Naim 6 Report post Posted April 9, 2008 Ryanair faces inquiry over adverts AFP 9/4/08 Budget airline Ryanair faces an investigation by the Office of Fair Trading after a catalogue of complaints over its adverts. The carrier has been accused by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of breaching rules seven times in two years by making exaggerated claims about flight availability at advertised prices and misleading customers by quoting prices that omitted taxes and charges. The authority also added that Ryanir made disparaging comparisons with competitors and failed to state restrictions that stopped customers from taking up an offer. ASA director Christopher Graham said formal referrals to the OFT are rare, the most recent one being made in 2005. "We would prefer to work with advertisers within the self-regulatory system rather than call in a statutory body, but Ryanair's approach has left us with no option. It is very disappointing, but absolutely necessary, that we have had to take this course of action," he told the BBC. The airline on its part had complained to the OFT last week about ASA's rulings, terming them "unfair, biased and untrue". "It's one of a number of advertisements where the ASA has demonstrated unfair procedures and bias and a clear anti-Ryanair agenda," the carrier's spokesman Peter Sherrard told the BBC. "In this case, the complainant couldn't remember and couldn't provide any evidence of the flights he was trying to book. Most sensible organisations or adjudicators at that stage would simply have dropped the complaint and let it lie," he added. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080409/wl_uk...f7NV0oX5MlvaA8F Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
