ASA Adjudication on Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd

Ad

A regional press ad for long-haul flights had the headline "You only live once". Text underneath listed the following destinations and prices "New York from £320; Washington DC from £331; Boston from £341; Chicago from £350; Los Angeles from £391; Hong Kong from £457". Footnoted text at the bottom of the ad stated "Hong Kong fare bookable by 10pm 28 Oct 2008 all other fares bookable by 10pm 14 Oct 2008. For selected travel periods only, Inclusive of all pre-paid taxes, fares and surcharges. Credit card charges apply. Subject to availability. Weekend supplements may apply ... Hong Kong fare for VS238/239 only".

Issue

British Airways plc challenged:

1. whether the ad was misleading, because it did not state the travel period to which the quoted prices applied;

2. the availability of the advertised fare to Hong Kong, because they believed the fare applied to a limited number of days and was available only from the 4th November, whereas the ad appeared on 13th October.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd (Virgin Atlantic) said the travel periods for the advertised fares to the US destinations were 13 October 2008 to 9 December 2008, 25 December 2008 to 31 March 2009 and 10 April 2009 to 27 May 2009, and for the advertised Hong Kong fare was 4 to 30 November 2008. They said the ad stated that the fares applied to "selected travel periods only" and that customers could find full details on their website or by phoning their contact centre, the contact details for which were included in the ad. They said they believed that to be in line with CAP guidance on travel marketing.

2. Virgin Atlantic said the advertised Hong Kong fare was available to purchase from the day the ad appeared (13 October 2008) up until 28 October 2008, for the travel period 4 to 30 November 2008. They submitted documentation that showed the number of seats available at the advertised 'from' price of £457 across the whole of that travel period. Virgin Atlantic explained that they operated two flights to Hong Kong, and that the £457 fare was available on one of those flights only. They pointed out that the footnoted text stated that the advertised fare applied only to flight number VS238/239, which departed three times a week during the offer period.

Assessment

1. Not upheld

The ASA noted Virgin Atlantic's response. We understood that CAP guidance specified that, unless otherwise stated, quoted fares should apply to flights departing between one week after the ad appeared and six weeks later. We noted that the first travel period for all US destinations featured in the ad started on the day the ad appeared, and that the travel period for the Hong Kong fares started three weeks after the ad appeared. We also noted that the ad stated that the advertised fares applied to "selected travel periods only". Because the flights to which the quoted fares applied departed between one week and six weeks after the ad appeared, and because we considered that the ad made clear that those fares would not necessarily apply to all travel periods, we concluded that on this point the ad was not misleading.

On this point we investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 and 7.2 (Truthfulness) but did not find it in breach.

2. Not upheld

We noted that the advertised fare applied to one of Virgin Atlantic's two services to Hong Kong only, flight VS238/239, which departed three times a week during the offer period. We also understood that Virgin's other Hong Kong service, VS200/201 departed daily during the offer period. We noted that the footnoted text in the ad stated "Hong Kong fare for VS238/239 only", and we considered that that made it clear to customers that the advertised fare applied to bookings on that particular flight only.

We noted that the data submitted by Virgin Atlantic showed that over 10% of the overall number of available seats to Hong Kong during the travel period were available at the advertised 'from' price of £457. We also understood from that data that the advertised fare was available across the entire travel period and on all days of the week on which Hong Kong flight VS238/239 departed. We acknowledged that the travel period to which the advertised fare applied did not begin until three weeks after the ad appeared, but for the reasons explained in point one above, we considered that customers were unlikely to be misled on that point. Because of that, because the data showed that there was sufficient availability of seats at the advertised 'from' price throughout the period to which the offer applied, and because the footnoted text made clear that the offer applied to one of Virgin's Hong Kong services only, we concluded that on this point the ad was not misleading.

On this point we investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation) and 7.1 and 7.2 (Truthfulness) but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)