Easyjet convicted for bait-and-switch advertisement

He is also ordered to pay the court fee of CHF 900 and the costs of CHF 400 for the municipal court. An advertisement for the airline Easyjet appeared in the commuter newspaper 20 Minuten on November 22, 2013. The company offered cheap flights for 28.40 francs to 19 destinations in the UK. The Zurich city police noticed the advertisement. They classified it as illegal. The police noted that the company did not fly to 19 destinations, but only 14, and that no flights could be booked from Zurich. There was also no information on which specific flight the price of around 28 francs referred to.

Misleading prices

In March 2014, the Zurich municipal court issued a penalty order against Thevenaz. In it, he was sentenced to a fine of CHF 300 and a fee of CHF 330 for violating the Price Disclosure Ordinance through misleading price disclosure and inadequate specification in advertising. The municipal judge stated that no flight from Zurich was so cheap. Thevenaz lodged an appeal against the penalty order, but refrained from appearing in person at the Zurich District Court. Instead, he was represented by his lawyer on Wednesday. He demanded a comprehensive acquittal. The defense lawyer described Easyjet's advertising model as a key element of its marketing. The advertising complied with the legal framework. However, he described the incorrect number of destinations as a mistake that had since been corrected. In principle, however, it was a permissible advertising model. The lawyer also argued that customers could reasonably be expected to check the availability of prices on the Internet.

Conviction and increased sentence

However, the court did not follow this argument. It found him guilty of unfair competition and increased the fine to 500 francs. Thevenaz was also ordered to pay the court fee of 900 francs and the costs of 400 francs for the municipal court. The court allowed the error in relation to the 19 destinations to go unpunished. But not the fact that no flight was bookable at CHF 28.40 in Zurich. The impression was created that Easyjet was offering flights to 19 destinations in the UK at this price. "But this was not the case," the court chairman explained. According to the court, at the time the newspaper advertisement was published, only flights from Basel/Mulhouse to Manchester were available on individual days in January and February 2014 at a price of 28.40 francs. This was misleading. It should have been pointed out that only certain flights in January and February were bookable at the stated price, the judge explained. The court therefore ruled that the advertisement was an inadmissible bait-and-switch advertisement.

Thevenaz accepts the verdict, Easyjet announced on Wednesday evening. Thevenaz emphasized in the statement that Easyjet had never deliberately wanted to deceive customers. The court also confirmed the correctness of the published price. (SDA)