Flight voucher or cash refund?The voucher is cheaper. For them.
EU261 compensation is paid in cash — €250 to €600 per passenger, set by the distance you flew — unless you agree in writing to take a voucher instead. The airline cannot make that choice for you, and it cannot treat your silence as consent. So the question at the desk is only ever this: is the voucher worth more than the cash you are owed?
- • A voucher can expire, exclude peak dates, and bind you to one airline. Cash does none of that.
- • Signing for a voucher at the desk can settle the claim for everyone on your booking.
- • You lose nothing by checking first — the flight’s facts don’t change while you think.
Cash compensation for this distance
up to €400 per passenger
Type the voucher amount above to see what accepting it would cost you.
*Whether a specific flight qualifies depends on the cause of the disruption and your itinerary. Amounts per passenger under EU261/UK261; the free check gives the answer for your exact flight.
Which voucher are they handing you?
A meal, drink or hotel voucher
That’s care under Article 9 — the airline owes you meals, refreshments and, overnight, a hotel regardless of any compensation. Accepting it never touches your claim: use their voucher tonight and still claim your full compensation tomorrow.
A travel or compensation voucher — with a signature
This is the one that can replace your cash. Under Article 7(3), a voucher may stand in for compensation only with your written agreement — often phrased “in full and final settlement”. Once signed, it can close the claim for everyone on the booking. Check what the flight is worth first.
Airline voucher rights: what the law actually says
Article 7(3) of Regulation 261/2004 is short and it is on your side. Compensation is paid in cash, by bank transfer or cheque. A voucher may take its place only with the passenger’s signed agreement. So the airline cannot decide for you. It cannot make a voucher the default, and it cannot treat silence as consent. If nobody has your signature, the cash claim is still alive — whatever the app or the desk agent implies.
Two things follow that matter at the desk. A voucher offered while you wait — for a sandwich, a coffee, a hotel bed — is care under Article 9. It settles nothing at all, so take it without hesitating. A voucher offered instead of a payment, with a form to sign, is the other kind. The wording to look for is “full and final settlement”, and it usually binds every passenger on the booking, not only the person signing.
How to refuse a travel voucher without an argument
- 1Say plainly that you are claiming the cash compensation and are not agreeing to a voucher. You do not have to justify it.
- 2Take any meal or hotel voucher you are handed for the wait — that is care, and accepting it settles nothing.
- 3Do not sign anything that mentions settlement, waiver, or compensation in the form of credit. Ask for the offer in writing instead.
- 4Photograph the departure board, keep your boarding pass, and note the reason the airline gives for the disruption.
- 5Check the flight and put the claim in writing, to the airline or through us, so the cash claim is on the record.
When a voucher is actually worth taking
Sometimes it is. If the offer is comfortably larger than the cash you are owed, has no expiry inside a year, excludes no dates you would realistically fly, and is transferable, the trade can favour you — particularly on a short-haul flight worth €250 where the airline offers €400 in credit. The arithmetic only works if you know the cash figure first, which is what the calculator above is for.
What tips it the other way is everything a voucher quietly carries: a twelve-month expiry, no use on the routes with the cheapest fares, no refund if the airline stops flying your route, and no value at all if it goes bust. Cash has none of those conditions. If you would not buy the voucher for the cash amount, do not accept it in place of the cash.
Already signed? What can still be done
A signed settlement is hard to unwind, but it is not always the end. It can be challenged where the airline misrepresented what you were entitled to, where the form was not in a language you understood, or where it was presented as a condition of being rerouted. None of those is a certainty, and all of them are easier to argue with the paperwork in hand — so keep the form, the boarding pass and any message that came with the offer.
If you have not signed anything, check what the flight is worth before you reply. The rules behind the amount are in the delay guide and the cancellation guide, and a refund of the ticket is a separate right again — a voucher for the fare is not the same as compensation for the disruption.
Flight voucher or cash refund: common questions
Can the airline pay me in vouchers instead of cash?
Only if you agree in writing. Article 7(3) of Regulation 261/2004 lets a voucher replace the cash payment with the passenger's signed consent, and not otherwise. Without your signature, the cash claim stands however the offer was presented.
I took a meal voucher at the airport. Have I lost my claim?
No. Meals, refreshments and a hotel are care under Article 9, owed on top of compensation and regardless of it. Only a signed agreement to accept credit in place of the payment can settle a compensation claim.
The voucher is worth more than the compensation. Should I take it?
Possibly, if it has no short expiry, excludes no dates you would fly, and is transferable. Compare it against the cash figure first: a voucher is money you can only spend with the airline that just disrupted you, and it is worth nothing if that airline stops flying your route.
I signed for a voucher. Can I still claim the cash?
It is difficult but not always impossible. A settlement can be challenged where the airline misstated your rights, where the form was not in a language you understood, or where signing was made a condition of being rerouted. Keep the form and the correspondence.
Sources
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 — the regulation itself, in every EU language
- UK Civil Aviation Authority — passenger rights — the UK regulator's own guidance and complaint route