To think it's wrong for BA to

[PissedoffBAtraveller]

Cancel my return flight without advising me or giving me my money back? Background, My child is spending the rest of the summer in the UK with family and I would return to Europe alone for work. As the system doesn't let you book an individual One way ticket for a minor and a return for an adult I booked us both singles. I then went back into system to book my own adult single back to Europe. Predictably the one way fare from UK to Europe was 3 times the price of a return flight booked Europe-UK-Europe so I opted for the latter intending to use only the return sector. So essentially I paid for 2 outbound flights for myself and one return. Checked into our flight, did said journey last night. This morning I go to check into my return flight and BA have cancelled it. I then have to pay 480gbp for a new ticket for a one hour flight that I already purchased a seat for! Still with me?! AIBU to think that airlines are being unethical to not allow you to use just part of the ticket I have paid for, why do they care? You would never find this policy on trains,buses,ferries, taxis, etc so why do airlines think it's ok to take your money and give you no part of the service? Surely that's not even actually legal! Hello to everyone who knows me, I've been ranting on facebook all day I've now essentially paid 3 times to do an overnight hop across the channel! And even more annoyingly I wouldn't normally fly but I'm avoiding Calais region at the moment!

It doesn't sound like the op will regularly do this..

The point is that if you had just bought a one way ticket it would have cost you more, that's why you bought a return.
If you had called BA and told them you only wanted to use the 2nd sector you are then changing your contract and they will re-price your ticket from a return to a OW and you would have to pay the difference in fare plus an admin fee.
When you buy a ticket, both parties are entering into a contract.
The airline is agreeing to fly you from A-B-A and you are agreeing to pay the fare for that route. If BA decided not to honour their side of the contract you would be looking for your money back. Why can't they do the same? You ticked a box when buying the ticket agreeing to the t&cs, why do you think they don't apply to you ?

This happened to me years ago and I was caught out when I went to check in for the second leg only to find it had been cancelled because I had not used the first. I had changed my plans because of a job interview and had no idea that they would cancel the lot. I was fuming! Had to pay £500 for a new ticket and was not a high earner at all at the time so it really stung. Apparently this is normal though I now know... Sympathies! It does seem unfair.