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Say, I have two itineraries booked with Ryan Air. City A to City B, and City B to City C, with a few hours connection in City B. Being a point-to-point airline, Ryan Air does not offer connecting flights, and my itineraries have been booked independently.

Now because of COVID, the second flight City B to City C was cancelled. I was offered a full refund, which I have no hopes of receiving any time soon, but that's a different discussion. The cancellation notice was sent well in advance, so that no recourse to 261/2004 for compensation is possible.

However, with the cancellation of the second flight, the trip as such does not exist any more, and the first flight cannot be used. As per Article 10.2 of Ryan Air General terms & conditions of carriage,

Except as otherwise provided by the Convention or Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004 (click here for the text setting out these rights), if we cancel a flight, fail to operate a flight reasonably according to schedule or cease to operate a route, we shall make a refund to you in respect of each sector shown in the Confirmation/Itinerary which has not been utilised for any of these reasons. The amount of refund shall be equal to the fare paid plus any associated taxes, fees and charges paid.

My itinerary for the flight City A - City B was not utilized because of the cancellation of the flight City B - City C. This is a consequence of Ryan Air's action, which they should care responsibility for. The online customer service agent denies any possibility of refund, and copies and pastes random passages from the agreement.

Question: Can I claim a refund for the unused flight City A to City B, based on the cancellation of the flight City B to City C? If yes, what would be the best ways to do so?

Thank you.

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    As Ryanair didn’t cancel the flight you are not due a refund. I’m sorry, but you just discovered why self connecting is not a good idea.
    – Krist van Besien
    Commented Aug 31, 2020 at 6:03
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    @KristvanBesien that looks suspiciously like an answer, why not post it as such and I will upvote it!
    – user29788
    Commented Aug 31, 2020 at 6:47
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    BTW Ryanair offers connecting flights for some routes.
    – Neusser
    Commented Aug 31, 2020 at 7:17
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    @KristvanBesien Whether it's a good idea is purely subjective. In my experience (across the EU and UK), the price difference between low-cost and traditional airlines has always been more than worth the occasional extra expenses for a walk-up hotel or replacement flight.
    – TooTea
    Commented Aug 31, 2020 at 8:19
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    @TooTea That depends entirely on the route. I haven't been flying Ryanair since 2003 and believe me, I do check prices when I am flying somewhere. It might be because I am almost always flying with checked luggage, but if I add upp the luggage fees, the extra cost to reach whatever far-away airport Ryanair is serving and the seemingly cheap ticket, they have since 2003 not once had a competitive price where I have been flying. Lufthansa is often underbidding no-frills airlines on competitive routes.
    – Tor-Einar Jarnbjo
    Commented Aug 31, 2020 at 22:31

2 Answers 2

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Can I claim a refund for the unused flight City A to City B, based on the cancellation of the flight City B to City C? If yes,

Generally no. Each itinerary is a different contract and they are not coupled in any way. Ryan Air sold you ticket from B to C and if you don't show up it's your problem, not theirs. The fact that you happened to also use Ryan Air to get from A to B makes no material difference to the B to C flight.

what would be the best ways to do so?

Best shot is to call Ryan Air and ask nicely. They have no real obligation but they may polite and offer your a partial refund, points, voucher or change fee waiver. It might also be useful to read all the current Covid waivers and rules very carefully.

Hindsight being 20:20: Booking separate tickets is almost always a bad idea: it may be cheaper in some cases, but the passenger carries the full risk of anything going wrong. At the very least, add a good travel insurance to get some protection, although the cost of the insurance may wipe out the price benefits.

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    One could argue that Ryan Air itself is unsustainably cheap once every cost (internal and external) is taken into account.
    – audionuma
    Commented Aug 31, 2020 at 7:26
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    @Z.A. I guess you already realized that this is exactly the reason why Ryanair doesn't do connections. The costs of rebooking or refunding passengers whose connections have gone wrong would lead to a significant increase of their ticket prices. This is also the main business model of services like Kiwi that sell "quasi single itineraries" by slapping a "connection guarantee" on top of several independent tickets.
    – TooTea
    Commented Aug 31, 2020 at 8:01
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    @Z.A. Paying money to not travel is also unsustainably expensive! Traditional airlines have factored this into their cost. If you think about it, you are now paying infinity% extra. With a connecting ticket, the airline would now have to get you to C, in whichever way they can, at their own expense.
    – Stack Exchange Supports Israel
    Commented Aug 31, 2020 at 11:05
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    @Joshua From the link: "If the defense is successfully invoked, the contract is terminated, and the parties are left as they are at the time of the litigation." -- at the time of litigation, Ryanair holds the money... So you are free of future obligations to Rynair. Which probably isn't much. " Thus the purpose of the contract had been frustrated by an outside event [...], justifying termination (but not rescission) of the contract."
    – Yakk
    Commented Aug 31, 2020 at 15:58
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    @Joshua: Frustration of purpose can be disclaimed with a standard term in the contract. If Ryanair has not provided for the possibility of a flight being unusable in this fashion, then they're idiots. Their entire business model is based around not having to pay for situations exactly like this one.
    – Kevin
    Commented Aug 31, 2020 at 16:44
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No, you are not entitled to a refund of the first flight.

You already wrote the explanation yourself: you have booked two independent itineraries. The passage of the t&cs you are quoting gives you a right to refund if there are multiple flights on one itinerary, but that is clearly not applicable here.

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