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    I rode Germany’s worst-rated train company | FLIXTRAIN REVIEW



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    Today I’m taking the bright green Flixtrain from Berlin to Basel, the longest journey on their network, to test it out for you and let you know what I think πŸ™‚ This train company has some of the lowest-cost train travel in Germany, and definitely represents one of the best methods of budget European travel, but their reviews are scaring away a lot of people. So I set out to see, how bad is flixtrain, really?

    I cover the fares, seat reservations, neighbour-free travel, luggage, toilet, cancellation and delays on flixtrain.

    I hope that you’re doing well and staying safe.
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    17 Comments

    1. Solomon Gabert on

      Doesnt seem to bad, although I would still prefer an ICE or IC for that distance. I guess if one is broke and cant afford a few extra euros this might be a good alternative. I didnt see anything about a dining car? So I am assuming they dont have one. The ICE cafe car has always been nice, grabbing a beer and a bretzel is the perfect way to travel by train through Germany IMHO.

    2. chrno on

      FlixBus has the reserve seat next to you option also where I think it likely works a little better as there are less seats per bus rather than a whole train

    3. Ξ£ on

      The cars are old DB material. If you look up "inter Regio Express Interieur" you'll see why the ceiling looks like that. Also, they didn't update the cars for some years which is why there so many bad reviews about the cars.

    7. John Hawks on

      Well, I guess it (the color) would make it pretty easy to spot where your train is parked!
      Love your (refreshingly) non-hysterical style Tom. We'll continue watching.

    9. Karoodz on

      Flix is certainly an …interesting company. I've traveled with Flixbus more than 30 times by now, and for the most part, beyond some smaller delays (less than 1h), its been alright. The biggest annoyance is always people not checking their seat number and sitting down randomly, though they are usually nice when you ask them to change. I did have a first long delay recently, a casual 3h+, which had me going on quite the adventure trying to get from Strassburg to KΓΆln in the middle of the night to catch a flight. Fun times.

      Flixtrain I've only ridden a couple times, mainly the Bremen – Hamburg part of the Hamburg – KΓΆln route. Sadly that train does not stop in Bremen anymore πŸ™ . I also took one from Berlin HBF and had similar problems to yours, which I think the station and DB are more responsible for. I found the trains to be quite cramped, especially with people carrying heavy luggage around, as even 2 people passing each other without luggage is difficult. Also they do not really do a good job of showing which side of the specific wagon you are supposed to enter from, which also adds to the chaos.

      In general there are some interesting things in the ToS and the "terms of carriage" (and the "Fahrgastrechte" in Germany). If you plan on using Flix more often it might be worth skimming over. Here are some "financial" tipps for anyone planning on using Flixbus/Flixtrain which I've used a couple times:

      – When you try to refund your ticket, they try to get you to accept a voucher for the amount of the ticket price. BUT! if you go to the "help" section of their website, and go to "request refund" > "Cash pay back instead of voucher" you can get it refunded to your bank account instead. HOWEVER! you will have to fill out a form for this and wait for customer service to contact you. DO! keep in mind that if you cancel on short notice, they will subtract a fee (a couple €), unless you cancel more than 30 days in advance. If you cancel more than 30 days in advance and they still say they will subtract a "service fee" or something, say that cannot be the case, as you canceled in time. They will likely send the whole amount after that (happened to me once).

      – Another thing, there are some special legal requirements for train travel in Germany: If you travel with Flixtrain specifically, and the train's arival at the destination is delayed by 1h+, you are eligible for an immediate refund of the ticket, if you do not want to take it any longer. If you do chose to take the train, then you are eligible for a refund of 25% of the ticket price if it is late between 1h and 2h, or 50% if it is delayed more than 2h. (Only if the price to refund is 4€ or more for some reason).

    15. Jorge's Travels on

      Thanks for the video Tom! Those delays are usually not the fault of Flixtrain, but really of the infrastructure of German railways. They have so many delays even on DB that Swiss operators started to "hide" the trains coming from Germany on the Swiss train schedule. If you search for a connection inside Switzerland they almost never suggest a train that is coming from Germany for your connection, due to the (high) chance of having delays. Keep up the good work πŸ‘

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