Aer Lingus - Voucher in GBP

D-Generate

It is not often I am incensed by customer service but I have to say that Aer Lingus' customer service (or lack of it) makes even Michael O'Leary seem as courteous as the concierge at the Ritz.

A friend of mine in London purchased a gift voucher for flights as a present for me to visit him. The UK Aer Lingus website pushed my friend into purchasing sterling denominated gift vouchers but here comes the crux of the matter, the Irish website won't let me redeem a non-euro denominated gift voucher which basically makes them pointless. Heck, even trying to book through the UK website failed as flights were repriced to euro again.

I phoned the booking department to try and have them book it manually for me but they said it was impossible. They did offer the helpful advice of saying that I should book a return originating from the UK but the polite lady on the phone couldn't quite grasp that I would have to be based in the UK for that to work...

After much headbanging with their booking department I asked to be put through to customer service and was told that I had been transported to 1985 and that they only had a fax machine for complaints. It is an absolute disgrace that our flag carrier uses such an obsolete technology for communications with customers. To me it gives the impression that they wholly discourage feedback from customers and have no interest in changing this matter.

Anyway, dusting off the office fax machine I decided to try and go by their rules and sent my complaint in writing through the fax. After 3 working days I received a reply that was a politely worded PFO and that the vouchers were indeed basically useless for anyone not wanting to originate their flight from the UK. Great, folks will buy vouchers for themselves in future I guess!

**** you Aer Lingus, **** you and your **** customer service.

Paulw

At time of buying the vouchers, it clearly states - *Vouchers can only be redeemed against bookings in the currency of issue. So, if Stg vouchers are bought, then the flight must be in Stg (from the UK.

It's not the fault of Aer Lingus that your friend didn't read this. Your friend should have purchased Euro vouchers for you to use.

Get your friend to buy you a Euro voucher.

borderlinemeath

Paulw wrote: »

At time of buying the vouchers, it clearly states - *Vouchers can only be redeemed against bookings in the currency of issue. So, if Stg vouchers are bought, then the flight must be in Stg (from the UK.

It's not the fault of Aer Lingus that your friend didn't read this. Your friend should have purchased Euro vouchers for you to use.

Get your friend to use the Stg voucher and get him/her to buy you a Euro voucher.

Or just get him to book the flights for you as he's based in the UK. All he has to do then is email you the boarding cards.

orionm_73

Not sure how the EI website pushed your friend into purchasing in GBP as it clearly asks you to select currency and then amount. Maybe your friend forgot that you would be using EUR. Website also clearly says that vouchers purchased online can only be used for online bookings and not for telephone bookings.

keithclancy

borderlinemeath wrote: »

Or just get him to book the flights for you as he's based in the UK. All he has to do then is email you the boarding cards.

I think everyone here is missing the point.

If you get the vouchers in Sterling then you can ONLY book a flight originating from the UK, it doesn't matter where you live.

That IMO is a pretty stupid voucher.. any other Airline I can think of EVEN Ryanair, you can pay for a flight in any any currency.

Should be made clear on the Voucher T&Cs that you can only book a flight originating from the United Kingdom. Leaving the currency out of the equation, it would be the same as my Family buying me a voucher for a flight home for christmas and then finding out that the flight has to originate from cork.

If someone got me a Voucher in Sterling with Aer Lingus I would have to fly to the UK first from Amsterdam and then fly from there to somewhere in Ireland.

Paulw wrote: »

At time of buying the vouchers, it clearly states - *Vouchers can only be redeemed against bookings in the currency of issue. So, if Stg vouchers are bought, then the flight must be in Stg (from the UK.

Thats a bit deceptive, it should say *Vouchers can only be redeemed against bookings in the currency of Issue, when that Currency is in a non Euro denomination it has to originate from that Country*.

Paulw

keithclancy wrote: »

Should be made clear on the Voucher T&Cs that you can only book a flight originating from the United Kingdom.

That's a bit deceptive, it should say *Vouchers can only be redeemed against bookings in the currency of Issue, when that Currency is in a non Euro denomination it has to originate from that Country*.

The only three currencies - Euro, Sterling and US dollars.

The website is clear and obvious.
-

You can purchase vouchers in Euro, U.S. Dollars or Pounds Sterling in denominations from 25 to 500*. They are valid for 12 months from the date of purchase and can only be redeemed on aerlingus.com

*Vouchers can only be redeemed against bookings in the currency of issue.

People should read the information before buying.

munchkin_utd

To be honest, its the same with apple store vouchers too - only redemable in the particular nation they are bought for.
This is why you need to check terms and conditions.
Your friend is at fault not aerlingus.

anyhow, thing laterally not literally.
You want a return to the UK so book it as 2 singles.
You can pay for the outward leg in Euro from your creditcard
The return leg departing UK you can pay for with the STG gift card as it will be automatically priced in STG.

Alternatively, if you want both legs in STG then just start your journey in Belfast.
Theres flights to Heathrow and all sorts of destinations and the prices can sometimes be better than from Dubin anyhow.

Cabaal

Exact same with Amazon vouchers as well, you can't buy them on .com and use them on .co.uk or visa versa.

keithclancy

Paulw wrote: »

The only three currencies - Euro, Sterling and US dollars.

The website is clear and obvious.
-

You can purchase vouchers in Euro, U.S. Dollars or Pounds Sterling in denominations from 25 to 500*. They are valid for 12 months from the date of purchase and can only be redeemed on aerlingus.com

*Vouchers can only be redeemed against bookings in the currency of issue.

People should read the information before buying.

Indeed, but for example if they only allow flights from places where those places are the currency then they should clearly point out for example that you cannot book a flight from Poland to Ireland (Which is in Polish Zloty) using a gift voucher.

Yes, its absolutely clear that if you get a voucher in a currency the booking has to be made in the currency of the voucher. What is not clear at all, is that the currency mandates that you book the flight originating from that currencies country of origin.

E.G.

http://www.ryanair.com/en/questions/how-can-i-redeem-my-gift-vouchers

Gift vouchers can be redeemed when you book your flights on http://www.ryanair.com/ by simply inserting your gift voucher reference on the ryanair.com payment page. Please note that vouchers can only be redeemed in the currency of issue. For further information on the Gift Voucher Terms and Conditions click here.

However what this means with Ryanair is that you have to switch the currency to the currency you recieved the voucher in and then pay the remaining balance if any in the same currency. Which is possible.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=75741831&postcount=7

IMO the Terms and Conditions do not explain the situation regarding the outgoing flights country of origin and only mentions currency.

I.E.
If I have a Sterling Credit card, I can book a flight from a Euro destination without issues.
If I have a Sterling voucher I cannot book a flight from a Euro Destination.

With vouchers from other Airlines its not the case, so IMO not clearly explaining the situation.

munchkin_utd wrote: »

To be honest, its the same with apple store vouchers too - only redemable in the particular nation they are bought for.
This is why you need to check terms and conditions.
Your friend is at fault not aerlingus.

anyhow, thing laterally not literally.
You want a return to the UK so book it as 2 singles.
You can pay for the outward leg in Euro from your creditcard
The return leg departing UK you can pay for with the STG gift card as it will be automatically priced in STG.

With iTunes its a licensing issue, i.e. some songs are not available due to licensing issues in certain territories. Nothing like a flight at all.
I.E. I buy a Dutch iTunes Voucher, I cannot buy songs on the Irish iTunes store.

Another point is that the T&Cs also say:

What can Aer Lingus gift vouchers be used for?
Vouchers are redeemable toward the purchase of the flight(s) and associated taxes, charges and fees that are collected as part of your flight booking. Bag fees may be paid for with vouchers if bags are pre-booked during the purchase of the flight(s).

It mentions nothing about country of origin.

Cabaal wrote: »

Exact same with Amazon vouchers as well, you can't buy them on .com and use them on .co.uk or visa versa.

True, but you can order stuff from Amazon.co.uk and pay the balance of the voucher with your Euro credit card (which I have done)

Cabaal

keithclancy wrote: »

True, but you can order stuff from Amazon.co.uk and pay the balance of the voucher with your Euro credit card (which I have done)

Just for clarification,
If its a .com voucher you can't use it on .co.uk full stop,

You can use a .co.uk voucher on .co.uk and pay any remaining balance with a card alright, so say item is 20 and you have voucher for 10 you pay balance with your payment card.

But .com voucher still can't be used on .co.uk or visa versa as per my first post

keithclancy

Cabaal wrote: »

Just for clarification,
If its a .com voucher you can't use it on .co.uk full stop,

You can use a .co.uk voucher on .co.uk and pay any remaining balance with a card alright, so say item is 20 and you have voucher for 10 you pay balance with your payment card.

But .com voucher still can't be used on .co.uk or visa versa as per my first post

Off topic but:

Very true, but with Amazon its nothing to do with the Currency, its to do with the store.

I work in Germany and my colleagues got me a Amazon.de voucher, I couldn't use it on Amazon.fr and both use Euro denominations.

The voucher is restricted to the store, not the currency.

I'm having trouble using my gift certificate. What's happening?

Maybe your gift certificate was issued by another Amazon Site e.g. Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.jp or Amazon.cn. In this case you can not use your gift certificate at Amazon.de but only at the website the gift certificate was issued for.

Nolimits

Would it be worth your while just using a UK proxy?

keithclancy

Nolimits wrote: »

Would it be worth your while just using a UK proxy?

Your location makes no difference, the currency on the Aer Lingus website is dictated by the Airport you fly from.

Newaglish

Only thing you can do really is book two one-way flights and pay for the UK to Ireland flight with the voucher. Or, next time you're taking a long-haul flight that goes from Heathrow, book the main section (say, Heathrow to Miami) and use the voucher there and then pay for Ireland - Heathrow yourself.

It's not ideal, I'll admit. That's a pretty poor service although it is explained when you buy.

sandin

as above - use the voucher for a one way flight from the UK and buy a one way flight from ireland using euro.

one way flights don't have a surcharge (not anytime I've booked)

comokid

Same problem here. Living in Northern Ireland, an elderly friend bought me a £250 voucher as a gift. As I travel to Italy regularly, I use Dublin but this voucher can't be used as there is no option to change the currency.
A call to their customer services line resulted in some stuck up woman telling me, more or less, "you're stuffed, get over it".

I don't fly to GB so will have no use for the voucher, it can't be resold, transferred or refunded so basically, it's worthless. AL have stolen this money and are refusing to give it back. What a pack of as$*0les.

I noticed on the independent.ie website the Aer Lingus were going to have this problem resolved by "mid October 2011"!!! AL have been aware of this problem for many years and have refused to sort it.

I'll never slag Ryanair off again.

Paulw

comokid wrote: »

AL have stolen this money and are refusing to give it back.

They haven't stolen anything. Your friend made the mistake. It's not AL's fault that your friend bought a Stg voucher instead of a Euro one.

comokid

Then why not just return the money? They could just as easily, as promised back in 2010, change the system so that it can be used for any flights but they are just being lazy.

comokid

Just a thought. Under UK Distance Selling Regulations, if you find out soon enough, you could demand a refund for a product/service bought online.

According to the Office for Fair Trading, it states;

"Providing a gift voucher is a contract for the supply of a service,
therefore DSRs do apply. Providing a voucher in the form of electronic
money (such as a card with a magnetic strip that may be accepted
as a form of payment) may be considered the provision of a
’financial service’, and so the Financial Services (Distance Marketing)
Regulations 2004 apply"

So, if you can act within 7 working days of receiving the voucher, you can ask the person that bought it to demand a refund.

How about you purchase your return ticket home, try and send him on the change and if he really wants, ask him to send you a voucher in euros that you can book the flight to England with?

comokid

There are no refunds so if there is anything left after your purchase it simply stays as a credit until the expiry date.