Ad description
A website for flights, www.monarch.co.uk, stated "MILLIONS OF SEATS DISCOUNTED A GUARANTEED EXTRA £15 OFF RETURN FLIGHTS BOOK NOW WITH PROMO CODE BIG15 TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLY". By clicking on the ad, readers were directed to a landing page, which stated "... It's simple, just enter the discount code BIG15 into the booking path and see your return flight price drop by £15 per passenger! Click here to book your flights today ... Terms and conditions ... Only valid on ZB return flight bookings ...".
Issue
The complainant, who believed that the ad did not make sufficiently clear that the offer was only valid on ZB return flight bookings, challenged whether it was misleading.
Response
Monarch Airlines Ltd (Monarch Airlines) said it was not necessary for customers to "click through" the ad to see the qualifying text because it was displayed prominently in the terms and conditions section in the body copy, which appeared on the same web page. The claim "SUBJECT TO TERMS AND CONDITIONS" also made clear that the offer was subject to qualification.
Monarch Airlines' scheduled flights had a flight number beginning with ZB and the only non-ZB flights which customers could book on the Monarch website were chartered flights with a flight operator. They submitted figures relating to the proportions of sales for the current year which demonstrated that less than 4% of their total flight stock related to chartered, non-ZB flights. When customers searched for flights on the website they were presented with a list of flight numbers, some of which included non-ZB flights. They believed that if a non-ZB flight was selected it was apparent that the customer was not booking a ZB flight, because they had to tick a box next to the flight number. They also said because only a small proportion of flights were non-ZB flights their exclusion from the offer was not significant and the placement of the qualification was sufficient.
Assessment
Not upheld
The ad stated "MILLIONS OF SEATS DISCOUNTED A GUARANTEED EXTRA £15 OFF RETURN FLIGHTS" and the ASA considered that readers would understand from this that millions of seats on return flights had been given a guaranteed discount of £15. We understood that non-ZB flights were excluded but did not consider that the ad implied that all seats were discounted. We also noted that, for the current year, only a very small proportion of chartered seats were sold, while over seven million scheduled flights had been sold and considered that the text "TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLY" directly underneath the headline claim clearly directed readers to the offer's terms and conditions. We therefore concluded that the ad was not misleading.
We investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.3
3.3
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
(Misleading advertising),
8.17
8.17
All marketing communications or other material referring to promotions must communicate all applicable significant conditions or information where the omission of such conditions or information is likely to mislead. Significant conditions or information may, depending on the circumstances, include:
8.17.1
8.17.1
How to participate
How to participate, including significant conditions and costs, and other major factors reasonably likely to influence consumers' decision or understanding about the promotion
and
8.17.7
8.17.7
Restrictions
Geographical, personal or technological restrictions such as location, age or the need to access the Internet. Promoters must state any need to obtain permission to enter from an adult or employer
(Significant conditions for promotions) but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
