Why you might want to give money instead of a travel gift card

“The perfect, hassle-free gift for friends and family this festive season” – that is Ryanair’s description of its newly launched Christmas gift cards. Europe’s biggest budget airline adds: “After all, who doesn’t love an excuse to getaway?”

Giving travel as a present is an excellent plan: all the evidence since the Covid pandemic is that people value experiences over possessions. But if you buy a gift card for a particular airline, you risk providing a distinctly inferior experience. It will restrict the recipient’s options on timing and flight options. You could inadvertently cause them to make sub-optimal choices – or even end up wasting some or all of your generous present.

Companies love selling vouchers. They take in real cash in exchange for a future obligation to offer goods and services to the same value. And unlike actual money, once the cash is banked there is no danger that the recipient will spend it with easyJet or Wizz Air instead.

As the gift card is non-transferable, it cannot be handed on to friends or family. The recipient may forget to use their present by the expiry date (a year after issue in the case of Ryanair), which then gifts the carrier some useful free money.

Some travel gift cards, but not Ryanair's, insist the value is used in a single transaction. With Ryanair, the balance can be carried forward to use within the year.

Yet even if the recipient is determined to use the voucher, their hands are tied. While Ryanair has the widest range of flights in Europe, other carriers may offer a more convenient departure point. Looking at the UK’s two busiest airports: Ryanair has no presence at London Heathrow and very few flights at Gatwick.

If a rival airline has a better offer in terms of route, timing or fare, you will inadvertently prevent the recipient from the ideal itinerary.

Flightgift, based in the Netherlands, claims to be “the best way to gift a plane ticket because it gives recipients the ultimate flexibility”. The company says its “personalised travel voucher” can be redeemed on over 400 airlines. But they can be redeemed only through Flightgift and not direct with the chosen carrier. Test bookings made by The Independent for a range of British Airways flights show that an additional fee of between 7.5 and 9.5 per cent is added.

You might also be considering something like a travel gift card from another Dutch company, Giftcards, which claims to offer “a thoughtful and easy-to-use present”. It can be redeemed through a range of companies including National Express, Jet2 Holidays and Best Western. But again, if Flixbus, Tui or Holiday Inn happens to have a more enticing offer, the gift card could cause some stress.

May I offer an alternative? Credit the lucky recipient’s bank account with £102 (which is what a £100 Ryanair gift card would cost you, once the administration fee for a digital card is added). Give them a card explaining that you would like them to do some flying. Or, if they prefer, make a rail trip.

It’s the thought that counts, so think deeply before tying the recipient to a single airline or strictly limited number of travel companies.