Hello all,
I purchased a round trip domestic award on AA. Now I can’t use the return half of the round trip. Is there a best way to cancel the return half, to maximize the miles and $ I get refunded, if any? FWIW, I don’t want to just cancel the entire round trip and rebook the outbound half at current prices, because the current price for the outbound alone is more than the round trip price I paid when I originally booked the trip.

As I see the options, they are:
1) Call AA now and cancel the return half.
2) Fly the outbound half, then call and cancel the return
3) Just walk away from the return half and sacrifice the cost.

Is there any particular advantage to one of these options over the others?

I am already well aware that it was a mistake to purchase the original ticket as a round trip instead of two one way trips…

Thanks very much for your wisdom.