For several months now, Flixbus has not only been found on motorways, but also on the railsSince the end of March of this year, the Munich-based startup Flixmobility—which includes Flixbus and Flixtrain—has been operating its Flixtrain service on selected routes in Germany. However, not everything seems to be running smoothly, especially with Deutsche Bahn.
According to the manager magazine Flixmobility accuses Deutsche Bahn of unfair competition and is said to have already filed a lawsuit against DB Vertrieb GmbH at the Hamburg Regional Court.
Not an optimal setting
Flixmobility alleges unfair competition because it believes the train service from Flixtrain is disadvantaged on the bahn.de portal. No prices for Flixtrain's train connections are displayed, the timetables are incorrectly set, and a booking option is not available. Another allegation is that the Munich-based company's services are sometimes not displayed at all when the default search setting "fast connections preferred" is used.
“Bahn.de is the central information platform for customers and is legally obliged to show all travel options by rail,”
says Flixmobility boss André Schwämmlein compared to the manager magazine.
Talking to each other?
Deutsche Bahn, on the other hand, refuses to hear of a lawsuit. They told manager magazin that they are in talks and have already "changed points on bahn.de in line with Flixtrain."
Flixtrain currently operates on the Stuttgart-Berlin, Cologne-Hamburg, and Hamburg-Lörrach (night train) routes. However, the trains are not owned by the Munich-based company itself; instead, it handles passenger bookings. Partner companies handle the drivers, trains, and the operation of the journeys.
