For around four weeks, the travel company Flix has been charging a service fee for booking tickets for Flixbus and Flixtrain in some markets. However, this is not required everywhere, because in Turkey, for example, the group of companies does not charge anything extra.

In Austria in particular, so-called service flat rates, for which customers do not receive a clearly defined consideration, are highly controversial. The Supreme Court has declared this inadmissible in proceedings against a fitness studio. Consumer advocates assume that this also applies to telecommunications companies, which are considered to be the inventors of this “Körberlgeld”. Initially, the companies affected resisted this, but tariffs without controversial service flat rates are now being brought onto the market.

Booking fees are not uncommon in transport and travel. Even large providers such as Lufthansa and Wizz Air charge such extra costs when booking via homepages. At the Kranich Group this is called a ticket service charge and at the pink low-coster it is called an administration fee. However, these costs are already included in the final price - excluding any extra services such as seat reservations or checked luggage - and are not charged on top. Many travel agencies charge booking and/or consultation fees. This is due to the fact that very few airlines now pay commissions for arranging flight tickets. However, agencies are obliged to tell their interested parties the final price. This must already include any fees that the travel agency charges on its own account. In practice, things often work differently - both stationary and online - because some providers still surprise you with additional costs in the last booking step. This is legally inadmissible.

Lawmakers took action against airline payment fees

Before EU lawmakers intervened, it was quite common for airlines in particular to charge horrendous extra costs for payment. In many cases these significantly exceeded the actual transaction costs and were a welcome additional source of income. This is no longer possible, but some providers have gotten creative and invented new service fees or, even more simply: simply increased the prices for optional services that are often booked in addition.

Flixbus and Flixtrain have been charging a surcharge of 0,99 euros per booking for around four weeks in German-speaking countries, for example. This service fee will not be refunded in the event of any cancellation. Not in all markets customers are asked to pay extra for booking. In Turkey, for example, the group of companies does not charge an additional flat rate for the booking process.

But why is Flixbus suddenly charging extra? When asked, a spokeswoman explains this issue as follows: “We want to enable sustainable and affordable travel for everyone. For this reason, we keep ticket prices as low as possible in order to always provide our passengers with an attractive offer. At the same time, at Flix we constantly optimize the quality of our services and promote innovation. We are proud of our customer-friendly booking platform and are constantly working to make the booking experience for our passengers as easy and convenient as possible. The service fee is therefore a small fee that Flix charges in various markets, including all EU countries, in order to make the necessary investments.” In any case, the spokeswoman did not say what specific investments were involved.

Customer login will be re-introduced soon

In contrast to competitors such as Lufthansa, ÖBB or Deutsche Bahn, Flix has no longer offered customer accounts for a long time. This is set to change again in the foreseeable future, the media representative tells Aviation.Direct: “We want to make the booking experience at Flix as easy and convenient as possible. Our tech department is currently working on introducing customer login for our passengers.”

When asked why it is not possible to subsequently purchase desired seats, the spokeswoman said: “It is currently not possible to subsequently add or change a seat reservation after the booking has been completed. If passengers have a specific request as to where they would like to sit, it is recommended that they reserve a seat during the booking process.”