The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld complaints against Trip.com over two misleading £1 railcard adverts on social media.
Two paid-for Meta adverts appeared on Instagram and Facebook in July 2025, offering UK railcards for £1 instead of the usual £35.
The first advert, on Instagram, featured an image showing ‘UK Railcards 7-10 Jul £35’ crossed out, with ‘£1.00’ in bright blue, and the caption ‘Save up to 50% on Travel’, while small print stated: “Prices are subject to change. Please refer to the Trip.com app for current prices.”
The second, on Facebook and Instagram, featured the same image and caption without the ‘7-10 Jul’ claim.
Five complainants said they were unable to purchase a railcard at the advertised price because only 100 were available, while another complainant challenged the dates shown in one of the adverts.
In one ruling, the watchdog said it saw no evidence that Trip.com had ‘made a reasonable estimate of the likely demand’ for either of the promotions.
In its findings, the ASA said: “We considered that there was likely to be a high level of demand to participate in the promotion because the offer included a £1 railcard, which was a significant reduction in comparison to its usual selling price of £35. However, we had not seen any evidence that Trip.com were capable of meeting that demand. We therefore reviewed whether consumers had sufficient information regarding any limitations to the availability of the offers.”
It added that the adverts suggested ‘that the offer was a discounted price that applied to any consumers who bought a railcard on the advertised date’.
“We acknowledged that the terms and conditions did clarify the availability of railcards for each of the promotions, but because this information was not included in the ad, we considered it was not presented clearly and in a timely fashion”, the ASA added.
The ASA also ruled that one advert was misleading because it showed dates of ‘7-10 Jul’ when the £1 offer was only available on 4 July.
Trip.com confirmed it ran two separate campaigns concurrently on 4 July – the ‘7.7 Mega Sale’ with 50 railcards available and the ‘Train Summer Sale’ with 100 railcards available.
Trip.com said users who clicked on the advert were taken to a landing page which included information that only 50 railcards were available at the promotional price on 4 July. The company also said one advert incorrectly showed dates of ‘7-10 Jul’ when the £1 railcard offer was only available on 4 July, and it was removed on 8 July.
Trip.com said it would include material limitations like availability directly in future social media adverts and strengthen its review processes.
The ASA ruled the adverts breached CAP Code rules on promotional marketing, availability and misleading advertising, and ordered they must not appear again in the form complained about.
