The intent until she arrived was to fly the return. Then we looked at J award availability and decided to splurge.
Throwaway costs the airline money when you fly only one way and don't pay the one-way fare. If you actually fly both directions the airline has no reasonable expectation that you would have bought two overpriced one-way fares rather a round-trip fare. I believe that if you fly the same airline both ways they have made their normal amount of money from you. (Domestically this would be no issue because round trip fare is the sum of one-way fares. It's only flights beyond the USA that a one-way can cost more than a round trip.)
She's throwing away half of a
$279 RT TATL ticket, in circumstances where the OW would have cost over $3000. This is exactly what the throw-away ticketing rules intend to prohibit.
It's not a moral issue. But it's a very clear violation of the CoC. All attempts at rationalization notwithstanding.