Comment: Ryanair is misguiding the public yet again – 23 Aug 2007

Once again, Ryanair has been providing misleading information to the public.

This week, the no-frills airline was banned from claiming its flight from London to Brussels is faster and cheaper than making the journey by Eurostar.

The Advertising Standards Authority pointed out that the claim ignores the time taken travelling from city centres to airports.

Unlike Eurostar, which travels from the centre of London to central Paris, Ryanair's main London base, Stansted, is 25 miles from central London, while Charleroi Airport is 28 miles outside Brussels.

The ASA also noted that costs for those journeys to and from airports meant Ryanair's claims of a cheaper service were also misleading.

"Stupid” was Ryanair's response to the ASA ruling, which, it added, could not hide the success of the airline. But what does its success have to do with the fact that, yet again, Ryanair is misguiding the public?

Only last week the Office of Fair Trading warned consumers to be wary of the airline. Unlike its rivals, Ryanair has failed to comply with OFT guidelines on advertising fully inclusive prices.

Its excuse? Technical issues. Funny how the other airlines have managed to organise their technology systems in time.

The ASA rapped Ryanair earlier this summer for breaching rules on truthfulness in a press campaign. It had claimed the airline industry accounts "for just 2% of carbon dioxide emissions”, without explaining the figure was based on global, rather than UK, emissions.

This followed a BBC investigation in January, disproving the airline's statement it had cut its CO2 emissions by half in recent years.

So next time a client tells you they can travel more cheaply with Ryanair, you might want to remind them of the airline's somewhat unscrupulous practices…

Travel Weekly Blog

• Be wary of Ryanair prices, warns OFT
• Ryanair gets reprieve on inclusive pricing. O rly?
• Ryanair might be bad, but the ASA is plain wrong