Fasten your seatbelts: ASA upholds complaints against easyJet and TUI over misleading prices

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has today upheld a complaint against easyJet about its website pricing for large cabin bags. The ASA found that the claim “large cabin bag from £5.99” on easyJet’s “Fees and Charges” page on its website was misleading because the airline could not provide sufficient evidence that this price was genuinely available on a significant range of routes and dates.

Under the CAP Code, the ASA expects advertisers to support “from” price claims with demonstrable availability data. easyJet argued that their “Fees and Charges” page was for informational purposes only, not marketing. easyJet acknowledged that prices vary by route, demand and costs, so exact pricing could not be shown on the “Fees and Charges” page, but argued customers always saw the actual price before purchase, so the claim was not misleading. Despite arguing that the “from £5.99” price was accurate because no large cabin bags could be purchased for less than £5.99, but  bags could be purchased for £5.99 across their network, easyJet was unable to supply detailed pricing records showing that this low price was available over a meaningful period.

As a result, the ASA ruled that the “from £5.99” claim had not been substantiated and must not appear again in the same form. This ruling comes alongside another travel advertising ruling this week issued against TUI. In this ruling,  the ASA upheld complaints about a TUI holiday listing that displayed a £1,248.13 pp price for a Las Vegas Trip along with a “£187.74 Total Discount” label, when the price had increased by over £700 by the time the customer reached checkout. As the advertised figures were not genuinely available and important qualifiers (such as the date of the last price update or “from” pricing) were missing, the ASA found the initial price and savings claims to be misleading.

These rulings reflect a broader scrutiny of travel pricing, as airline ancillary revenues like baggage or other “extras” have ballooned into a multi-billion-dollar business while consumers become increasingly frustrated with hidden fees.