Ryanair To Be Investigated Over Advertising

Wednesday 9th April 2008

An investigation into Ryanair advertising is to be undertaken by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) after the company received a host of complaints over its advertising practices.

The complaints have been centred around Ryanair's apparent exaggeration of prices and availability as well as taxes and charges that some feel have misled customers when booking. This is not the first time that Ryanair have been reported to the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) as there have been seven previous examples of the group being reported in the last 24 months. Ryanair have responded before about the claims and have complained to OFT about rulings that have been made by the ASA branding them unfair.

Ryanair have pointed out that one complaint made by a passenger revolved around the customer not being able to recall the exact details of the booking they made. Ryanair have pointed out that they feel many groups would have not taken action regarding this complaint and are believed to worry that the ASA is targeting Ryanair unfairly.

The ASA have taken action against Ryanair for a host of reasons over the last two years including an advert showing a schoolgirl with the slogan 'hottest back to school fares' which was deemed inappropriate, challenging claims made by Ryanair about environmental issues, disputing claims by Ryanair that customers that booked via an online agent were being 'ripped off' and questioning Ryanair comments that flying from London to Brussels was cheaper and easier than travelling by Eurostar. It has not been just the ASA who have targetted Ryanair however as French President Nicholas Sarkozy and his wife also took legal action against the airline over the use of images of them.

Ryanair made ammendments to its website in February to make charges and taxes clearer to passengers, however initial efforts by the group were still not deemed satisfactory by the ASA as we have previously reported. However the website now seems to be carrying the necessary information. Ryanair has not been the only airline who has been asked to ammend its website however as the OFT requested 13 other airlines make ammendments earlier this year to take account of 'fixed non-optional costs.'

Images courtesy of kpmarek