Originally Posted by
dnwaldmann
First off - I'm not sure where this is the right place; it seemed to be the closest I could find...
I'm guessing that it's just the way it is, but wondering if there are any "tricks".
The issue is that you can't book any ticket more than X days into the future. So if you're planning a 3 week trip, by the time you're allowed to book the return, the first flight has been open for three weeks already. Off season that may not be an issue, but in peak it can mean jumping through hoops just to get a flight, never mind a preferable one (class, route, seats).
FWIW, I have miles available through Delta and United.
United allows you to book OW flights at half the mileage. I did this about a year ago on a 4-week trip for the reasons you mentioned, and it worked out fine. There are two possible downsides: 1) no stopover is permitted (open jaw is not an issues, since you're booking two OW flights); 2) if you need to cancel and redeposit your miles, you will be charged twice, since you have two separate reservations. But I was satisfied with what I did, and have recently done the same on AA.
Delta charges the same in mileage for OW as for RT, so this procedure isn't useful on DL.