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Promises not kept
13/01/2004 The Star Articles of Law with Bhag Singh

 

When low airfare advertisements began to appear in the media, there was at first disbelief. It quickly transformed into excitement, prompting many  people to plan to travel by air to the advertised destinations.

 

As many could not obtain seats at the advertised prices, there gradually was some disappointment that eventually translated into a feeling of being aggrieved.

 

Misleading or justified?

 

When the Minister of Culture, Arts and Tourism stepped in to say that these complaints would be investigated for being misleading it raised a suggestion of some wrong doing which was vehemently denied.

 

However, the controversy appears to be at an end with newspapers reporting that the airline can continue advertising. This, however, has lead a reader wondering what the whole controversy was about and what the legal issues are.

 

The essence of the complaints seems to have been the extremely cheap fares advertised by Air Asia that suggested that one could travel to nearby or distant destinations at a cost below that of bus fares.

 

So those who could not get seats at the prices mentioned in the advertisements felt aggrieved. Here lay the crux of the matter.

 

What appeared in the newspaper advertisements was only an announcement. It is not even an offer in law, which can be accepted and thereby converted into a binding arrangement. Such announcements are referred to as an invitation to a treat that is an attempt to invite interested persons to pursue the matter further.

 

As such these announcements created no obligation in the context of contract law and commercial transactions because these only tell the public what is available and asks interested persons to enter into transaction that would then become a binding arrangement.

 

It is only at this stage that any misleading information would constitute a misrepresentation.

 

Whilst Air Asia may have conducted its advertising campaign in an aggressive and innovative manner thereby attracting greater attention, such advertisements are neither something new nor unknown.

 

Hotels frequently advertise rates as starting from a stated amount but a close examination of the advertisement may disclose that the rate for the room is on a twin sharing basis - though this may be in smaller print.

 

Housing developers may advertise the sale of houses that everyone wants to buy but which not every interested person will get to buy even though they are willing to pay the asking price.

 

An acquaintance once drove to a developer's office on seeing an advertisement announcing the sale of apartment units at very attractive price.

 

However, he discovered that there were a limited number of the units at that price and they had been sold out!

 

On another occasion an advertisement in a newspaper advertised room rates at a reputable establishment in Singapore starting at almost half the normal and known rates. The room was like any other hotel room though smaller than average, but it did not have a window!

 

Creative licence

 

The element of misrepresentation would only exist if a person was made to commit to a ticket at a certain price and later told that the price was higher or the seat was no longer available. And for that matter if it was advertised that all the tickets on a flight were at a particular price, but it turned out that all of them were not.

 

In the case of cheap airline advertisements the grievance arises not because the advertisements are misleading but because many complainants chose to read only part of the advertisement which excited them and ignored the other parts which have to be read together so that the advertisement is viewed in its entirety.

 

Therefore it may be said that those who felt aggrieved have themselves to blame.

 

In such advertisements the public may well be unhappy that the qualification to what is otherwise attractive is not given the same prominence. This is indeed a legitimate source of unhappiness but it is common occurrence and does not affect legal rights. 

 

As a matter of fact not only are qualifications in many advertisements given less prominence, they can also be so small as to be hard to read.

 

There have been cases in the past which involved qualifications conditions or exceptions being printed using a colour which strains the eye.

 

However except for such extreme cases, the law allows a certain laxity to advertisements in terms of being innovative and creative to attract attention in the broader interest of commerce for the better welfare of society as a whole.

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