diff --git a/changelog.d/20250110_124013_rra_DM_48387.md b/changelog.d/20250110_124013_rra_DM_48387.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..749997276
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/20250110_124013_rra_DM_48387.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+### Bug fixes
+
+- If the user returns to the login route without login state and no return URL is set (which will be the common case), redirect them to the after logout URL instead of returning a 403 error. Often this means the user previously authenticated via another tab and is now logged on, but we have lost the return URL and do not know where to send them. Returning the error is more confusing and often causes the user to attempt to reload the error page, which then fails.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/gafaelfawr/handlers/login.py b/src/gafaelfawr/handlers/login.py
index f710689ee..8c85be3e6 100644
--- a/src/gafaelfawr/handlers/login.py
+++ b/src/gafaelfawr/handlers/login.py
@@ -395,13 +395,16 @@ async def _construct_login_response(
 ) -> Response:
     """Handle the return from an external authentication provider.
 
-    Handles the target of the redirect back from an external authentication
-    provider with new authentication state information.
+    Handles the target of the redirect back from an external
+    authentication provider with new authentication state information.
 
-    If there is no authentication state in the user's cookie, it is likely
-    that the user was attempting logins in multiple tabs and already logged in
-    via some other tab. Redirect the user to their destination, which in the
-    worst case will just restart the authentication with proper state.
+    If there is no authentication state in the user's cookie, it is
+    likely that the user was attempting logins in multiple tabs and
+    already logged in via some other tab. Unfortunately, in this case we
+    have also normally lost the user's final destination, so redirect
+    them to the after logout page. We do not want to fail with an error
+    here, since that confuses the user and often causes them to try to
+    reload the login page, which will not work.
 
     Parameters
     ----------
@@ -416,15 +419,15 @@ async def _construct_login_response(
     Returns
     -------
     fastapi.Response
-        Either a redirect to the resource the user was trying to reach before
-        authentication, to the login URL, or an HTML page with an error
-        message if the authentication failed.
+        Either a redirect to the resource the user was trying to reach
+        before authentication, to the login URL, or an HTML page with an
+        error message if the authentication failed.
 
     Raises
     ------
     ExternalUserInfoError
-        Raised if an error is encountered retrieving user information from a
-        user information provider.
+        Raised if an error is encountered retrieving user information
+        from a user information provider.
     NoScopesError
         Raised if the user has no valid scopes.
     PermissionDeniedError
@@ -434,15 +437,17 @@ async def _construct_login_response(
         authentication provider.
     """
     return_url = context.state.return_url
-    if not return_url:
-        return await _error_user(context, LoginError.RETURN_URL_MISSING)
-    context.rebind_logger(return_url=return_url)
+    if return_url:
+        context.rebind_logger(return_url=return_url)
     if not context.state.state:
         msg = "Login state missing, redirecting without authentication"
         context.logger.info(msg)
-        return RedirectResponse(return_url)
+        redirect_url = return_url or str(context.config.after_logout_url)
+        return RedirectResponse(redirect_url)
     if state != context.state.state:
         return await _error_user(context, LoginError.STATE_INVALID)
+    if not return_url:
+        return await _error_user(context, LoginError.RETURN_URL_MISSING)
 
     # Retrieve the user identity and authorization information based on the
     # reply from the authentication provider, and construct a token.
diff --git a/tests/handlers/login_github_test.py b/tests/handlers/login_github_test.py
index 76522b415..2d54fed0f 100644
--- a/tests/handlers/login_github_test.py
+++ b/tests/handlers/login_github_test.py
@@ -623,3 +623,14 @@ async def test_invalid_state(
     )
     assert r.status_code == 307
     assert r.headers["Location"] == return_url
+
+    # Also drop the return URL, which is a more realistic case.
+    state.return_url = None
+    client.cookies.set(COOKIE_NAME, state.to_cookie(), domain=TEST_HOSTNAME)
+
+    # Now we should get a redirect to the after logout URL.
+    r = await client.get(
+        "/login", params={"code": "some-code", "state": query["state"][0]}
+    )
+    assert r.status_code == 307
+    assert r.headers["Location"] == str(config.after_logout_url)