Ad description
A paid-for search listing and a booking webpage for Traveldecorum, seen on 23 February 2023:
a. The paid-for search listing was displayed within a list of Google flights search results for a return flight to Tel Aviv. The ad contained the company logo and text “Book with Traveldecorum …£440” next a link entitled “Continue”, which linked through to ad (b).
b. A booking page on the website www.traveldecorum.com, for the return flight featured in ad (a), contained full booking details for the flight. A section on the page titled “Price details” featured text stating, “1x Adult £489.31 Discount £-50.00 Total £439.31 All prices (including taxes & fees) are quoted in GBP”. Beneath that section was a link which stated “Continue booking”.
Issue
The complainant, who had booked the flight, but had subsequently been told the price stated in the ad was no longer available and that they would have to pay an additional £50, challenged whether the price claims were misleading.Response
BBNJ Ltd t/a Traveldecorum said they used third-party API services to book flights and that they took appropriate measures, which included regular price checks, to ensure fares were correct. They said because there were many fare combinations available, and because they were dynamic and frequently changed, they ensured the flight availability was checked twice before the customer booked and made payment.They said that in the complainant’s case, due to a real-time seat availability issue with the supplier there was a price discrepancy which led to a booking at a loss which was therefore declined by the airline.They provided evidence of an alternative booking for same flight route on a different date at a price that was lower than advertised.Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that consumers would interpret “Book with Traveldecorum …£440” to mean that the flight was available for the stated price, at the time they viewed the ad. The ad linked through to ad (b), the booking page, and we considered that consumers would interpret the claim “1x Adult £489.31 Discount £-50.00 Total £439.31” to mean that at the point of booking the total price included a discount of £50 and that £439.31 would be the total price that they would pay.
However, after the complainant had completed the booking by making the full payment and received written confirmation, they were informed that the price of the flight had increased, and they would need to pay an additional £50 to maintain the booking. While we understood that flight prices available through third parties were liable to fluctuate, advertisers were nevertheless responsible for ensuring that stated prices were genuine and did not mislead.
Because the flight was not available at the price quoted, we therefore concluded that the price claims were misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), 3.7 (Substantiation) and 3.17 (Prices).
Action
The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told BBNJ Ltd t/a Traveldecorum to ensure that their price claims were based on genuine prices available to consumers.
