ASA Adjudications

TUI UK Ltd t/a First Choice Holiday
Wigmore House
Wigmore Lane
Luton
Bedfordshire
LU2 9TN
Number of complaints: 1
Date:4 June 2008
Media:Brochure, Magazine
Sector:Holidays and travel

Ad
A brochure, for First Choice holidays, stated "Extra Legroom.  Make your journey fly by with our adult-exclusive extra legroom seats, ideal if you've got long legs or fancy stretching out.  From just £15 per adult one-way".  
Issue
The complainant, who paid for extra legroom seats but was allocated bulkhead seats, challenged whether the bulkhead seats had greater legroom than standard seats.

The CAP Code: 7.1

Response
TUI UK Ltd (TUI) confirmed that the complainant was allocated bulkhead seats on her flight. They said these were in row 11 situated with a screen in front which divided the business class section of the plane from economy class.

TUI said the process for measuring seat pitch used by the UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was taken from the front of the seat back (at the base of the seat back where the coccyx would sit) horizontally to either the back of the seat back in front or to the bulkhead in front. They said this provided an indication of the amount of room to accommodate the thigh. They said airlines took a measurement from the back of the topmost part of a seat back to the corresponding point on the seat back in front, or alternatively the bulkhead if the seat was in the front row.  They provided a table to show seat pitch measurements for rows 11, 14 and 20 on the complainant's aircraft, where they said extra legroom in economy was provided, using both the CAA and the airline method. They said the distance from the bulkhead in front of the complainant's seats on the aircraft to the base of the seat backs was 42.95 inches. They said the distance from the front stud of row 11 to the front stud of row 12 in the non-bulkhead seats was 33 inches, which was standard on all aircraft of that type. They believed therefore that they had demonstrated that the complainant's bulkhead seat had more legroom than the standard passenger seat on that aircraft.



Assessment
Upheld
We acknowledged the explanation and measurements provided by TUI and noted the seat pitch in the complainant's seats was 40 inches using the CAA method and 48 inches using the airline method. We also noted the distance between standard economy seats on the aircraft, measured on the floor from track stud to track stud, was 33 inches.

We noted "seat pitch" was an agreed industry measurement on aircraft, whereas there was no standard agreed measurement for "legroom". We noted the brochure did not refer to seat pitch but to legroom. We acknowledged that "legroom" and "seat pitch" were often treated as equivalent in the industry, but considered that the meaning of the terms would not necessarily be understood by all consumers. We considered that some consumers were likely to understand the term "legroom", used without qualification, to include space underneath the seat in front, into which it was usually possible to stretch out. We noted this interpretation of the term would mean that "legroom" in standard economy on the complainant's aircraft could include all the space underneath the seat in front, (approximating to 48 inches, measured on the floor from the back track stud of one seat to the front of the seat in front). We noted, because the bulkhead seats in which the complainant was sitting did not have seats in front but a screen dividing business class from economy class, this space was not available. We considered that, whilst technically the complainant's bulkhead seats had more room than standard economy seats when measured in terms of seat pitch, for those passengers expecting "legroom" to include room under the seat in front, "legroom" in the bulkhead seats was more cramped than in standard economy. We noted the ad stated "extra legroom ... ideal if you've got long legs or fancy stretching out" and concluded that the claim was misleading in this context.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 7.1 (Truthfulness).

Action
We told TUI not to advertise bulkhead seats to passengers as "extra legroom" seats without further clarification. We advised them to seek help from the CAP Copy Advice team for future, similar ads.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)

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