Condor ad for cheap fares was misleading - regulator

The complaint focused on an online banner ad which included the claim ‘Condor Ferries – UK from £33 pp* each way with your car. Book now’.

The complainant said they could not find a booking at that price.

Condor argued that a minimum of 10% of sailings were available at the advertised ‘from’ fares.

The authority ruled that the advert must not appear again in its current form.

‘We told Condor Ferries Ltd not to repeat a “from” price claim unless they could substantiate that it was a genuine price available to a reasonable proportion of customers and that significant limitations and qualifications were clearly stated.’

In its ruling, the ASA considered consumers would understand the claim “UK from £32pp each way with your car” to mean that a significant proportion of sailings to and from UK destinations throughout the year would be priced at £32 per person if they were travelling with a car.

‘We considered many consumers were likely to use Condor Ferries for holiday travel, and would therefore expect from the ad that they would be able to purchase both their departure and return sailings at the “from” price point.

‘We considered that consumers would understand that not all sailings would be priced at £32, but would expect to be able to find the price in the ad across a range of dates that would suit their needs if they booked in advance.’

Condor Ferries were not able to provide pricing information as it stood at the time the ad was seen by the complainant.

Full story in today's Guernsey Press