Nerea Garmendia was left stranded at Bilbao airport with her toddler after being refused a bus ride home, even though seats were empty. She paid €188 for a taxi, raising new questions about how transport companies treat passengers.
Nerea Garmendia touched down in Bilbao with her son Unax, just 18 months old. She planned to head straight home to San Sebastián. That plan fell apart fast. She ended up stuck at the airport, forced to pay €188 for a taxi. The reason? She was blocked from boarding a bus that still had empty seats.
Deia, a Basque newspaper, reported that Garmendia had bought tickets ahead of time for an earlier bus. Her flight from Madrid ran about an hour late. She missed her scheduled bus. When she tried to get on the next one to Donostia–San Sebastián, she saw there were still seats left.
Garmendia stated that she spent 188 euros on a taxi after being denied boarding, even though there were empty seats on the bus.
The trouble started with the flight delay. Garmendia stayed calm. She said, "Unax, who is a saint, behaved super well." The real problem hit at the bus terminal. Every ticket for the San Sebastián route was already sold. She waited by the bus, hoping some passengers would miss it because of flight delays, just like she had.
That hope went nowhere. Seats stayed empty, but Avanza, the bus company, still refused to let her and her child board. "If there are empty seats, those of us waiting here should be able to take them, right? Well, no," she told Deia. The staff would not budge. She had no choice but to call a taxi for the long, expensive ride home. Deia reported that Avanza has not made any public comment about the refusal. There is no word on a refund, compensation, or any change to their boarding rules.
Garmendia did not hide her anger. "What bothers me most is that, seeing I was with a minor and knowing there were empty seats, they had no qualms about leaving us behind," she said, calling out Avanza directly. She added, "If I had been alone, I wouldn’t mind, but I have a baby. I arrived two hours late to the nursery."
Both relevant published sources describing the incident are dated October 6, 2026, and there is no evidence of previous similar cases, official investigations, or consequences for Avanza in the available materials.
This was not her first run-in with strict bus rules. Garmendia remembered that Avanza had promised to fix the problem. They said they would let waiting passengers fill empty seats if others did not show up. "They said they would implement solutions and allow seats not to remain empty if there were passengers waiting, but that has not happened," she said.
Her story is not unique. Spanish transport systems often stick to rigid ticketing and staff rarely bend the rules. Travelers get stranded. Earlier, during severe weather in Catalonia, similar problems left people stuck, as reported by Deia. A missed bus or a closed route can quickly turn into a crisis.
For families and vulnerable travelers, the gap between company policy and real help is wide. When a company refuses to adapt, it is more than an inconvenience. It breaks trust. Until operators like Avanza fix these failures, passengers will keep paying the price. Sometimes, that price is steep.
