Luton Airport Express - Misleading Ads?

[skyhigh]

It'd be interesting if someone mentioned this to the Advertising Standards Agency and got an opinion.

I suspect it wouldn't be positive.

Don't forget they effectively banned Megabus from advertising tickets from £1 as in their opinion there weren't sufficient numbers of tickets available at £1 to justify the level of advertising.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I suspect it wouldn't be positive.

Don't forget they effectively banned Megabus from advertising tickets from £1 as in their opinion there weren't sufficient numbers of tickets available at £1 to justify the level of advertising.

I'm so tempted to report it to them to see what happens.

 

[skyhigh]

I'm so tempted to report it to them to see what happens.

You might as well.

As far as I'm concerned it's misleading - particularly the way it says Luton Airport on the front of the train clearly implies it's a direct service to the airport. It's simply duff advertising from EMR.

 

[Jim the Jim]

I'm not sure this is any different from including tourist attractions in an advert when they're actually some way from the station?

I wouldn't bat an eye at LNER including the London Eye in a "visit London by train" advert even though it would take you 25 minutes plus to actually get there from King's Cross.

 

[skyhigh]

I'm not sure this is any different from including tourist attractions in an advert when they're actually some way from the station?

I wouldn't bat an eye at LNER including the London Eye in a "visit London by train" advert even though it would take you 25 minutes plus to actually get there from King's Cross.

The difference here is that it's clearly advertising Luton Airport as a calling point of the train, when it isn't.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

The difference here is that it's clearly advertising Luton Airport as a calling point of the train, when it isn't.

And you can get to London by train, too! You can't Luton Airport. Catching the DART is not, really, travelling by train.

 

[dk1]

Just looks like the PIS is scrolling through and about to say Parkway to me.

 

[Djgr]

W

Just looks like the PIS is scrolling through and about to say Parkway to me.

Well that's the case for the defence. Do the external destination boards of such trains actually scroll like that?

But I think the fact that no trains run from London St Pancras to Luton Airport is an insurmountable problem

 

[dk1]

W

Well that's the case for the defence. Do the external destination boards of such trains actually scroll like that?

But I think the fact that no trains run from London St Pancras to Luton Airport is an insurmountable problem

I find this whole thread extremely petty. I think the advertisement is very good indeed.

 

[Western Sunset]

I find this whole thread extremely petty. I think the advertisement is very good indeed.

Yes, a good advert. But misleading, as most adverts are.

 

[dk1]

Yes, a good advert. But misleading, as most adverts are.

Agreed. I just can’t believe anybody could actually be bothered to officially complain.

 

[Western Sunset]

Agreed. I just can’t believe anybody could actually be bothered to officially complain.

Yep. Someimes it seems that just one person can complain about something innocuous and it gets taken down. Anyhow, I digress.
Whatever happens, at least it's raised awareness of an EMR link between London and Luton Airport(ish)...

 

[Bartsimho]

It'd be interesting if someone mentioned this to the Advertising Standards Agency and got an opinion.

As seen above you can buy a ticket from St Pancras to Luton Airport (Not just the Parkway but a combined fare with the DART) for £7.60 so it's completely lawful and honestly they could advertise an even lower price. (Just that it's easier to find it at £10 not the lowest ever offered and people remember it more)

 

[Djgr]

As seen above you can buy a ticket from St Pancras to Luton Airport (Not just the Parkway but a combined fare with the DART) for £7.60 so it's completely lawful and honestly they could advertise an even lower price. (Just that it's easier to find it at £10 not the lowest ever offered and people remember it more)

Being lawful does not simply depend on price quoted.

 

[robert thomas]

As seen above you can buy a ticket from St Pancras to Luton Airport (Not just the Parkway but a combined fare with the DART) for £7.60 so it's completely lawful and honestly they could advertise an even lower price. (Just that it's easier to find it at £10 not the lowest ever offered and people remember it more)

It seems perfectly reasonableto me. It is a through ticket and there are many "airport" stations which are a long distance from the terminal and require suplementary transport to reach the check in. I doubt that any "normal" would complain.

 

[Djgr]

Agreed. I just can’t believe anybody could actually be bothered to officially complain.

Well, even from this thread, it should be clear that not everyone has the same world view as you.

 

[Bartsimho]

Being lawful does not simply depend on price quoted.

It does not but it is part of the claim.
The claim is London St Pancras to Luton Airport for £10. There are prices for less than £10 so that is fine.
The ticket destination is for Luton Airport officially and that is agreed by the rail operator and Luton Airport itself.
It does not claim exclusivity either

 

[Tetchytyke]

As a traveller, I'd be expecting to be carried the whole way to Luton Airport directly on the train.

It’s semantics, nothing more.

The DART is no different to catching the monorail at Gatwick Airport, it’s a similar time and a similar distance, except they call the railway station “Gatwick Airport”.

It’s not like, say, Liverpool where the railway station is 3 miles and 15 minutes on a bus from the airport.

As for the image of the 360, it’s clearly not a realistic depiction of a EMR 360- the destination blind works, for one thing.

 

[Djgr]

It seems perfectly reasonableto me. It is a through ticket and there are many "airport" stations which are a long distance from the terminal and require suplementary transport to reach the check in. I doubt that any "normal" would complain.

Does the EMT train ACTUALLY say Luton Airport as the destination?

What the advert shows is not a stylised representation but purports to show a realistic image of the EMT train.

If there is no EMT train that actually looks like this then I would not like to be the Advertising/Marketing manager responsible.

It does not but it is part of the claim.
The claim is London St Pancras to Luton Airport for £10. There are prices for less than £10 so that is fine.
The ticket destination is for Luton Airport officially and that is agreed by the rail operator and Luton Airport itself.
It does not claim exclusivity either

Being partly legal does not make something legal.

 

[dk1]

Does the EMT train ACTUALLY say Luton Airport as the destination?

What the advert shows is not a stylised representation but purports to show a realistic image of the EMT train.

If there is no EMT train that actually looks like this then I would not like to be the Advertising/Marketing manager responsible.

It’s a class 360.

 

[Djgr]

It’s a class 360.

and therefore...?

 

[dk1]

and therefore...?

…It’s a class 360.

 

[Merle Haggard]

Tangentially; the St Pancras Corby service is now heavily marketed as the 'Luton Airport Express' but I don't think that this was the case when the service started; I think it was originally called 'East Midlands Connect' or possibly 'Corby Connect'.

The Corby aspect seems to have been marginalised just lately; possibly Corby business hasn't met expectations and this is an attempt to build passenger numbers up at other points on the route ( by poaching Thameslink's traffic? ). It would be interesting to know; previous attempts to serve Corby after the station's closure, such as the coach-rail link ( 2 attempts ) didn't seem to meet with great success.

 

[dk1]

Tangentially; the St Pancras Corby service is now heavily marketed as the 'Luton Airport Express' but I don't think that this was the case when the service started; I think it was originally called 'East Midlands Connect' or possibly 'Corby Connect'.

The Corby aspect seems to have been marginalised just lately; possibly Corby business hasn't met expectations and this is an attempt to build passenger numbers up at other points on the route ( by poaching Thameslink's traffic? ). It would be interesting to know; previous attempts to serve Corby after the station's closure, such as the coach-rail link ( 2 attempts ) didn't seem to meet with great success.

I think it’s just because the DART has opened now & has nothing to do with Corby business.

 

[Bartsimho]

Tangentially; the St Pancras Corby service is now heavily marketed as the 'Luton Airport Express' but I don't think that this was the case when the service started; I think it was originally called 'East Midlands Connect' or possibly 'Corby Connect'.

The Corby aspect seems to have been marginalised just lately; possibly Corby business hasn't met expectations and this is an attempt to build passenger numbers up at other points on the route ( by poaching Thameslink's traffic? ). It would be interesting to know; previous attempts to serve Corby after the station's closure, such as the coach-rail link ( 2 attempts ) didn't seem to meet with great success.

Probably that the introduction and marketing was to get it established and now those in Corby and other places know about it and the frequency so they are changing the marketing as its diminishing returns on advertising now.

 

[Merle Haggard]

Probably that the introduction and marketing was to get it established and now those in Corby and other places know about it and the frequency so they are changing the marketing as its diminishing returns on advertising now.

Yes, thanks, I can see that; 'we've got lots of business from our campaign so we don't need to do it any more' rather than 'our campaign hasn't worked so we'll stop throwing good money after bad'.

 

[BluePenguin]

I'm not sure this is any different from including tourist attractions in an advert when they're actually some way from the station?

I wouldn't bat an eye at LNER including the London Eye in a "visit London by train" advert even though it would take you 25 minutes plus to actually get there from King's Cross.

Or the fact that Gatwick, Standsted and Luton all have advertising for well known London landmarks when they all located some way out of London and despite your boarding pass, the plane does not land in central London and you must pay for a train or coach ticket on top of your flight to reach such landmarks

 

[Titfield]

Or the fact that Gatwick, Standsted and Luton all have advertising for well known London landmarks when they all located some way out of London and despite your boarding, pass the plane does not land in central London and you must pay for a train or coach ticket on top of your flight to reach such landmarks

The only London Airport is London City Airport. (It is the only one that has a London postcode and is therefore in London).

 

[dk1]

The only London Airport is London City Airport. (It is the only one that has a London postcode and is therefore in London).

Always used to laugh when Steve Wright on his afternoon R2 show referred to Southend as in London as that’s what they claimed their airport was

 

[PGAT]

The only London Airport is London City Airport. (It is the only one that has a London postcode and is therefore in London).

Heathrow is still within the official Greater London boundary