Cheapflights.co.uk (Cheapflights) said consumers would not deal directly with them when booking flights. They were not a travel agency but an online media company and advertising platform that searched over eleven million flight deals per day and published about one million of the best deals sent to them by airlines, budget airlines, online travel agents and smaller specialist high street agents. They said all advertisers on their site had to be suitably bonded and dealt directly with consumers, either online, via the advertiser's own website, or by phone. Cheapflights said most advertised flights had departure date restrictions and it was therefore possible the complainant had misunderstood the date restrictions stated for each flight. They said the website also clearly stated that the flights were subject to availability. They said they had been unable to identify the travel company that advertised the price of £625 however they contacted the other advertisers and forwarded any response they had received to the ASA. Cheapflights said they took the accuracy of their fares very seriously and therefore had a feedback mechanism on the website. They said they followed up any consumer concerns to ensure stated prices were correct or that any mistakes were removed, because advertisers were responsible for posting valid fares. The advertisers received warnings in relation to any such errors and Cheapflights operated a 'three strikes' policy for advertisers that continued to cause justified complaints.

They said they offered promotions that related to specific dates and those that were 'deals' and each had a different presentation. In the 'deals' category the agency offering the fare would include text such as "depart between 1 November and 31 December", which meant that the advertised price was being offered during that period but that it was, as always, subject to availability and likely to require flexibility in relation to travel dates. Text above such ads, including the ads that were the subject of the complaint, stated "Prices updated DAILY and are subject to availability. Check with the advertiser at the time of booking". In addition that text included a hyperlink, under which text stated "Although we wish we could, nobody in the travel industry can guarantee their advertised price until booking because of the unique dynamic way flight prices are created. Flight prices can be changed by airlines and agents at any time based on bookings, seat availability and popularity of route meaning until you book, the price could change ... We update our prices regularly throughout the day, and show the last time we checked it on each individual flight deal, but by the time you view them, the price could change ...". Ads that related to specific dates only also carried the text "Availability last checked x hours ago". The ads did not have that additional text, because 'deal' prices might continue to be available on some dates in the relevant time period even if they had been sold for popular travel days. Cheapflights said that for deals where they had not checked availability, consumers could see when the deal was last updated by clicking on an 'i' symbol shown next to each deal.

Travel Up Ltd t/a Bargain Flight Desk, who advertised the price of £628, said it was not possible to guarantee the availability of any number of seats on a particular flight and date, due to the fact thousands of agents and millions of consumers were free to hold or book the flights at any time. They said the advertised price was a special offer and could be booked, subject to availability on any particular date. They had, however, checked the advertised date range and found that seats were available to book on certain dates for £628.17. They said it clearly stated on the same page that the flight price was displayed "The data displayed is NOT a display of AVAILABLE flights but is a database of prices and should be used as a means of researching the best fares for a given journey on a date or range of dates. Availability on these special fares is limited and when they're gone, they're gone! Once a suitable fare has been found, challenge our expertise to find seats on the date you wish to travel. All airlines sell only a limited number of seats at the lowest fare on each flight. When these have been sold, you may be offered a seat at a higher fare. However, the price will NOT be removed from the fares database as the cheaper seats may still be available on other dates or subsequently become available again due to the airlines releasing more seats at the lowest fares due to fluctuations of supply and demand".

Polani Travel Ltd t/a ComeFli, the company that advertised the price of £488, said the prices offered to consumers were based on the costs given to them by suppliers; airline prices could change on an ongoing basis and the prices advertised on their websites could change at any time, because they were always subject to availability. They said they made every effort to provide the best fares to passengers however there were times when travel websites such as theirs would not be updated in real time. Their site required manual updating as and when the fares were updated, based on the availability of fares and seats with their local supplier. ComeFli said it was not practically possible to update the website within a short span of time and at regular intervals and therefore they clearly indicated that prices were subject to availability. The terms and conditions area of their website also clearly stated their limited liability to offer the flight arrangements to the passengers, in line with the prices and availability given to them by their suppliers.

They said they regretted that the complainant had contacted them about the advertised price and that the agent had had no option but to explain that he was unable to honour that price, because it was no longer valid. They said there were many visitors to their website, and to their partner websites, and it was therefore not possible to trace when the complainant had visited the site. They said, however, their records indicated that the advertised price was available for quite some time, although they did not have any records of any bookings being made using the advertised fare. They said several consumers could have navigated through several special fares they offered but they had no records of any of them reporting any discrepancy regarding the advertised price from the UK to Colombia. ComeFli said they were looking into alternative ways to rectify any such issues in future.

Sea Breeze Holidays t/a FlightHouseUK.com, the company that advertised the price of £474, said it was their recollection that the flights were available on some of the advertised dates and if a consumer wanted a particular price, they would have been advised of the dates on which seats at that price were available. They said the advertised price was the lowest available in the specified timeframe and the ad made that clear, because it stated "Prices from".

FlightHouseUK.com said it was not possible to guarantee that availability of the advertised fare on any particular date, because the number of seats available at that price was limited. They said thousands of agents were able to make bookings for those fares and therefore it was virtually impossible to guarantee the availability of any particular advertised fare until it had been reserved by a passenger.