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I am planning to travel around Europe economically and so far, I think Flixbus is something which I will be taking a lot as the reviews are good and prices are very low. I am planning to travel overnight to different countries on weekends. I have installed the app which, they claim, will give you the best prices. I tried monitoring the prices for direct connections between two cities and they tend to fluctuate a lot.

So my questions are:

  • How can I get the best deal out of Flixbus?
  • How early should I book?
  • Will it be any better if I negotiate prices with the driver on the spot?
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    I am not familiar with FlixBus but if it is anything like bus companies I have used elsewhere, the driver is no more authorized to negotiate your fare than is an airline pilot or a train conductor.
    – phoog
    Commented Aug 28, 2016 at 17:30
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    Negotiating prices with the driver on the spot is not possible and will be considered rude by many people, so I would not suggest doing so.
    – Summer
    Commented Aug 30, 2016 at 15:23

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I have been on a few flixbus journeys within Germany and the rule I follow to get the best prices is to book as early as possible. They quite often run/ran promotions and you do run a risk of missing out on those but unless they are scheduled or you can really expect them the risk of rising prices is higher IMHO. Also as the German long distance bus market is consolidating I do expect less such promotions at least there. E.g. in Italy where flixbus has also entered the market I observed similar but am generally aware of less promotions. You will not get a better price by haggling with the driver at departure but he can sell you a ticket if seats are still available.

Also do note that flixbus is not the only such enterprise, but certainly the market leader at least in Germany. To get a comparison (including trains and shared rides in the default settings) check out Busliniensuche for Germany (I know it works well for Germany but they seem to have expanded and I'd also trust them for European connections by now, their English website is called BusRadar) or Rome2Rio.

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  • Or Eurolines (no affiliation)
    – user40521
    Commented Aug 29, 2016 at 15:21
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    Busliniensuche also has a english webseite s. www.busradar.com
    – Boas Enkler
    Commented Jul 13, 2017 at 17:13
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As @mts has mentioned, you will get the best price if you book earlier. You can also use new promotional plan called interflix. Once you buy this plan, you are allowed to travel 5 routes with flixbus for € 99.

Pros

  • It's valid for 3 months from the time of activation.
  • You no longer have to worry about searching a cheaper price.
  • You can use it in 24 European countries.

Cons

  • A direct return trip is not possible.
  • Is not transferrable to others.
  • It works only for direct trips. e.g: (Milan to Berlin -> 16Hr)

Furthermore, you can always sign up for the newsletters as these companies tend to send discount codes along with their newsletters.

You can not negotiate price with driver on the spot.

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    +1. Worth adding that the cost (at the moment) is 99 EUR.
    – mts
    Commented Jul 14, 2017 at 13:04
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    I guess by 'a direct return trip' you mean you cannot apply a coupon code to the trip where you have selected going there and back journey, which makes sense as per the nature of these coupons. Although you can book a return trip along the same path booking one after another consuming 2 coupons.
    – ishan
    Commented Jul 14, 2017 at 13:51

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