Leaving on a jet plane - or maybe not
07 June 2005
We are promised a scorching summer this year but nevertheless millions of us will look to take a break from the UK to enjoy a relaxing week or two abroad. Some of us will ruin ourselves with overindulgence of sun and sangria and need another holiday on our return, no doubt laden with Toblerone and cheap cigarettes, to recover. For some, however, the real trauma can lie in trying to book a holiday at the advertised price.
The ASA has received lots of complaints from consumers who state that when they tried to book a flight or holiday at the price advertised it simply wasn’t available. The problem is often not that the offer was not available at that price but that, by the time the consumer tried to book, all available flights or holidays at the advertised low price had been exhausted, sometimes before the advertisement had even been published.
The underlying difficulty is that, because of the manner in which they are made available to them by airline companies, travel agents are not always aware of the extent to which flights at the offered price are. Airlines make flight offers available on Global Distribution Systems (GDS), which inform travel agents about flight prices but not about how many flights are available at those prices. To ensure that consumers are made aware of the offers, travel agents incorporate the prices into their ads.
In an adjudication against Expedia, the ASA told the advertisers to ensure that future advertisements stated, in an asterisked footnote, that seats, or places on a holiday, at the quoted “from” price were extremely limited. To ensure that the industry is aware of the adjudication, the Compliance team has written to over 3,000 travel companies to advise them of the ramifications it has for their advertising.
So, if you are looking to book a holiday and see an offer that tempts you, our advice is to book it straight away, because these offers can be snapped up very quickly. When they’re gone, they’re gone!
Related Adjudication
Expedia