Jet2holidays and TUI promotions banned

Jet2holidays and TUI have both been found guilty of breaching advertising rules and misleading customers with separate online promotions.

The Advertising Standards Authority ordered the operators not to repeat the promotions and to ensure that they did not make savings claims in future unless they were ‘genuine and meaningful to consumers’.

A customer complained to the ASA after receiving an email from Jet2holidays on January 14 with the subject line ‘Psst! Our £100pp SALE has started’. Small print at the bottom of the email said the discount was valid on bookings made on January 14 to January 17.

The complainant considered the email was misleading as the sale had actually begun on December 25 and continued until February. Also, he did not believe the £100 saving was genuine.

In its defence, Jet2holidays blamed an administrative error by a member of its marketing team for the incorrect start and closing dates for the promotion on the email.

However, it insisted the £100 saving was genuine, but said that due to the dynamic nature of holiday pricing it was not possible to compare periods on a like-for-like basis.

In its ruling, the ASA said: "In relation to the particular holiday the complainant viewed, the price presented to the consumer on the 13 January was £427.

"We considered that the consumer would have expected this price to decrease by £100 as set out in the claim on the 14 January when the sale commenced.

"Instead, the price would have appeared to the consumer to have stayed the same. We considered that this was likely to mislead consumers and cause unnecessary disappointment.

"We further considered that because consumers would understand from the small print in the ad that the savings would only be available for a limited time, the time and opportunity to make an informed choice about their purchase was reduced for consumers.

"We therefore considered that the incorrect date of sale set out in the ad was likely to induce consumers to make a purchase potentially to their disadvantage. We therefore considered the subject line "Psst! Our £100pp* SALE has started!" and sale dates stated in the small print were in conjunction likely to mislead."

TUI brands Thomson and First Choice were also found to have misled customers over discounts offered on bookings for the Riu Palace Hotel.

A customer complained to the ASA that holidays covering the same dates had not been sold at the undiscounted price of £1,800 challenged whether the savings claims were misleading and could be substantiated.

TUI insisted that the claimed discounts were ‘fair, honest and not misleading’ because the ads indicated to the consumer that they would obtain a package holiday at the value of £1800 at a 9% discount if booked via the Thomson website or 10% if booked via First Choice.

TUI said the discounts reflected the saving it made on travel agents’ commission and other costs.

However, the ASA said the basis of the comparator prices had not been made sufficiently clear to consumers. It concluded they were misleading and could not be substantiated.

It told Thomson and First Choice to make clear the basis of the price comparison in future promotions.