Advertising watchdogs have criticised Eurostar for a second time this year for misleading customers by advertising £39 fares, with only a small number of tickets available at the lead in price.
Eurostar had placed two ads on social media, in June 2024, advertising fares to both Amsterdam and Brussels ‘from £39’ one way.
However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) was asked to investigate after someone complained they could only find a few tickets at that price.
Also, the complainant argued that the ads didn’t make it clear that the tickets were only available for travel from 26 June to 30 October to Brussels and from 15 May to 18 September to Amsterdam.
In January this year, the ASA had ordered Eurostar to ensure it had a ‘significant proportion’ of fares available at its advertised lead in price after finding only a small number available in a similar £39 promotion in 2023.
However, the ASA said only that in its latest promotion, Eurostar had put only 4.2% of the total number of tickets for London to Brussels and 1.6% of the total for London to Amsterdam on sale at £39.
It also ruled that Eurostar had omitted to make it clear in the ad that the fares were only available for certain travel dates.
Eurostar argued that providing ticket availability at an advertised price as a percentage of total tickets didn’t give an accurate representation of availability because some were sold B2C and others B2B, it used dynamic pricing, and it said it regularly injected tickets ‘when availability at a particular price could be low’.
It showed that by 21 July more than 11% of tickets had been sold at the advertised price for the dates shown for the relevant travel period, excluding blackout dates.
Also, Eurostar said that the travel dates were clearly set out in its terms and conditions, on a page one click away from the ad. It explained that there was only limited space in the ads to include all conditions.
The train operator also pointed out that the majority of customers usually bought tickets in advance, so the travel dates would not have been seen as a restriction.
However, the ASA said consumers would expect a ‘significant proportion’ of tickets to be available at the advertised price from June when the ads were seen, for the current bookable period.
“We also considered that consumers would expect to find the tickets available at the ‘from’ price across a range of dates and times within that period, and that they would have a reasonable chance of obtaining a seat at the advertised price.
“We therefore expected to see evidence demonstrating that a significant proportion of the available tickets could be purchased at the ‘from’ price of £39.
“Notwithstanding that, Eurostar had not been able to provide us with evidence demonstrating the proportion of tickets available at the ‘from’ price at the time the ad was seen, either for the bookable period at the time, or for the period during which the promotion ran.
“The historical data provided by Eurostar only gave information about the number of tickets sold and did not provide figures on the availability of the £39 tickets or the number of full priced tickets.
“We did not consider that was sufficient evidence to demonstrate the availability of tickets at the promotional price at the time the ad was seen.
“Therefore, because Eurostar were not able to provide historic availability figures and future facing data did not show a significant proportion of fares to Brussels or Amsterdam would be available to purchase at £39, we concluded the ads exaggerated the availability or number of benefits likely to be obtained by the consumer.”
It added: “We noted that qualifying tickets should have been immediately available for consumers who saw the ads in June, and these tickets would continue to be accessible until 18 September for London to Amsterdam and 30 October for London to Brussels.
“We considered however that some consumers would have wanted to book tickets outside of those dates, for instance in October for London to Amsterdam and November for London to Brussels.
“There was no information in the ads regarding dates that the tickets were available for. While information was on the landing page, it was close to the bottom and consumers would have to click further to reveal the dates.
“Because the ads did not include any information about the offer dates, which was material information, and the landing page had not presented that information immediately to consumers, we concluded that the ads were misleading.”
ASA told Eurostar to ensure that when using ‘from’ price claims in future, a significant proportion of the advertised fares were available at the advertised price and that travel dates for tickets with limited availability must be made clear.
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Eurostar had placed two ads on social media, in June 2024, advertising fares to both Amsterdam and Brussels ‘from £39’ one way.
However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) was asked to investigate after someone complained they could only find a few tickets at that price.
Also, the complainant argued that the ads didn’t make it clear that the tickets were only available for travel from 26 June to 30 October to Brussels and from 15 May to 18 September to Amsterdam.
In January this year, the ASA had ordered Eurostar to ensure it had a ‘significant proportion’ of fares available at its advertised lead in price after finding only a small number available in a similar £39 promotion in 2023.
However, the ASA said only that in its latest promotion, Eurostar had put only 4.2% of the total number of tickets for London to Brussels and 1.6% of the total for London to Amsterdam on sale at £39.
It also ruled that Eurostar had omitted to make it clear in the ad that the fares were only available for certain travel dates.
Eurostar argued that providing ticket availability at an advertised price as a percentage of total tickets didn’t give an accurate representation of availability because some were sold B2C and others B2B, it used dynamic pricing, and it said it regularly injected tickets ‘when availability at a particular price could be low’.
It showed that by 21 July more than 11% of tickets had been sold at the advertised price for the dates shown for the relevant travel period, excluding blackout dates.
Also, Eurostar said that the travel dates were clearly set out in its terms and conditions, on a page one click away from the ad. It explained that there was only limited space in the ads to include all conditions.
The train operator also pointed out that the majority of customers usually bought tickets in advance, so the travel dates would not have been seen as a restriction.
However, the ASA said consumers would expect a ‘significant proportion’ of tickets to be available at the advertised price from June when the ads were seen, for the current bookable period.
“We also considered that consumers would expect to find the tickets available at the ‘from’ price across a range of dates and times within that period, and that they would have a reasonable chance of obtaining a seat at the advertised price.
“We therefore expected to see evidence demonstrating that a significant proportion of the available tickets could be purchased at the ‘from’ price of £39.
“Notwithstanding that, Eurostar had not been able to provide us with evidence demonstrating the proportion of tickets available at the ‘from’ price at the time the ad was seen, either for the bookable period at the time, or for the period during which the promotion ran.
“The historical data provided by Eurostar only gave information about the number of tickets sold and did not provide figures on the availability of the £39 tickets or the number of full priced tickets.
“We did not consider that was sufficient evidence to demonstrate the availability of tickets at the promotional price at the time the ad was seen.
“Therefore, because Eurostar were not able to provide historic availability figures and future facing data did not show a significant proportion of fares to Brussels or Amsterdam would be available to purchase at £39, we concluded the ads exaggerated the availability or number of benefits likely to be obtained by the consumer.”
It added: “We noted that qualifying tickets should have been immediately available for consumers who saw the ads in June, and these tickets would continue to be accessible until 18 September for London to Amsterdam and 30 October for London to Brussels.
“We considered however that some consumers would have wanted to book tickets outside of those dates, for instance in October for London to Amsterdam and November for London to Brussels.
“There was no information in the ads regarding dates that the tickets were available for. While information was on the landing page, it was close to the bottom and consumers would have to click further to reveal the dates.
“Because the ads did not include any information about the offer dates, which was material information, and the landing page had not presented that information immediately to consumers, we concluded that the ads were misleading.”
ASA told Eurostar to ensure that when using ‘from’ price claims in future, a significant proportion of the advertised fares were available at the advertised price and that travel dates for tickets with limited availability must be made clear.
The post Eurostar found to have misled customers with £39 ticket ads for a second time appeared first on Travel Gossip.
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