Airlines operate in an environment where they accept payment in multiple currencies as they serve various countries. This is why it’s surprising that Aer Lingus vouchers feature a currency restriction on them.
Cancelling a flight and getting a credit voucher rather than losing your money is very welcome right now. I’ve received and reused several vouchers with British Airways over the past 18 months and found the process to be straightforward. Not quite so with the Irish airline.
Voucher Currency Restriction
I booked a flight from Dublin to Paris for April 2022, to connect to a scandalously cheap British Airways ticket to Hawaii. Following another round of schedule change roulette, this was no longer required so I requested and received a voucher from Aer Lingus.
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- The voucher at the centre of our story.
Generously, these have a five year period of validity, which is rather nice. I’ve already used all but €30 on a replacement flight, and decided I’d use the rest on another new flight. Until it didn’t work. Why? Well, nestled in the Terms & Conditions is this.
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- Yes, you read it correctly!
That’s right, “Vouchers can only be redeemed against bookings in the currency of issue.” I was trying to book a flight from London Heathrow to Dublin, and of course ex-UK bookings are priced in British Pounds. It’s no big deal, I am going to book a British Airways flight instead as it’s cheaper, but not having a dynamic currency conversion allowing the voucher use is a bit sad here in the 21st century.
Overall Thoughts
The currency restriction on Aer Lingus vouchers is not exactly going to be a huge issue for many people. The only reason I noticed it was due to trying to make a booking from another country.
That being said, British Airways vouchers will happily apply against whatever they’re thrown at. I’ve used vouchers denominated in British Pounds against bookings in Euro and vice versa and the system happily converts them on the fly and it all works.
All I need to do now is remember I have €29.62 waiting to be used with Aer Lingus sometime in the next five years. I’m sure it won’t take me very long to use the balance, knowing me.
Did you know that Aer Lingus vouchers had a currency restriction? Has it ever impacted you? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image via Aer Lingus.
Hello! I am currently in a battle with aer lingus regarding their voucher as apparently it could only be redeemed in EUR, GBP or USD, but I booked with Canadian dollars. I would like to show them that at the time of booking, their terms and conditions read exactly like what you have shown here (they have since changed). Do you happen to have a time stamp for that screenshot of the terms? I would love to be able to show them that at the time of my booking, the terms I agreed to were different. Thanks so much!
Hi Christine! Sorry to hear you’re experiencing this problem with Aer Lingus. My article was published on 22 December 2021, and I took the screenshot as I was writing the article, so it is from that day.
Checking the back end of our blog software for the image itself shows the same thing as to the upload date of the image and I’ve attached that here. Hope this helps in some way. Good luck!!!
Im also battling Aer Lingus to use a voucher in Canadian dollars . My original flight was in March 2020 and I received a voucher for return flights from Toronto booked in Canadian dollars. Currently I’m unable to use the voucher. So all flights from Canada that were issued vouchers are worthless now ! This makes no sense. Is this something that Canadian media should be made aware of . It borders on a scam.
I am sure Aer Lingus will be returning their Canada-Ireland flights, if they haven’t already. I saw a press release stating a lot of their transatlantic network is returning this year, so you should be able to use it soon. They are valid for five years, I believe, so you have plenty of time. Good luck!
I recently tried to use my voucher and couldn’t. Since I’m in Canada and the voucher is in euros it was not available to use. After 45minutes on hold I was told to purchase my new tickets and call back to get the voucher refunded by chaque. When I phoned back and waited for 55minutes I was told my refunded would now be sent to the original credit card. It’s been a week and a half so far nothing. Still waiting.
Fingers crossed the money comes back soon. I’d say it will, if they said it will. They’re usually good like that. Fingers crossed!
How long did you have to wait for the refund to be processed to your original payment method? I am in this exact scenario right now and it’s been almost two weeks. I keep asking for updates via their WhatsApp support channel and I get a scripted “we are still working on your case” reply.
It can take quite some time to get refunds processed, depending on what it is for. I had British Airways take four months to get the money back.
AerLingus told me they would process a full refund of my voucher to cash on the original payment card after I made the booking (my voucher was in GBP but my booking was in CAD) and it’s been two weeks tomorrow. I’ve spoke to them on the phone, whatsapp, twitter. Still always get a scripted response. :/
You will get it back, I understand there is still a backlog they are working through. It’s not great, but it won’t be forgotten.
..My flights would normally originate in the US and when plans changed due to covid etc. I requested refunds and ended up with about $1200 in vouchers. However, I later ended up in Europe on a one way ticket which means I have to book a return to the US from Europe in Euros – however as I travel back and forth a lot, it’s far more economical to buy “return” flights which will now ALL originate in Europe – and in Euros. So, unless I use the voucher to book US originating flights in between a (very) long stay… Read more »
Correct, BA don’t care about the currency, they just convert it on the fly to whatever currency you’re making a purchase in. It must be some kind of system design restriction on the Aer Lingus side that prevents it. You could book return flights by buying a one way Europe to USA, then buying a return USA-Europe-USA, then a one way USA-Europe for example, with long dates in between to cover off a couple of trips. Either way you should make sure you use the voucher. No point wasting money – at least they have a long expiry date.
I’m struggling with all the restrictions. First they wouldn’t honor our voucher flying from Seattle to Dublin since we had a connecting flight that would be operated through American Airlines, even though everything was being paid through the Aer Lingus website. Now I tried to book a flight from Dublin to London and vice versa but cannot since my voucher is only valid for USD. Its so frustrating that they’re holding our money hostage with silly restrictions. Ready to scrap it all and give my money to another airline and eat the $1200 from our originally planned flight 🙁
Well, the vouchers do have a five year expiry, so it would make sense just to use it again for travel from the US to Europe. There is no rush, so don’t let it bother you. The main thing is that you have the money to use and are not out of pocket… even if you technically are since you must use it on Aer Lingus flights. Still… could be worse! Good luck!