ASA Adjudication on British Airways plc

Ad

A national press ad, a poster and internet ad, for British Airways (BA) flights to Europe.

a. The national press ad claimed "CUTTING PRICES, NOT CORNERS". Text under the claim "FROM £35" stated "STOCKHOLM (ARLANDA) one-way incl. taxes. Text under the claim "FROM £29" stated "BORDEAUX one-way incl. taxes". Text under the claim "FROM £29" stated "TURIN one-way incl. taxes". Text in the corner stated "book by 10th May at ba.com". The smallprint stated "Book by 10 May 06 for travel until 31 March 07 (excluding Bordeaux). Prices are for one-way economy flights from London Gatwick and/or Heathrow and include all applicable taxes, fees and charges correct as of 20 April 06 ...".

b. The poster claimed "CUTTING PRICES, NOT CORNERS". Text under the claim "FROM £35" stated "STOCKHOLM (ARLANDA) ONE-WAY. Text under the claim "FROM £29" stated "MARSEILLES ONE-WAY". Text under the claim "FROM £39" stated "VERONA ONE-WAY". Text in the corner stated "book by 10th May at ba.com". The small print stated "Book by 10 May 06 for travel until 31 March 07 (excluding Bordeaux). Prices are for one-way economy flights from London Gatwick and/or Heathrow and include all applicable taxes, fees and charges correct as of 20 April 06 ...".

c. The internet ad claimed "PRAGUE one-way from £29 ... restrictions apply ...".

Issue

Easyjet challenged the availability of flights at the advertised "from" prices to

1. Turin;

2. Marseilles; and

3. Prague.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

BA said the "from" prices applied to outbound seats during the promotional period of 20 April 2006 to 31 March 2007.  They said, for that period, they had ensured they had more than 10% availability at the "from" price for seats on flights to Marseilles, Turin and Prague.  They also pointed out that they exceeded an average of 10% availability on return flights to those destinations.  BA sent one spreadsheet with the monthly percentages of seats available at the "from" prices on flights to those destinations and a second spreadsheet with the percentages of seats actually sold at the "from" prices.

Assessment

The ASA noted the content of the two different spreadsheets but considered that only the availability figures were relevant to the complaint; the sold percentages had been calculated using the total number of seats sold, not the total number of seats available at the time the ads were published.  We therefore considered that the sold figures did not present a fair picture of availability.

We noted the availability spreadsheet showed that BA offered an average of more than 10% of seats at the "from" prices for all three destinations over the stated travel period but this included periods of high availability at the "from" prices and periods of little or no availability.  

1. & 2. Not upheld

In relation to the press ad and poster, although we noted there was limited availability for travel to Turin and Marseilles at the advertised prices during the first ten days of the promotion, we acknowledged that BA were selling more than 10% of available seats at the stated prices from May 2006, and over the period of travel as a whole.  We were therefore satisfied that BA had demonstrated a reasonably even spread of availability on flights to Turin and Marseilles and concluded that the press ad and poster were acceptable.

We investigated the press ad and poster under CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 16.1 (Stock monitoring) but did not find them in breach.

3. Upheld

In relation to the internet ad, we understood that most of the £29 seats on the Prague route were offered for departures more than six months after the ad appeared and there was no, or very limited, availability during the months preceding that.  

We considered that BA needed to show that at least 10% of seats were available at the "from" price throughout a reasonable spread of the promotional period.  Because they had been unable to show that, we concluded that the claim "Prague one-way from £29" in the internet ad was misleading.

The internet ad breached CAP Code clauses 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 16.1 (Stock monitoring) but did not breach 3.1 (Substantiation).

Action

We reminded BA to ensure that there was a minimum of 10% availability and a reasonably even spread of availability throughout the promotional period when advertising future, similar promotions.  

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)