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I just bought an international round-trip with Flixbus. 2 legs outwards, and 2 legs returning. I paid to reserve a seat on the longest 2 legs (one outward, one return). The ticket shows that I got assigned a seat on only one of the two legs I didn't reserve a seat for, meaning that out of the 4 buses I will take, one (the first) officially does not have a seat assigned to me.

This is my first time taking Flixbus, so I am a bit confused. In their confirmation page, they say to go to the seat shown on the ticket, but there isn't one.

I also tried going in the "manage my booking" page and pay to reserve a seat on that leg, but if I try to do that, the system cancels my reservation for the second leg, and I don't want that.

Is the lack of a seat number an issue? if so, can it be rectified? I don't know if it is a coincidence, but it is the only leg that does not cross an international border.

Federico
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3 Answers3

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I have seen a lot of confusing instructions and several boarding processes over the years: free seating, seat assigned when booking, seat assigned by the driver when they check your ticket. Honestly, even when you have an assigned seat, it's a bit of a lottery whether the numbering on the bus will match that of the tickets or be enforced at all, don't assume these busses are operated like trains or airplanes. More often than not, even when the seats are numbered, the driver invites passengers to sit wherever they want.

IIRC, I once complained to either Flixbus or Blablabus customer support about this and immediately got a voucher for the value of the seat reservation. I am guessing they know about the issue and it's easier to simply refund the money when someone bothers to complain instead of fixing it across their network.

It's an issue inasmuch people will tend to jump on the driver as soon as boarding starts and you might not get the seat you were hoping for. All this makes the boarding process somewhat unpleasant but ultimately if you have a ticket (and personal ID), you should get a seat and be able to travel, I have never had or witnessed any issues with that.

Relaxed
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I've been on dozens of FlixBuses without seat reservations before. This was a more common practice around 2022 and 2023, but it's still possible that some buses have this quirk, especially those serving international lines.

The front half of the bus would be reservable, while the rear half would have the free seats. These free seats are marked by a green square sticker placed left of the seat number that's inside the bus itself, and you are free to choose any of those seats with this sticker (for example 20A). Sadly, I wasn't able to find a photo of this, but the sticker is as tall as the number next to it, so it should be easy to see.

The instructions for this should* also be printed on the ticket. The seat number is shown as either - or Free Seating Area, with Indicated by a green sticker written underneath. Here's how that looks on a real ticket:

Cropped image of a FlixBus ticket showing free seat instructions

Here are some email excerpts I've gotten from FlixBus that have official information regarding the free seats:

Find your seat

Check your ticket for your assigned seat number. If no seat number is indicated, you can choose a free seat marked with a green sticker.

Find your seat

Find the seat number on your ticket. Please sit in your assigned seat, or you might be asked to move. If no seat number is indicated, you can choose a free seat marked with a green sticker.

*There was a period of time where the ticket PDF design would fully omit the seat section if you didn't get one assigned, so my guess is that's why they mentioned the "no seat number" situation there.

Mato
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Some operators do not operate reserved seating.

From personal experience, some routes operated by Starshipper in France do not

On those, seat wherever you want

Nicolas Formichella
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