ASA Adjudication on A1 Travel Deal Ltd
A1 Travel Deal Ltd t/a
Travel O World
First Floor, The Oaks
Oaks Road
Woking
Surrey
GU21 6PH
Date:
16 January 2013
Media:
Internet (on own site)
Sector:
Holidays and travel
Number of complaints:
1
Complaint Ref:
A12-210119
Background
Ad
Claims on www.traveloworld.co.uk stated that return KLM flights from London to Johannesburg, departing on 10 January 2013 and returning on 29 January 2013, were available from £439.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the price of £439 was misleading, because when he phoned the advertiser to book the flights, the lowest price they could offer was £679.
CAP Code (Edition 12)
Response
A1 Travel Deal Ltd t/a Travel O World (Travel O World) explained that the fare of £439.00 was valid on dates in January, February and March 2013, and provided receipts to show five return flights had been booked at that price. They stated that, although they always attempted to keep their fares as up-to-date as possible, there were occasions when a fare was only available for a limited number of dates, especially when the expiry date for an offer was approaching.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA understood that return flights had been sold at £439.00 for specific dates in January, February and March 2013, but we noted that the price claim related specifically to flights departing on 10 January 2013 and returning on 29 January 2013. Because we had not seen any evidence to show Travel O World had flights available for £439.00 on the dates stated in the ad, we concluded that the price claim was misleading.
The claim breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation), 3.17 and 3.22 (Prices).
Action
The claim must not appear again in its current form. We told Travel O World not to advertise prices for flights unless they held evidence to show that a reasonable proportion were available at the stated "from" price.
