Scottish complaint against Trainline ads' 'misleading' claim over cheapest rail fares upheld
Advertising Standards Authority said the online ticket retailer could not substantiate its claims.
A complaint against online rail ticket retailer Trainline for claiming passengers wouldn’t find cheaper tickets elsewhere has been upheld by Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The decision that two adverts breached the advertising code was welcomed by the Scottish campaigner, who had claimed they were “misleading”.
Trainline said it had withdrawn the ads. A video ad on ITVX had stated: “Just download the Trainline app. You won’t find cheaper same-day tickets anywhere else, but if you do, they’ll refund the difference.”
A radio ad included the phrase: “We could just download the Trainline app. We won’t find cheaper tickets anywhere else but, if we do, they’ll refund the difference.”
The ASA ruled consumers would understand the ads’ claims “to mean that Trainline offered train tickets for the lowest possible price compared to other providers, and therefore it was unnecessary to look for cheaper tickets elsewhere”.
However, it said firms like Trainline were not permitted to sell fares outside the rail industry’s “ticketing and settlement agreement” so same-day tickets would be no lower than the price charged by the train operator that set them.
In fact, passengers might pay more for all but same-day tickets on Trainline because it charges fees, unlike train operators.
The ASA said: “We considered that without any evidence of adequate, ongoing price monitoring, Trainline were unable to substantiate the claims that cheaper tickets could not be found elsewhere.
“We understood that Trainline had intended the ads to convey their confidence in their prices. However, the claims were likely to be understood as absolute, rather than simply conveying confidence, which we considered was misleading.”
Fares campaigner George Eckton said: “The ASA has been clear - when companies like Trainline say things like ‘won’t find cheaper’, people should be able to trust those words absolutely.
“If the reality, as has been the case here with their price guarantee, doesn’t match the promise, passengers are going to be left confused and disappointed.”
A Trainline spokesperson said: “Our best price guarantee remains a price promise for our app customers that if the same ticket is found cheaper elsewhere for same-day travel, we will refund the difference.
“We have removed these two ads and are updating the wording of our adverts to avoid any doubt that this is our price promise.”
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