A travel website has been rapped by the advertising watchdog for showing misleading air fares.
Flightsandfly has been ordered not to repeat an advert promoting £106 return flights from Heathrow to Lagos.
The Advertising Standards Agency challenged whether the prices stated in the ad breached its code because they did not include non-optional taxes, fees and charges that would apply to all or most buyers.
The ASA acted after being altered by a consumer who was unable to obtain return flights for the advertised price of £106 excluding taxes.
Upholding the compliant, the ASA concluded that the advert was misleading and said: “The ad must not appear again. We told Flightsandfly to ensure that they held documentary evidence that flights were available at the quoted fare in future.
“We also told them to include in their prices all non-optional taxes, duties, fees and charges that applied to all or most consumers.”
The company said that advertised fares sometimes expired due to airlines increasing their prices or “exhausting availability”.
When this happens it normally updates the advertised fares accordingly within a few days.
Flightsandfly said it did not advertise fares inclusive of taxes because the taxes were subject to change. When customers call they are quoted the fare inclusive of all taxes and charges.