Background
Ad description
An online sales promotion on the website www.jet2.com, viewed on 9 May 2012, stated "NEW! GRENOBLE from Leeds Bradford from £31.99 one way inc. taxes".
Issue
The complainant, who had been unable to find flights from Leeds Bradford to Grenoble at the advertised price, objected that the ad was misleading and challenged the availability of the £31.99 fare.
Response
Jet2.com Ltd (Jet2) stated that the promotion had begun on 8 May and advertised their new route from Leeds Bradford to Grenoble. They said the flights were on sale for travel between 15 December 2012 and 13 April 2013 and they submitted documentation which showed the number of seats available at that price across the whole travel period.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA understood from the data submitted by Jet2 that over 10% of the overall number of seats from Leeds Bradford to Grenoble during the travel period were available at the advertised "from" price of £31.99. We considered that that was a reasonable proportion. However, we noted that over half of the flights had no availability at all at £31.99, and that the flights which did contain seats at that fare did not depart at even intervals. We considered that, in the absence of a clear qualification in the ad, the seats available at the "from" fare should have been spread reasonably evenly across the travel period rather than being gathered together in a small number of flights. Because they were not, we concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 3.7 Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation. (Substantiation).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form.
