ASA Adjudication on Aer Lingus Ltd

Ad

A regional press ad, for Aer Lingus, stated "NO AER FARE Just pay taxes and charges London to Dublin/Belfast/Cork Book by 26 Sept '08 Every flight Every day". The ad included the Aer Lingus website address and small print that stated "Flights available to book from 23 Sept '08. Valid for travel 5 Oct '08 until 18 Dec '08. Handling fee per passenger per one-way flight of £4 for credit card may apply. Subject to terms, conditions and availability."

Issue

Ryanair challenged:

1. whether the headline claim "NO AER FARE" misleadingly implied that flights were free, because customers would have to pay the non-optional charges that applied; and

2. the ad's failure to quote the price of the flights inclusive of all non-optional taxes, duties and fees.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. Aer Lingus disagreed that the ad was misleading.  They said the ad clearly communicated that no air fare was payable, as indicated by the claim "NO AER FARE".  Aer Lingus pointed out that the ad also clearly communicated that taxes and charges had to be paid: the text "Just pay taxes and charges" appeared immediately below the headline claim in large font.  They added that they had avoided claiming that flights were "free" or that the ad promoted a "flight giveaway" as they understood that would have gone against the guidance set out in the CAP Help Note on Travel Marketing.

2.  Aer Lingus believed, at the time it appeared, the ad complied with the CAP Code.  They nevertheless confirmed that, when running future similar offers, their ads would quote the price inclusive of taxes.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA noted Aer Lingus believed they had complied with the CAP Code and had tried to avoid making claims that had been identified as problematic in previous adjudications.  We noted the headline claim "NO AER FARE" was immediately qualified by text that made clear that taxes and charges were payable.  We considered however that readers were likely to infer from the claim "NO AER FARE" that Aer Lingus were offering "free" flights.  We considered flights could not be advertised as "free" if consumers had to pay non-optional taxes and duties.  Because we understood that consumers would have to pay taxes and duties, we concluded that the implication that the flights were "free" was misleading.

On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clause 7.1 (Truthfulness).

2. Upheld

We noted Aer Lingus's comments.  We considered that the claim "NO AER FARE" was an implied price claim, equivalent to claiming that flights cost £0.00, and considered that, in order to comply with the CAP Code, the advertised flight prices should have included all non-optional taxes and duties payable by the consumer.  We noted the ad referred to flights from London to three destinations and considered it would not have been unreasonable for Aer Lingus to have quoted the flight prices, inclusive of all non-optional taxes and duties payable by the consumer, to all three destinations if they were different.  We concluded that quoting a headline price exclusive of those charges was unacceptable.

On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clause 15.2 (Price claims and VAT).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.  We told Aer Lingus to remove the claim "NO AER FARE" and reminded them of the importance of including, in future ads, flight prices inclusive of all non-optional duties and charges payable by the consumer.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)