Simon Andersen

I originally joined Twitter for the rail travel community, but since much of that community has left the platform and my 'For You' feed has increasingly turned into useless slop, you can now find me over on Bluesky 🦋

Sad that some of the coolest carriages ever built for Vietnam Railways are now just rotting in a siding by Phan Thiet 😢🚂🇻🇳 Phan Thiet being a short branch off the mainline Hanoi - HCMC only gets a skelton service with one train pr day Friday - Sunday only 🏖️🌞

@trainlagged With you Ben 🫡

Hot take : it’s hard to be disappointed by an LCC. If you’re willing to accept some sacrifices of comfort, then you pay a half of the price of a full service carrier but you get exactly what you pay for : transport. Most times I don’t need a suitcase, or free food, for instance

Arrival into Saigon this morning is at 4:13 7 minutes ahead of schedule. This is horrifically early, lots of coffee will be needed today 😅☕🚂

Because the train departs Da Nang early at 8am. (Which is not even the worst part of the timetable for this "night train" as the arrival in Saigon is scheduled for 4am) I'm already off to the lovely dining car, for some breakfast. My congee was 45000VND about 1.7€🍽️🚂

Today I'm onboard Vietnam railways "New" Premium nighttrain. Train SE21/22 connects Da Nang and Saigon daily and a was introduced last year using newly refurbished carriages. I'm on the train for it's full trip in the only 2 person compartment on the entire 11 car train 🇻🇳🚂

@doc7austin That certainly is extravagant

@IntercitySimon nice, nice - looking forward to your video trip report; In my eyes, yet, nothing beats a Mongolian Dining Car, while riding through the Gobi Desert ... ...

@nonstopeurotrip Just wait till you learn how many of those letters are actually pronounced 👀

The Danish use any excuse to shorten things 🙃🇩🇰

@superalbs Had some issues with paying on the website and got distracted 😬

@IntercitySimon You contemplated booking the toilet for four hours. 😳

Just discovered I can make a seat reservation for the toilet on my future trip with Cambodian Railways! 🚂🚽

@arnon86 Ill find out in about 3 weeks :P

@IntercitySimon Is the toilet wheelchair accessible?

@nonstopeurotrip Dont steal @superalbs livelihood please.

If the #Doha Metro wasn't driverless - I'd be up for the job 🚇🇶🇦 #Qatar #NonstopEurotrip

Fresh food, live music and other specialties, this carriage got everything!🚂🇻🇳🍽️🎶

Welcome onboard the special local train between Hue and Da Nang in Vietnam 🇻🇳 - Featuring a special community carriage selling beverages and other specialties from this region and hosting cultural performances - We'll see what the latter is about a bit later in the journey 🚂

@PaliparanDotCom @KLM Yeah, i mean no problem with the actual policy changes; thats the airlines own buisness. But advertising seat selection as free and then adding 90 DKK at the payment page discretly could definitely catch some people off guard—I almost was! Hope it's fixed soon.

@IntercitySimon @KLM Yes. I just think they haven't properly updated the system/wording on the website.. Sadly, AF/KL are just following the likes of the Lufthansa Group and British Airways with this, who have similar seat selection policies.

Hi @KLM, how long has your website been scamming people? During the booking process, 'Free' seat selection is advertised, but when I reach the payment page, an unexpected charge of 90 DKK (12€) is added without explanation. Strangly the charge disappears when no seat is selected

@GE_Moore1 Definitely sounds like a website bug—not a good one. If you're not careful during booking, it's easy to select a seat thinking it's free, only to be charged 90 DKK for it - Hope its fixed fast.

@IntercitySimon Ah ok. So the rule for ‘light+no status’ is definitely a fee to select seats. It shouldn’t be showing as free so that’s an error. I’ve had a few issues with seat selection myself recently so not surprised. I selected 2A and 2F yesterday, but the app was telling me 14!

@chloroquinecake @KLM Just checked: initially, selecting 'light' shows a fee, then a 'free' seat option appears. But choosing this 'free' seat adds a fee but without mention of it - likely a bug on the website that could rip you off if you're not watching the price on payment page.

@IntercitySimon @KLM It does look like a rip-off add on for something which is implied is free. When you compare fare types several pages back from the screenshots you have posted, is this one supposed to have free seat selection?

@PaliparanDotCom @KLM Maybe the changes has caused issues on website? On screenshots 1-2, it's shown as free during the booking process (light ticket, no status), but once you get to the payment page on shot 3, 90 DKK is added to the total price, which doesn't happen when you remove the seat (shot 4).

@IntercitySimon @KLM Advance seat selection has always been for $, except for FlyingBlue elites. Only during OLCI you could assign a seat for free. However, recently KLM moved to Ryanair-like seat assignment on 'light' tickets, so if you don't pay, they'll assign your seat. paliparan.com/2025/02/02/air…

@GE_Moore1 Light + no status, flight in July being booked. Sounds like the website hasn't been properly updated to reflect the change to seat selection. Screenshot 1-2 show the seat priced as free, then 90 DKK is added at the payment page in shot 3, which is missing in shot 4 no seat chosen

@IntercitySimon Hi Simon. What’s your ticket type (EG light, standard, or flex), and do you have any Skyteam status? When is the flight? There have recently been some changes to seat selection fees, and I’m wondering whether this is an error which is still hanging over.