Low-cost carrier EasyJet has been reprimanded by Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over claims that passengers could buy a large cabin bag allowance from just £5.99.
It turns out, however, that EasyJet couldn’t actually provide any evidence of what routes this low fee was available on, so the ASA ordered the budget airline to remove the claims from its website.
The price was ‘advertised’ on the fees and charges page of EasyJet’s website, but instead of providing much-needed transparency, the consumer group Which? said the cabin bag price was misleading and unsubstantiated.
Which? filed a formal complaint with the ASA who decided to open a formal investigation.
In response, EasyJet told the ASA that the list of fees was “intended for information purposes” and reassured investigators that large cabin bags “could be purchased across their network for prices starting from £5.99.”
EasyJet was not, however, able to provide specific figures on which routes this price was available on, as the airline uses a dynamic pricing model which takes a number of factors into consideration, including availability, demand, and operational cost.
The airline further countered that the listed price on its website was simply to indicate to passengers that this was the starting point for the price of bringing a large cabin bag allowance on board and wasn’t intended as a marketing strategy.
“If customers chose to add a large cabin bag to their booking, the actual price was shown clearly during the booking process before purchase to ensure transparency,” the airline told the ASA.
While the ASA says it has no reason not to believe EasyJet’s claims, it considered that consumers would understand the statement of “from £5.99” to mean that this price was available on a substantial number of routes.
“We therefore expected to see evidence, in the form of relevant pricing and availability data, demonstrating that large cabin bags could be booked at the “from £5.99” price across a range of flights and dates,” the ASA said in a statement on Wednesday.
EasyJet just didn’t have the evidence to substantiate its assertion that large cabin bags were available to book from £5.99, so the ASA upheld the complaint by Which? and ordered EasyJet to remove the claim from its website.
EasyJet has already complied with the order, and its website now states that “fees vary with demand, route, flight date and time of booking. You’ll see the exact price at the time of purchase.”
Rival low-cost carrier Ryanair continues to advertise a large cabin bag allowance within a range from £12 to £36 but notes that the “fee varies depending on the route and travel dates selected.”
The European Parliament is considering a new law that would allow all airline passengers to travel with two pieces of hand luggage for free, even if they are traveling on a budget carrier.
A European transportation committee has voted in favor of the regulations, but the policy must first be approved by 55% of the EU’s 27 member states before it becomes law.
At present, nearly every airline across Europe allows passengers to bring one small item that can fit underneath the seat in front of them onboard for free.
Additional charges for bringing a larger piece of hand luggage that must be stored in the overhead bin can, however, vary significantly from airline to airline, with carriers imposing wildly different bag dimension restrictions that can catch passengers off guard.
