Stansted has been ordered to make future discount offers clearer by the advertising watchdog as it upheld a complaint over an airport parking promotion.
The Advertising Standards Authority ruled that an email claiming car parking prices were 53% cheaper than last year should not appear again.
It upheld a compliant that the ad promoting eight-day parking for £39.99 was misleading.
Manchester Airports Group-owned Stansted argued in its defence that the terms and conditions on the ad made clear that the percentage savings were based on an eight-day stay at its long stay car park.
The airport said the comparative savings were based on an eight-day stay in March 2014, compared to the same car park, duration and month in 2013.
But the ASA said the headline claim would be understood by those receiving the email as an “absolute statement” that all parking at Stansted in 2014 was 53% cheaper than in 2013.
Text which appeared below saying ‘Take advantage of an 8-day stay in Long Stay for only £39.99’ would be understood as an illustrative example.
“We therefore considered that the small print contradicted rather than qualified the absolute headline claim and therefore concluded that the ad was misleading,” the ASA ruled.