Condor Ferries advert banned by ASA
Condor Ferries has been told off by the Advertising Standards Authority for advertising ‘from’ prices without being able to back up the claim.
The cross-channel ferry operator has been told it can’t run the online banner ads again unless it can substantiate that it is a ‘genuine price available to a reasonable proportion of customers and that significant limitations and qualifications were clearly stated’.
The ad, which appeared online on March 13, said ‘Condor Ferries – UK from £32 pp* each way with your car. Book now’.
But a complainant said they were unable to find a booking at the advertised price and challenged whether the ad was misleading.
Condor Ferries said a minimum of 10% of sailings were available at the advertised ‘from’ fares and that terms of the offer were clearly listed once customers clicked through to the website.
But it was not able to provide pricing information as it stood at the time the ad was seen by the complainant.
Instead it provided evidence relating to a June off ‘from £59’, but this failed to satisfy the ASA.
"We noted many of the journeys at that price point were during off-peak travel periods, with long periods where that price was not available. While there were sailings available at the “from” price, the opportunity to travel back to the departure point at the same price was restricted; in some instances return sailings at the ‘from’ price were not available back to the departure point for 20 days after the departure date," it said.
"We therefore considered the availability of return sailings was not what consumers would expect based on the claim in the ad. We also noted that when we searched for sailings on the website, which the evidence indicated should have been available at the £59 price point, we were not able to find those sailings available at that price."
It ruled the ad was misleading and breached the Code because it did not state significant limitations and qualifications.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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