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Budget airline Ryanair has been rapped over an advert headlined “Robbed by lastminute.com?”.

The airline used a picture of a burglar dragging a bag of money with “online agent” written on his top.

Its advert accused online agents of ripping off customers and overcharging them by “100% or more”.

It drew an angry complaint from lastminute.com which has been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority.

The watchdog has told Ryanair not to re-use it “in its current form”.

Ryanair had provided no evidence that lastminute.com overcharged customers, the ASA said.

It added: “We concluded that the claim in conjunction with the image of a robber misleadingly and unfairly discredited Lastminute’s business.”

Lastminute also objected to the advert’s claims that online agents: “Don’t provide correct terms and conditions” and “Don’t notify schedule changes”.

The ASA upheld both of these complaints, saying they were misleading.

In response, Ryanair said Lastminute was not authorised to sell its flights and that the firm inflated its prices without its consent.

BY KEITH BENMAN
kbenman@nwitimes.com
219.933.3326

This story ran on nwitimes.com on Monday, November 27, 2006 12:34 AM CST

SkyValue USA will be flying into Gary with high hopes of soaring where previous airlines have stalled.

It won’t be easy, according to air industry observers and local travel agents.

“I think the problem they will have is they are going after the greater Chicago market, which I would throw Gary into, so they’re competing with the bigger airlines out of Midway and O’Hare,” said Roger King, senior analyst for transportation with CreditSights, a provider of independent credit research.

SkyValue flights from Gary/Chicago International Airport to five leisure destinations, including Las Vegas and Orlando, start Dec. 15. (more…)

Geneva.– Nearly one out of two airline tickets issued to travellers is currently in electronic form and paper tickets are on track to disappear completely by 2007, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced recently.

The association, which represents 265 airlines accounting for 94 percent of international air traffic, indicated that it would begin penalising members that failed to introduce electronic tickets by the end of next year. (more…)

US Airways Group Inc. is stepping up its Philadelphia operations this fall with more flights to and from three cities.

The company said Monday there will be one more flight per day to and from New Orleans and Wilmington, N.C. There will be two flights added per day to and from Buffalo, N.Y.

The change starts Sept. 6. US Airways (NYSE: LCC) said it is adding flights to meet demand for the markets. (more…)

Airports of Thailand Plc said today that five budget airlines have agreed to participate in tests of the overall systems at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi international airport on July 29, before its official opening about two months later, a senior official said Saturday.

Somchai Sawasdipol, director of Suvarnabhumi airport, said five low-cost airlines had agreed to join tests of the check-in system at both arrival and departure lounges. He indicated that his agency was also contacting Thai Airways International to participate in the test as well. (more…)

HONOLULU — New airline Go! began a schedule of interisland flights on Friday as an airfare war rages between the newcomer and its competitors.

Chris Barth and his family flew in one of Go!’s first flights from Maui on Friday morning. He said that it was an enjoyable trip because the price was right.

“Three-hundred dollars. The four of us got over here; normally it would cost us about $850 or $900. So, it’s great,” Barth said.
(more…)