Southall Travel misled customers, says watchdog

Long-haul specialist Southall Travel has been ordered to make sure its website features only ‘genuine’ fares following an investigation by the Advertising Standards Authority.

The ASA said it has received complaints from two customers who were unable to book flights from London to Mumbai at fares advertised on southalltravel.co.uk.

The website stated on November 1 that prices started "fr £443…" but that these fares were "Extremely Limited Subject to Availability". On December 16, it said fares were "fr £346" and again it made it clear they were ‘extremely limited’.

Nevertheless, the complainants challenged whether the claims were misleading and could be substantiated.

In its defence, Southall Travel explained that airlines constantly altered prices and it ‘made every effort’ to ensure that advertised prices were kept up to date through its own IT systems and uploads direct from the relevant airlines.

It said the prices for the Mumbai flights had been uploaded on to its system by the airlines involved at a lower price than the price quoted in the ads and therefore it believed that the advertised price was achievable.

It provided the ASA with screenshots of the airline uploads and invoices for flights booked at less than the advertised prices for dates near to those the complainants had attempted to book.

However, the ASA said that Southall Travel should have taken reasonable steps to reduce the likelihood of consumers being misled and to make them aware that the advertised price might have changed and what steps they needed to take to find the most up-to-date price.

Although the ads stated "from" and "Extremely Limited Subject to Availability", the ASA criticised Southall for not making it clear that the quoted price was indicative of the last price update, or when that update had occurred.

"We also saw no evidence to show how often Southall Travel updated the flight prices on their website or the processes they had in place to ensure that they were updated frequently," it said.

"The invoices Southall Travel provided showed flights had been sold for dates similar to those the complainants wanted to book, but the prices paid did not match those quoted in the ads.

"Furthermore, they referred to bookings made between seven and three months before and between six to nine weeks after the ads appeared and therefore did not relate to the price and availability of the flights at the time the complainants saw the ads.

"It was also unclear from the screenshots of the flight prices uploaded on to Southall Travel’s systems by the airlines when that update took place.

"We considered that Southall Travel had not been able to demonstrate that the quoted prices were based on a genuine price available when the prices were last updated or how frequently they were updated.

"We concluded that, because the ads did not make sufficiently clear that the quoted prices were subject to change and that they referred to the price at the last update, when that update took place or how consumers could find the most up-to-date price, the ads were misleading."
The ASA told Southall it must ensure that its advertising made clear that quoted prices were accurate at the time of the last update, the date of which should be stated, and that prices were subject to change.

"We also told them to ensure that they held suitable substantiation to show that the quoted price was based on a genuine price available when the price was last updated and to have processes in place to make sure prices were updated frequently," it added.