UK advertising regulators banned advertisements last week that claimed Ryanair flights from London to Brussels were faster and cheaper than trains run by Eurostar.

While Ryanair has since scrapped its London flights in yet another conflict with EU authorities, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled the adverts were misleading because they ignored the time taken to travel from city centres to the airports and the cost of transport to get to them.

Ryanair retorted by saying: “Only in the parallel universe of the ASA can a one-hour 10-minute flight be declared to be longer than a two-hour 11-minute train journey. Even a four-year-old with basic maths could tell you the flight is shorter.”

On the same day, Ryanair refused to fly from its Belgian base, south of Brussels at Charleroi, after 12 November unless the authorities guaranteed there would be no more strikes such as the June stoppage that disrupted services.

By afternoon, rival carrier, Brussels Airlines, had announced it would make 150,000 cheap seats available from that day. It added the flights would be to airports close to big cities, passengers could take plenty of baggage, and, “unlike some airlines” you could even choose your seat in advance.