Flight prices are out of control. As noted by CNBC in May, “in the last year, the consumer price index for airline tickets has shot up by 25% — the largest jump since the Federal Reserve of St. Louis began tracking the index in 1989.”
Given these hefty prices, it’s no surprise that some have sought other means of travel to save a few dollars. One of those methods is traveling by bus—but, as anyone who has tried to travel a significant distance in a bus in the U.S. can tell you, this is frequently easier said than done.
Now, an Internet user is advising against traveling using Greyhound or FlixBus after recounting a negative experience she had utilizing their services.
A FlixBus ride from Hell
In a video with over 197,000 views, TikTok user Sammi (@scrammihendo) explains that, as she’s been trying to fly less often, she decided to book a bus to Las Vegas from Los Angeles after receiving an invitation to the city. The company with which she booked was Greyhound, though they placed her on a bus operated by FlixBus.
While her bus ride to Las Vegas was less than satisfactory—she complains of a smell and lack of air conditioning—she says she decided to simply grin and bear it.
“I’m not a complainer,” she details. “I was like, I got what I paid for. That was a $50 one-way trip. So I just stuck it out, and it was kind of gross.”
However, on her return trip from Las Vegas, things went significantly worse.
After standing in 100-degree heat for nearly an hour, she and other passengers began to question whether the bus was coming at all. With no communication from the company, the group decided to download the FlixBus app—at which point they learned the bus had been canceled.
Frustrated, she booked another ticket on a separate FlixBus. This bus arrived and left two hours later and had a host of problems of its own.
To start, Sammi alleges that the bus was infested with cockroaches.
“Immediately, people are screaming in the bus because it is infested with cockroaches. They’re crawling all over us,” Sammi recounts. “I’ve never touched a cockroach in my life, but they were crawling all over me, on my shoulder and everything. The entire bus was screaming, but we took off anyway because most of us had just waited two hours.”
Things went from bad to worse when the bus started smoking in the middle of the desert. Smelling the aroma of burning, passengers pleaded with the bus driver to pull over; however, the driver’s lack of English language ability made conveying this information difficult.
Eventually, they were able to tell him to pull over, which the bus did in the middle of the desert. Although many tried to remain on the bus until the problem could be fixed, the cockroach problem became so severe that they were forced to exit the bus. Sometime during this process, the riders learned that they had been driving on a flat tire, which produced the smoke and smell.
“We were waiting and waiting,” Sammi recalls. “People were calling FlixBus, people were trying to speak with the bus driver, but again, he doesn’t really speak English. We were getting no answers, and it started to get dark. It was cold. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to the desert at night, but no matter how hot it is during the day, it gets freezing at night. We waited hours and hours with no updates.”
Finally, another bus arrived, but it was overcrowded—leaving the passengers to fight over the space. Two girls and the original bus driver opted to stay behind until other transport could be sorted.
“I felt so bad for them, but luckily they volunteered to stay,” Sammi states. “That is just so awful and wrong, and I don’t know what happened to them. I don’t know what they ended up doing.”
By the end of the trip, Sammi returned to Los Angeles at 1am; the original bus schedule had her arriving at 8 PM the previous day.
“I totally understand that accidents happen, but FlixBus and Greyhound will not issue any sort of refund,” she details. “Their reasoning is that since they got us to our final destination, they can’t help us because accidents happen.”
“None of that is right. None of that is how it should have been,” she declares. “I would have wanted a refund for the first bus with the no air conditioning, no Wi-Fi, smelling like that in the first place before any of this other crap happened.”
She concludes her video by advising all riders against riding with either company.
@scrammihendo @FlixBus you owe me over $160 #flixbus #travel #losangeles #lasvegas #greyhound #greyhoundbus ♬ original sound – Sammi
Commenters share their own FlixBus and Greyhound experiences
In the comments section, several users revealed their own experiences with the companies, with many having negative experiences similar to Sammi’s.
“Last year my bus from Austin to Dallas was an hour late so when we got in Dallas my bus home was already gone and I was stranded 20.5 hours,” said a user.
“STOPPP my flixbus from San b to Las Vegas broke down on the side of the highway!! we were stranded for over 6+ hours,” added another.
“I took a greyhound once. The bus broke down and once we got the new bus they had to reroute the whole trip. 7 hour drive became an 18 hour trip,” offered a third. “I’ll never do it again.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Sammi via email and TikTok comment, and FlixBus and Greyhound via email.
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