ASA Adjudication on easyJet Airline Co Ltd

Ad

Four easyJet internet banner ads and one press ad promoted their "lowest price guarantee".

The press ad showed an orange egg timer with the following text written on it: "Our best summer fares are disappearing fast Prices from £19.99 single inc. taxes!" Text beneath the egg timer stated "Book by Friday and if you find it cheaper elsewhere we'll refund DOUBLE the difference*". Smaller text at the bottom of the page listed the terms and conditions: "Price correct at 30/05/07. Double the difference refund is on fare price only and is available on flights booked on www.easyJet.com between 00.01am on Monday June 4th 2007 and 22.59pm on Friday June 8 2007 only, for flights departing between 00.01 am June 1st and 23.59pm July 31st 2007. Offer applies to directly comparable flights only (same departure and destination airports departing within 1 hour of each other) ... Claims must be made within 1 hour of booking. Maximum claim €100 or equivalent ... "

One internet banner ad showed a picture of a sandcastle and contained the text "Our best summer fares are disappearing fast". The other three banner ads had pictures of egg timers and the text "Prices from £19.99 single inc. taxes ... Find it cheaper elsewhere and we'll refund double the difference LOWEST PRICE GUARANTEE".

Issue

The complainant, Ryanair, challenged:  

1. whether the ads were misleading because  the terms and conditions that applied to the "lowest price guarantee" were too restrictive to find comparable flights, and

2. whether the ads were misleading because the claim implied easyJet's flights were always cheaper than other airlines.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. easyJet Airline Co Ltd (easyJet) said the terms and conditions were explicitly stated on each ad and the ads were not misleading. They said the offer had been taken up by a number of people and sent information from their Customer Service System that they said showed the payments they had made for the month of June.     

2. easyJet said they did not accept Ryanair's interpretation of the offer. They said they did not claim they were always cheaper and that the offer was open for a limited period of time as stated in the ads.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA considered the evidence sent by easyJet.  We noted the terms and conditions stated that the double the difference refund was only available on  flights departing within one hour of easyJet flights from the same airport to the same destination airport. We considered that while the design and layout of the ads gave the impression the double the difference refund was easy to obtain, the very restricting terms and conditions suggested it was not.  We also noted easyJet had not sent evidence to show customers had been able to take up the offer.  We therefore concluded the ads were misleading.

On this point the ads breached CAP Code clauses 3.1(Substantiation), 7.1(Truthfulness), 17.1(Guarantees) and 19.1(Other comparisons).

2. Not upheld

The ASA noted that the claim in the press ad and internet banner ad stated "if you find it cheaper elsewhere we'll refund DOUBLE the difference*".  We accepted that the claim represented a price promise to provide a refund if the customer could find a cheaper flight, and was not a guarantee that easyJet were always cheaper than their competitors. Because the price promise was dependent on the customer providing a comparable flight and did not state that easyJet's prices were guaranteed to always be cheaper than their competitors, we concluded the ads did not imply easyJet's flights were always cheaper than their competitors.

On this point we investigated the ads under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1(Truthfulness), 17.1(Guarantees) and 19.1(Other comparisons) but did not find them in breach.

Action

We told easyJet not to repeat the ads.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)