If the whole ticket was fully flexible and refundable then you would get all of the unused part back. But if it has a combination of fare rules, as you are planning, then you would get all of the unused fully refundable part back MINUS any repricing and penalties for changing the sectors that were not fully refundable or flexible.

A return ticket is not like two singles, and converting the discounted outbound of a return to a one way incurs the associated fare increase and penalties, irrespective of whether there are further penalties or not for cancelling the return.

Cheap tickets are cheap for a reason - usually including less flexibility and higher penalties. The way to separate the return from the restrictions and penalties of a cheap outbound is to buy them as separate tickets.

This policy is normal with all airlines to stop people circumventing the restrictions that make the cheap sectors cheap in the way you were planning.

Here is a guide to all of the restrictions and charges:

https://www.qatarairways.com/tradepo...d-Charges.html


Perhaps an easier way to think of it without all the airline speak is like this....

You go to a shop and they tell you that one item is $8 but you can have two for $10. So it sounds good, $5 each. Plus you can bring the second one back for a refund if you later decide you don't want it.

But when you take the second one back they tell you the refund is $2 rather than $5. The second item is still fully refundable but because you have now kept only one item you have to pay $8 for that one instead of the net $5 for buying two.

Airline tickets are the same. Single tickets cost more per sector than returns, and on top of any fare difference are the fare rule penalties for changing it. It’s normal business in pretty much any sector I can think of.