Ready for an air fare scrum: Ryanair flights from Dublin to Bristol on May 20th, the day of the Heineken Cup Final between Munster and Biarritz, range in price from a bargain-basement 14 cent to an eye-wateringly expensive €199. Unsurprisingly, the 14 cent flights are scheduled to touch down as the final draws to a close.
When PriceWatch checked, Aer Lingus flights from Dublin to Bristol on the Saturday were all fully booked, but flights on Friday May 19th were still available at a fairly hefty €169. Flights going the same direction on Sunday, meanwhile, cost just €29.
It's not only rugby fans who have seen air fares soar. Flights to Manchester on both airlines coinciding with Roy Keane's testimonial on May 9th have gone through the roof.
While Ryanair flights from Dublin to Manchester on May 2nd and May 16th cost just 34 cent, one-way tickets on the two flights that leave Dublin early enough to arrive in Old Trafford in time for the game are priced at between €169.99 and €199.99.
Snacked off
An advertisement for Kentucky Fried Chicken drew more complaints from British TV viewers than any other last year, according to the Advertising Standards Authority there.
The ad for the fast food chain's Zinger Crunch salad showed call-centre staff singing with their mouths full. Some 1,671 viewers complained that it was unpleasant and set a bad example to children. The complaints were not upheld.
Ads for Living TV, Pot Noodle, Mazda and Ryanair also finished in the top five most-complained-about ads.
The Ryanair advert appeared eight days after the London Tube bombings, headlined "London fights back".
The 317 complaints were rejected in favour of the advertisers' argument that they were encouraging defiance against terrorism.
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