ASA Adjudication on Flybe Ltd

Ad

A national press ad, for flights, was headlined "Flybe's Massive January Sale". Text in a circle next to a picture of two airline seats stated "10 million seats". The ad listed 70 destinations with their corresponding prices. Text beneath stated "flybe.com Keeping Britain on the move". Small print at the bottom of the ad stated “Fares are one way including taxes and charges, only available online, subject to availability, 21 day advance purchase required. Available for travel on or before 29.10.11 ... Book by 16.01.11”.

Issue

The complainant challenged whether the ad was misleading because it did not make clear from which departure airports the advertised prices applied.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

Response

Flybe Ltd (Flybe) said the prices and information featured in the ad were correct. They said, however, having received the complaint and reviewed the ad, they were concerned about how it would be interpreted by members of the public and they had therefore withdrawn the ad while it was redesigned by their agency to include both "from" and "to" airports.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted that the ad listed 70 airports and accompanied each with a price. We noted however that the ad did not state whether the airports listed were departure or destination airports or make clear whether the prices applied to all, or just some, of the seats on those routes. We therefore considered that the ad was ambiguous and likely to confuse readers as to the nature of the flights and prices on offer and we therefore concluded that the ad was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Flybe to ensure that their ads made clear which airports flights departed from and went to and to, which seats fares applied.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)