A UK advertising watchdog has banned Ryanair from claiming its London to Brussels flights were faster and cheaper than Eurostar.
The budget airline's advert compared its one-hour-10-minute flight to the two-hour-11-minute train trip.
But travelling from London and Brussels city centres to the two airports used by Ryanair would add a total of 1 hour and 45 minutes to the total journey time, the Advertising Standards Authority said today.
London Stansted airport is around 25 miles (40km) out of London while Charleroi is around 28.5 miles (46km) out of Brussels, the watchdog found.
The ASA also upheld a complaint from Eurostar about Ryanair claiming its London to Brussels flights were 'cheaper' than the train link.
'Ryanair one way - from £15 - taxes and charges included. Eurostar one way - from £27 - taxes and charges included', its advert said.
But transfer costs from both airports to London and Brussels city centres would cost a minimum £8 each.
Speaking today, Ryanair's Peter Sherrard said: 'Only in the parallel universe of the ASA quango can a 1 hour 10 minute flight be declared to be longer than a 2hr 11minute train journey'.
'Similarly, only the mathematically challenged ASA could declare that a £15 airfare is 'not necessarily cheaper' than a £27 train ticket,' he commented.
Meanwhile, Ryanair has threatened to stop serving the Belgian city of Charleroi from November 12 unless airport authorities take action to avoid strikes.
'Ryanair is determined to offer its flights only if the company receives assurance that a strike will not be able to block the international airport,' it said in a statement on its website. 'An emergency plan must be made operational,' it added.
Airport spokesman Pierre Fernemont said that Ryanair was also seeking €1.35m in compensation for a two-day strike in June, which the company said affected 22,500 passengers.
Flights at the airport were grounded on June 15-17 as security staff went on strike over plans to remove their civil service status and transfer them to a private company. Mr Fernemont said senior airport executive Marcel Beulens would have talks in Dublin on Thursday with Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary.
