Ryanair MISLED customers with cheap summer flights ads declares watchdog
RYANAIR misled the public with its TV advertising campaign about cheap summer flights last year, according to the Advertising Standards Authority.
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The budget Irish carrier released an ad in October which advertised flights from £19.99.
This price was followed by large text which read: "Summer 2017 on sale now" but the small print revealed the deal was for travel only up to March 25.
A complaint lodged against Ryanair challenged whether this information was misleading in suggesting the offer was valid throughout summer.
But the airline argued it made a clear distinction between the two messages.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled against Ryanair and upheld the complaint.
ASA said the wording was ambiguous which could lead the public to think the summer flights were on sale.
The watchdog ordered Ryanair against using the ad in the future.
ASA said in a statement: “While we noted that the £19.99 offer was qualified by small text stating the start and end dates for the promotion, we considered that, given the conjunction of the offer with the claim ‘Summer 2017 on sale now’, the qualification was not sufficiently prominent to correct the overall impression that summer 2017 flights were included in the sale.”
Ryanair disagrees with this ASA ruling but has taken note of it in relation to future ads
A spokesperson for Ryanair said: “Ryanair disagrees with this ASA ruling, but has taken note of it in relation to future ads.”
The airline wasn’t the only travel provider called out by the advertising watchdog.
Booking site LastMinute.com advertised a deal to New York in September for “£569 Price per person Flight + hotel”.
But a customer complained to ASA after they tried to book and found the price had gone up by £70.77.
LastMinute.com defended its offer, saying its deals were “dynamic and their availability was subject to change at any time”.
But ASA ordered in favour of the complaint and forbid the website from using the ad again.
ASA said: “Approximately an hour after making a booking request for the package at the quoted price, the complainant was informed that the price had increased and they would need to pay an additional sum of £70.77 in order to maintain the booking.”
"We acknowledge the ASA decision regarding the ad for a flight+hotel package to New York.
"Due to the dynamic nature of selling travel products in an online environment it is possible that a specific fare - during the booking process or after the booking request - is not available anymore , as a result to changes in live product availability . We always endeavour to offer a similar alternative option at the same price and any additional surcharge is used as a last resort, but we want to clarify that customers are never automatically charged for any additional cost and we offer the option to not proceed with the booking if this is no longer suitable for them.
"Transparency, customer experience and satisfaction are of the highest priority at lastminute.com and we always aim to offer the best prices and service to our customers. We are constantly committed to improving our platform, services and user experience and will be so even more following this decision."
Last month, the European Court of Justice ordered Ryanair to pay a £13.5 million tax bill dating back to 2009.