ASA rules On the Beach free airport lounge ads misleading

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that On the Beach’s “free airport lounge” adverts were misleading, although the Manchester-based online travel agent said most customers did receive access.

The watchdog said a TV advert promoting “be a booking hero and get free airport lounge access with On the Beach”, together with two ads on the company’s website, must not appear again “in their current form”.

The ruling follows a complaint that the ASA upheld. The complainant, who understood there was a limit on the total number of free lounge passes available, challenged whether the ads left out significant information and were therefore misleading.

The ASA said: “We told On The Beach to ensure that future ads did not imply to consumers that, as long as they complied with the conditions of the offer, they would receive free airport lounge passes if that was not the case.”

Company's response

On the Beach submitted evidence that around 93% of bookings made between February and August received free lounge access as promised.

It said customers who could not use a lounge were compensated with a cash alternative worth more than the amount set out in its terms and conditions. For that reason it did not think the limit on passes was a significant condition that had to be spelled out in its ads.

The company argued the limit “was a reflection of the natural capacity limitations of airport lounges, rather than a cap imposed by On The Beach.” It pointed out that its terms explained passes were subject to capacity and that eligible customers who missed out would receive cash instead.

Uneven availability

Having reviewed the data, the ASA found “the proportion of eligible bookings that received free lounge access was not distributed evenly throughout that time period.”

It said: “Whilst the number of eligible bookings that did not receive free lounge access was generally low between February and May, that number varied significantly during the more popular summer months.

“For example, in the first week of June 2025, approximately 44% of bookings did not receive free lounge access. This fell to 3% of bookings in the second week of June but rose again to 13% in the third week.

“There was therefore a significant chance of consumers missing out on the passes because of the cap. Because the overall impression of the ads was that as long as consumers complied with the conditions of the offer, they would receive free airport lounge passes, whereas that was not the case, and because the ads did not make clear that the cap meant passes were limited, and therefore consumers might not receive them, we concluded that the ads were misleading.”