In another airline/advertising based scandal, this time Bmibaby takes the hit. The airline has been found guilty by the Advertising Standards Authority of misleading passengers with an ad campaign which claimed up to 40% discounts on all flights.

The watchdog ruled that Bmibaby had exaggerated the size of the discounts in the headline of its ad, “Gotta fly, baby! Up to 40% off ALL flights!” and has banned the adverts which first appeared in March.

The airline had knocked up to 40% off airfares,but hadn’t applied the discount to airport taxes and charges. It said it made this clear in the terms and conditions, but as these were not highlighted, the ASA said most would infer from the headline claim that the discount applied to the total cost of the flight.

“We considered the qualification that the discount only applied to the airfare was particularly significant and therefore should have been more prominently displayed in the main body of both ads,” it said in its ruling.