ASA Adjudication on Dart Group PLC

Ad

a. Two regional press ads, for Jet2.com, were headlined "55,000 FREE FLIGHTS! JUST PAY THE TAXES".

b. Another regional press ad was headlined "35,000 FREE FLIGHTS! JUST PAY THE TAXES".

c. A national press ad stated "TOP DESTINATIONS FOR NOWT! Another 25,000 FREE flights! Just pay taxes!"

d. An e-mail had the subject heading "City & sun for nowt!" The e-mail was headlined "Another 25,000 FREE flights! Just pay the taxes".

e. Another e-mail had the subject heading "30,000 more FREE seats!" The e-mail was headlined "30,000 more FREE flights to every destination!" and featured a box, which reiterated "30,000 MORE FREE FLIGHTS To Every Destination Top Cities & Sun BOOK NOW". Small print stated "Fares are one way including taxes".

Issue

Ryanair, Flybe and a member of the public objected that the ads breached the CAP Code because they described the flights as free even though readers had to pay non-optional taxes and duties.  

The ASA noted CAP and the ASA had told Jet2.com in the past that the CAP Code required them to quote prices inclusive of non-optional taxes and duties imposed on all buyers and had obtained assurances that they would comply.  We challenged whether Jet2.com had brought advertising into disrepute by reneging on their assurances and advertising prices exclusive of taxes and duties.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

Jet2.com said they had always tried to work with the ASA and CAP to ensure their ads complied with the Code.  They said they had taken the complaints very seriously; the word "free" had appeared in error and they had already taken steps to amend their ads to remove it.  Jet2.com said they had put in place stringent procedures to ensure that flight prices were quoted inclusive of taxes and duties in future.

They maintained that the ads were not misleading because ads (a) to (e) stated clearly "Just pay the taxes".  They said "Fares are one way including taxes" in ad (e) had appeared in error but the claim nonetheless alerted consumers to the existence of taxes.  Jet2.com maintained that they had received only one consumer complaint and speculated that the vast majority of complaints the ASA received on this issue were from competitors.

Jet2.com argued that they had not intended to bring advertising into disrepute and did not agree that they had done so, because consumers were unlikely to be misled.  They said they undertook many campaigns and the vast majority of consumers reacted positively to them.  They said they had always cooperated with the ASA and CAP.  They asserted that their error in claiming "free" had occurred partly because they had noticed competitors running similar campaigns.

Assessment

Upheld

We noted clause 15.2 of the CAP Code required marketers to quote prices inclusive of non-optional taxes and duties imposed on all buyers.  Moreover, ASA adjudications had established that stating or implying flights were "free" when taxes were payable breached that clause.  We noted that we and the CAP Compliance team had, on several previous occasions, instructed Jet2.com to comply with clause 15.2 and had obtained assurances that Jet2.com would not use the claim "free" and that they would only quote prices that were inclusive of all non-optional taxes and duties.

We considered that the ads stated clearly that the flights were free even though all consumers would have to pay airport taxes.  We also considered that the use of the word "nowt" in the subject heading of ad (d) was likely to be seen by readers as being equivalent to the word "free".  Although we noted Jet2.com had subsequently amended their ads, we concluded that the original ads breached the CAP Code and that, by so blatantly ignoring previous instructions and reneging on their assurances, Jet2.coms ads had brought advertising into disrepute.

The ads breached CAP Code clauses 2.4 (Bringing advertising into disrepute) and 15.2 (Prices).

Action

We told Jet2.com to quote inclusive prices in future.  We noted the CAP Compliance team had advised CAP members of the problems with Jet2.com's advertising.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)