Eurostar given second reprimand over ‘misleading’ £39 fare ads

Eurostar has once again been reprimanded by the advertising watchdog for exaggerating the number of seats available at a sale price of £39.

Instagram and Facebook posts in June advertised London to Amsterdam and London to Brussels fares from £39 each way, with an asterisk advising that “T&Cs apply.”

A reader, who found only limited tickets at the advertised price, complained that the ads were misleading for exaggerating the availability of the advertised tickets and omitting information about the dates of the promotion.

Eurostar told the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that providing information about the availability of cheap tickets as a percentage of total tickets would not give an accurate representation of availability because some would be sold to businesses.

However, it said actual sales figures showed that, as of July 21, 11.6% of tickets at £39 had been sold for travel on the two routes between the relevant travel dates, excluding blackout dates.

The company believed this showed the ads did not exaggerate the availability or amount of tickets available to consumers.

Eurostar said the travel dates were clearly set out in its terms and conditions, presented on a page one click away from the ad.

Consumers would also 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, the watchdog added.

The ASA said: “We therefore expected to see evidence demonstrating that a significant proportion of the available tickets could be purchased at the ‘from’ price of £39.”

It added: “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 ASA revealed that the only data Eurostar had provided showed that 4.2% of the total number of tickets for London to Brussels and 1.6% of the total for London to Amsterdam were priced at £39.

It said: “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.

“The ads therefore were misleading.”

The ASA also found that the ads misled consumers because they did not include any information about the offer dates.

In January, the ASA ruled that Eurostar’s promotion of more £39 fares was misleading, finding it applied to only a “very small percentage” of available seats for travel between London and Paris.

A Eurostar spokeswoman said: “At Eurostar, we value customer feedback, including complaints, and we take great care in the way that we word our advertising.

“We understand and take on board the ASA’s latest ruling, which is related to seat availability at the lead-in price in any given period and are committed to ensuring that this scenario does not occur again.

“We will continue to work closely with the ASA to address their concerns and implement any necessary improvements to our advertising practices. “