Budget airline Buzz has been censured by consumer watchdogs after admitting that low fares promoted in a newspaper advertisement were available on as few as 2% of seats.
The Advertising Standards Authority has ordered Buzz to submit future ads for scrutiny after upholding a complaint from a traveller who was unable to book a cheap fare to France.

While Buzz had, in national newspapers, advertised flights to European cities "from £50 one way", the traveller found, when attempting to book a flight to Montpellier, that the discount seats had gone.

Buzz maintained that it had provided "adequate availability" at the cheap fare, but the ASA voiced concerns that only three of 15 flights to Montpellier offered more than 10% of seats at £50.

On some flights just 2% of seats had been available at £50, with a maximum of 22% availability.

Cheap seats on the flight the complainant had attempted to book on were sold out three months before the departure date.

"The authority... considered that the advertisers had not proved that enough £50 seats were available on each flight to justify the promotional price shown in the advertisement," the ASA said on Wednesday.

Buzz, which Dutch airline giant KLM launched in January last year, said the low-fare seats had sold out more quickly than expected.

The carrier does not intend to use the ad again, it told the ASA.

Source www.bbc.co.uk (business section)