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OTA falls foul of advertising watchdog
Online travel agency click2book.co.uk has been reprimanded by the advertising watchdog ASA for misleading consumers.
A customer complained to the ASA after they were unable to book a British Airways’ flight to Orlando over Christmas, advertised on click2book.co.uk for £464.5 on 10 July 2020.
Parent company Flights & Holidays UK told the ASA that flights on its website were bookable at the prices shown but in this case the payment had not been completed. It said that had the payment been made, it would have honoured the advertised price.
However, the ASA said it had not seen evidence that the flight was available at the advertised price at the time the complainant viewed the ad, so it concluded that the ad was misleading.
It told Flights & Holidays UK ‘to ensure it held adequate substantiation to show that their quoted prices were based on genuine prices available to consumers’.
"We also told them to: describe prices that were subject to change as ‘from’; clearly state that these had limited availability if that was the case; state when prices were last updated; and ensure they had processes in place to update prices frequently," added the ASA.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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