Originally Posted by
eefor jfp
If the cost of a one way ticket back is reasonable (and sometimes it is) just use Avios for the outbound. This type of situation does make me thankful that as a gold card holder I at least have the choice of using double Avios to force availability on reward tickets. It's particularly useful for European destinations during the summer.
I agree when you consider the impact of APD out of the U.K., but logically that approach (if widely taken) would cause the opposite issue to what the OP is finding where there is outbound but not inbound availability...