Condition type III

[pinkie]

5- “He said he wished he had been able to see you before he left. He would have liked to say goodbye personally. He hoped you would accept his apologies.” Why is would have liked used here? It should be liked ...

6- “It didn’t take very long to get here. We needn’t have taken a taxi. We could have saved the money we spent and had dinner on the train.”
Why can we use had here? I think the right tense and form is would have had because in fact they did take a taxi, not a train.

[Alan]

5. No. It means that he would have liked to do this IF HE HAD HAD THE OPPORTUNITY. The sentence is an implicit conditional.

6. It means 'we could have had dinner on the train' - i.e. would have been able to have dinner (if the circumstances had been otherwise). Also an implicit conditional.