Flixbus 'exaggerated' how many coach tickets available for bargain £4.49 fare as complaint upheld

A long-distance coach operator has been ordered to increase the proportion of tickets sold for its advertised low fares after “exaggerating” how many were available, the advertising regulator has ruled.

Flixbus promoted “affordable coach travel from just £4.49”, but only 6 per cent of seats were on sale at that price, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) revealed.

Flixbus operates services between Scotland’s cities and across the Border | Conributed

The regulator announced on Wednesday the German firm must ensure a “significant” proportion of tickets could be bought at the advertised price when it made “from” price claims.

The regulator upheld a complaint from a Glasgow-based fares campaigner, who said it provided “vital clarity”.

George Eckton said: “A promotional 'from' price must be a realistic, year-round offer, not just a ghost of a deal available when demand is lowest.”

Flixbus, which aims to become Scotland’s largest coach operator, runs services between Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness, as well as cross-Border links and multi-stop commuter services.

The ASA said Flixbus had advertised “Affordable coach travel from just £4.49*” at the top of its website home page, with “*Subject to availability” at the very bottom of the page.

However, the regulator said the complainant had found only limited tickets at that price and claimed the ad was misleading.

FlixBus launched services between Edinburgh, Glasgow and Heathrow Airport in June | Flixbus

Flixbus figures provided to the ASA revealed an average of only 6 per cent of UK tickets were available for £4.49 for travel between June and December this year, including just 3 per cent in June and 4 per cent in August. That increased to 15 per cent last month.

But the regulator said consumers would understand the £4.49 claim as meaning a significant proportion of fares would be available at that price, and they would have a reasonable chance of finding them.

It ruled: “While the ad included the qualification ‘subject to availability’, we considered that the overall price claim would be interpreted by consumers to mean that a significant proportion of seats priced from £4.49 would be available throughout the year.

“As a result, it was not sufficient that certain months had increased availability because overall the availability data did not demonstrate a significant proportion at the advertised price.

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“We therefore concluded the ad exaggerated the availability of the proportion of tickets available at the advertised price and was misleading.

“We told Flixbus UK Ltd to ensure that when using ‘from’ price claims in future, a significant proportion of the advertised tickets were available at the advertised price throughout the given period for which the promotion was live.”

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Mr Eckton said: “Consumers expect a significant proportion of tickets to be available throughout the year. Allowing the low fare to vanish during peak seasons fundamentally undermines the trust required for fair and honest transport ticketing.

“The use of heavily-promoted ‘from’ prices in the transport industry, particularly when they are subject to extreme seasonal fluctuations, is a significant threat to customer trust.

“For transport providers, the lesson is that transparent pricing must be a consistent, realistic promise. If a promotional fare is not genuinely available across a significant proportion of the promotional calendar, regardless of whether it's summer, winter or mid-term, it should not be the headline price.”