A British Airways American Express Premium Plus Card advert promoting a ‘two for the price of one’ travel voucher has been ruled as misleading.
The advertising watchdog banned the radio advert from running again after upholding a complaint against a website and radio advert heard in December.
The Advertising Standards Authority stepped in after receiving a compliant that the companion voucher did not offer two flight tickets for the price of one and that the claim was misleading.
Upholding the complaint, the ASA ruled: “We welcomed the advertisers’ willingness to make changes to explain that those additional charges applied per person, but did not consider those changes would significantly alter how consumers would interpret the ‘2-for-1’ claim.
“Consequently, because we considered consumers would understand the claim ‘2-for-1’ in both ads to mean that if they were to spend £10,000 on the card over a 12-month period, they would qualify for a companion voucher which allowed two people to travel to their chosen destination via two British Airways reward flight tickets for the price of one, and that was not the case, we concluded that the claim was misleading.
“The ads must not appear again in their current form.
“We told British Airways and American Express to ensure that their future advertising did not mislead by implying that consumers were able to obtain two products for the price of one when that was not the case.”
BA and Amex said that the flight price did not have to be paid for the second ticket but carrier charges, taxes and fees were applicable for both passengers.
They argued that the adverts provided qualifying information as to the nature of the benefit and “prominently outlined the presence of significant cost exclusions” by stating that ‘terms, taxes, fees and carrier charges apply’.