News: Ryanair in dock over misleading advert
Flights > News > # 1529 (17/10/2007)
A Ryanair ad that took a swipe at Lastminute.com has been banned by the advertising watchdog following a complaint from the travel website.
Ryanair's ad, which featured in a number of national newspapers, was headlined "Robbed by last minute.com?" and showed a cartoon of a burglar with "online agent" written on his top.
The ad claimed that booking Ryanair tickets through an online agent was a rip-off, with additional charges of "100% or more".
Lastminute.com complained to the Advertising Standards Authority, saying that the headline and the image in the ad "denigrated and discredited" its business. The travel website argued that claims within the Ryanair ad, including allegations of overcharging, use of incorrect terms and conditions and failure to notify of schedule changes, were misleading and inaccurate.
Ryanair defended the ad, claiming that Lastminute.com was not authorised to sell the airline's flights. The no-frills airline said it had sent a letter to trading standards officers complaining about Lastminute.com's terms, conditions and schedule information.
The ASA rejected Ryanair's arguments. It ruled that the ad "misleadingly and unfairly" discredited Lastminute.com's business and that supporting evidence provided by Ryanair did not prove that the travel website overcharged customers. It also rejected arguments from Ryanair about Lastminute.com not passing on schedule changes and advising customers of incorrect terms, conditions, photo ID regulations, hand baggage dimensions, fees and baggage allowances.
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