partner only had one bus with a lower seating capacity, no plug-in sockets and no Wlan. Because of this, some passengers had to be rebooked for the next possible connection at short notice," says Meyer.
The spokesperson for Flixbus assured the GA that Flixbus was providing its employees with comprehensive training on safety and service issues. "We have already made our bus partner aware of this case," explained Meyer. The driver will be sensitized to the safety regulations.
(Orig. text: Maximilian Mühlens; Translation: ck)
