The airline compared the prices of its fares to those charged by the competitor SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System) in advertisements in the press. “So SAS claims to have the lowest fares in Europe??? Get at least a 98 per cent reduction compared to the so-called “lowest fares” charged by SAS”, the advertisement went.
The contents of the advertising campaign, which conflicted with the Danish Marketing Practises Act, was problematic on a number of counts:
- Ryanair did not state in what significant ways the fares compared in the advertisements differed from one another. Facts about whether certain restrictions or limitations applied in regard to refunding, changes, delays or cancellations of flights were omitted
- The comparisons applied to destinations to which SAS had no direct connection; in order to get from Malmö to London, one would have to go via Stockholm with SAS whereas Ryanair had direct flights from Malmö
- Prices were also quoted differently by the two airlines. Ryanair based its calculation on single or one way fares while SAS based its prices on return flights
- The content of the advertisement discredited SAS
Section 2a of the Danish Marketing Practises Act on comparative advertising contains a number of requirements to be complied with in order to ensure the legality of the advertising.