"Number of seats left" advert on flight

roses

Hi, at the end of November I bought a ticket on Thomson Fly. Fligh price was £398 and number of seats left was 4.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/85/thomsonfly.jpg/

Since then, the number of seats fluctuates every week and the price has been going down. The week after I bought, the number of seats left increased from 2to 8, then gradually went down to 2 seats again over a course of 2 weeks. Then last week it went back up to 8 seats again and now 4 seats left.

I am not expecting a refund of the difference however I am a little annoyed because I only bought the ticket because it said there were only 4 seats left. If I had known there were more seats, I would have waited because I know they reduce the price each week until they have sold out.

Can I complain to the office of fair trading for misadvertising?

neilmcl

The number of seats may well have been 4 when you ordered but they can quite easily fluctuate up or down as passengers confirm or cancel their bookings. So you can complain all you like but I'll doubt the OFT will do anything about it.

SuperHan

It also sometimes refers to number of seats left at that price.

roses

Hmm. I buy regularly from thomsonfly flight only (about twice a year) and they have never done this before. Surely it's considered a mis-description if they say "only xx seats left" with no other t&c's?

somethingcorporate

Why would it be mis-description if people cancel their bookings which releases seats again?

roses

Tickets are non refundable. I highly doubt 16 people have cancelled their flight since I booked, which is what the number of tickets has increased by.

System

They may have increased the size of the plane because of demand. Planes are not all one size. Frankly i would just say that life is too short to get hung up about this. You've got your flights so enjoy your holiday. Spending time complaining to OFT just seems like an absolute waste of time

balmk

Often airlines have a number of seats reserved for package bookings. The number of seats availible that is shown for internet bookers only includes seats which do not fall within this allocation.

As seats are released by the holiday companies when their holidays do not sell, these reserved seats are then added to the "open booking" pool. This is why the numbers fluctuate.

ThumbRemote

goater78 wrote: »

They may have increased the size of the plane because of demand. Planes are not all one size. Frankly i would just say that life is too short to get hung up about this. You've got your flights so enjoy your holiday. Spending time complaining to OFT just seems like an absolute waste of time

Airlines will rarely incrase the size of an plane on a particular route, and certainly not repeatedly by 2-4 seats at a time. And if you think complaining about false advertising is a waste of time, then presumably you're happy to get misled - and it really begs the question as to why you're on a consumer rights forum in the first place.

roses, I absolutely would complain to the OFT. If ThomsonFly are claming to only have x seats left, when in fact they have more, it's an outright lie and they should be held to account for it. True, there may be other unknown factors involved such as cancellations, but in this case Thomson will have nothing to fear.

garth549

Annoying yes. Have they done anything wrong - no. Prices for everything fluctuate all the time. Petrol, food, you name it.

peachyprice

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Airlines will rarely incrase the size of an plane on a particular route, and certainly not repeatedly by 2-4 seats at a time. And if you think complaining about false advertising is a waste of time, then presumably you're happy to get misled - and it really begs the question as to why you're on a consumer rights forum in the first place.

roses, I absolutely would complain to the OFT. If ThomsonFly are claming to only have x seats left, when in fact they have more, it's an outright lie and they should be held to account for it. True, there may be other unknown factors involved such as cancellations, but in this case Thomson will have nothing to fear.

Did you read this before wading in:

balmk wrote: »

Often airlines have a number of seats reserved for package bookings. The number of seats availible that is shown for internet bookers only includes seats which do not fall within this allocation.

As seats are released by the holiday companies when their holidays do not sell, these reserved seats are then added to the "open booking" pool. This is why the numbers fluctuate.