Ad description
A radio ad for Jet2.com Ltd, heard between February and March 2017. The voice-over stated, “With Jet2.com you can choose from 58 amazing destinations including daily flights to Alicante, Faro, Ibiza, Malaga and Majorca. You can fly from as little as £42 - plus, enjoy a huge 22 kg baggage allowance. No wonder we’ve been ranked the UK’s top airline on Trip Advisor - and, new from this spring, you can go direct from London Stansted and Birmingham. Jet2.com. Friendly low fares. Price per person, one way, including taxes. Charges may apply. Subject to availability and normal conditions.”
Issue
Two complainants challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied that the 22kg baggage allowance was included with Jet2 flights at the price quoted.
Response
Jet2.com stated that they did not believe the ad was misleading on the basis that it referred to a 22 kg baggage allowance, which was accurate, because passengers could have a 22 kg allowance in one bag. The ad did not state that baggage was included in the cost of the flight. That was in contrast to the radio ads for Jet2.com’s sister company, Jet2holidays, which operated package holidays and stated that 22 kg baggage was “included”, because in that case the baggage was included.
They explained that they highlighted their baggage allowance because they understood it differed from the allowance generally offered by their competitors.
They said that the ad also stated that “charges may apply”, which they believed made it clear that not everything was included in the price of the flight and there might be a charge, for example, if someone wanted to check-in a bag in the hold rather than just taking hand luggage.
Radiocentre said they understood that the £42 cost did not include the 22kg baggage allowance but felt that, because the ad was phrased “plus enjoy a 22kg baggage allowance”, listeners would conclude that the baggage allowance cost was separate from the flight price quoted. They felt that listeners would be aware that baggage came as an extra cost and noted the qualifying information at the end of the ad which stated “charges may apply”.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that consumers would interpret the claim “You can fly from as little as £42 - plus, enjoy a huge 22 kg baggage allowance” to mean that a 22 kg baggage allowance would be included with all Jet2.com flights, as well as in the “from £42” price quoted.
We acknowledged that the voice-over stated, “charges may apply” towards the end of the ad. However, the qualification did not state what those charges referred to, and we considered that it was not sufficiently clear that the 22 kg allowance was not included with their flights, and in the flight price quoted. We therefore concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached BCAP Code rules
3.1
3.1
Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
3.2
3.2
Advertisements must not mislead consumers 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 consumers need in context to make informed decisions about whether or how to buy a product or service. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead consumers depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the advertisement is constrained by time or space, the measures that the advertiser takes to make that information available to consumers by other means.
(Misleading advertising)
3.10
3.10
Advertisements must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify.
(Qualification) and
3.18
3.18
Price statements must not mislead by omission, undue emphasis or distortion. They must relate to the product or service depicted in the advertisement.
(Prices).
Action
The ad must not be broadcast again in its current form. We told Jet2.com Ltd to ensure that ads did not imply that luggage allowance was included in the price of their flights if that was not the case, and to ensure that qualifications were made sufficiently clear.
