ASA Adjudication on The Freedom Travel Group Ltd
The Freedom Travel Group Ltd t/a
Planet Cruise
Hamil Road
Burslem
Stoke-On-Trent
ST6 1AJ
Date:
18 August 2010
Media:
National press
Sector:
Holidays and travel
Number of complaints:
1
Complaint Ref:
124253
Ad
A national press ad for a cruise was headlined "EMBARK ON THE VOYAGE OF A LIFETIME". Text underneath stated "FLY, CRUISE & STAY ON THIS LUXURIOUS HOLLAND AMERICA LINE VOYAGE TO BERMUDA, ROUND TRIP FROM NEW YORK ... FREE return UK flights*. FREE 3 nights stay in a 4* New York hotel". Footnoted text at the bottom of the ad stated "*Flights are from London; regional flights available for a supplement".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the advertiser could substantiate the claims that the flights and hotel were "FREE".
CAP Code (Edition 11)
Response
Planet Cruise said the claim "FREE return UK flights" had been included in the ad in error. They apologised and said steps had been taken to avoid a similar mistake from happening in the future.
Planet Cruise said the overall price stated in the ad was the same as the standard fly cruise package booked directly through the cruise line, but they were giving customers the hotel stay for free and taking the cost away from their commission.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted the ad claimed that return UK flights were free, whereas we understood that they were included as part of the overall price for the cruise package. Although we noted Planet Cruise's argument that the free flights claim was printed in error, we nonetheless considered that, because the flights were not free, the claim was misleading.
We noted Planet Cruise took the cost of the hotel stay from their commission. However, we also noted that we had not seen evidence that showed that the advertised package with the three nights "free" hotel stay, cost the same as the standard fly cruise price only, or that they had demonstrated that the cost of the hotel was deducted from Planet Cruise's commission. Because we had not seen evidence that the cost of the hotel was a genuinely free addition to the fly cruise package, we concluded that the claim had not been substantiated and was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 and 7.2 (Truthfulness) and 32.3 (Free offers and free trials).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form.
Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)
