Ryanair oh dear

Manxman_in_exile

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one who apparently doesn't understand what the OP actually booked in the first place and what additional tickets they subsequently bought!

I'm not sue if the first mention - up to now - of two children makes it clearer to follow or more complicated...

(@Jenni_D -  I'm assuming the OP booked outbound and return tickets (Stanstead > Budapest > Stansead) for four people, but when his partner decided to stay a week longer (with the two children), the OP bought three additional one way return tickets for the partner and the two children to return to Stanstead a week after the OP had returned on their original ticket.

Then the OP tried to cancel  the return legs on three of the original tickets, but Ryanair instead cancelled both legs on three of the original tickets, leaving the OP with one original outbound and return ticket, and only three one way return legs from Budapest with no corresponding outbound leg for those three returns.

I think...)

Manxman_in_exile

Ah.  Reading @Jenni_D and @user1977 again I see the devil is in the detail.

Did the OP originally book 8 individual tickets ( 4 x single outward tickets and 4 x single return tickets) or 4 two leg return tickets.

I assume that it must be the former as from what user1977 has said you can't buy a two leg return ticket from Ryanair?

If it was the former, Ryanair would seem to be in the wrong.

If it was the latter, I'm not sure they are.  (And from the way the OP emphasises that they bought 4 return flight tickets, I assume it was the latter...?  )

Manxman_in_exile

@Jenni_D -  I may have edited my post after you read it?

I think the OP bought 4 x two leg return tickets originally

Locornwall

Jenni_D said:

The devil is in the detail, which you're still (maybe) not getting. Did you book 4x return flights (edit: plus 3x inbound flights)? Or did you book 8x individual flights - 4x outbound and 4x inbound (edit: plus 3x inbound)?

And what exactly was cancelled? All 11x flights? Only the 7x inbound flights and the outbound are still in place?

If the website let you (apparently) cancel only 3x of the original inbound flights then the doctrine of Contra Proferentem applies ... where a term can be ambiguous, then the meaning which favours the party who did not draft them shall apply. In other words - if the website let you do what you wanted to do then Ryanair are wrong and have breached the contract by cancelling the other flights. However your challenge will be in making them accept this.

Yes thank you that makes sense. Getting them to accept this I appreciate won’t be easy. But I’d like to think a regulator or court would look at it in the same way. 

Manxman_in_exile

If you originally bought (a) 4 x two leg return tickets rather than (b) 4 x one way outward and 4 x one way return tickets, I'm not 100% confident that a court (maybe an Irish court?) would necessarily see it that way.  I'm not sure you can cancel the return leg of a two way ticket  -  even if you think the website allowed you to do so.

Instead of buying three additional one way return tickets in the first place, couldn't you just have changed the return leg dates on three of the original tickets - whether they were two way or one way tickets?

Jenni_D

Locornwall said:

Jenni_D said:

The devil is in the detail, which you're still (maybe) not getting. Did you book 4x return flights (edit: plus 3x inbound flights)? Or did you book 8x individual flights - 4x outbound and 4x inbound (edit: plus 3x inbound)?

And what exactly was cancelled? All 11x flights? Only the 7x inbound flights and the outbound are still in place?

If the website let you (apparently) cancel only 3x of the original inbound flights then the doctrine of Contra Proferentem applies ... where a term can be ambiguous, then the meaning which favours the party who did not draft them shall apply. In other words - if the website let you do what you wanted to do then Ryanair are wrong and have breached the contract by cancelling the other flights. However your challenge will be in making them accept this.

Yes thank you that makes sense. Getting them to accept this I appreciate won’t be easy. But I’d like to think a regulator or court would look at it in the same way. 

Please confirm EXACTLY what you bought. I've speculated on options but you haven't answered - without clarity then we're only guessing, and might mislead you.

Jenni_D

Manxman_in_exile said:

@Jenni_D -  I may have edited my post after you read it?

I think the OP bought 4 x two leg return tickets originally

I just edited my post to include the additional 3x inbound (return) leg flights, for clarity. OP still needs to confirm exactly what it was that they purchased.

Locornwall

4 x return ticket flights from London to Budapest

+

3 x one flights from Budapest to London

Aylesbury_Duck

Locornwall said:

4 x return ticket flights from London to Budapest

+

3 x one flights from Budapest to London

In which case, I can't see that Ryanair are wrong.  Their cancellation process was misleading, but if you bought return tickets, it seems pretty straightforward that they can't be "split" into outward and return tickets, so cancelling the return legs cancelled the whole tickets.

Locornwall

As another person stated, Contra Proferentem puts the onus on them.