THE COMPETITION COUNCIL WILL INVESTIGATE THE CHEAPEST AIR TICKET PROMOTIONS

The Competition Council decided to initiate an investigation concerning the compliance of the actions by economic undertakings engaged in the sale of air tickets with the requirements of the Law on Advertising of the Republic of Lithuania. The investigation was initiated there being a basis to suspect that the advertising statements published on the internet and claiming: “the flights are selected by an automated system that guarantees that the flights we offer will be the cheapest” and “the cheapest tickets on the internet” may be misleading, as the comparison of the offers in this internet website with the offers in other internet sites showed that the latter were offering, in respect of a specific flight, much lower rates.

The Law on Advertising of the Republic of Lithuania defines misleading advertising as the advertising which in any way, including its presentation, deceives or is likely to deceive the persons to whom it is addressed or whom it reaches and which, by reason of its deceptive nature, is likely to affect their economic behaviour or which, for those reasons, injures or is likely to harm another person’s capabilities in competition. Currently, in view of the significant reduction of direct flights from the Vilnius International Airport, the ticket search service and its convenience, as well as rates are the factors specifically relevant when selecting a service by a traveller.