I'm trying to spend an evening and a day in Tokyo, however the gods inside the AA booking systems are making it very expensive.

If I fly BKK-LAX:
flt 5833
lv BKK 10:55pm on 1/17/06
arr NRT 6:40am on 1/18/06
flt170
lv NRT 5:25pm on 1/18/06
arr LAX 10:10am 1/18/06
IT ONLY COSTS ME $669

However, if I try to book flt 170 (NRT-BKK) by itself, my price goes up to $1665

(I had wanted to arrive in Tokyo earlier in the day on the 17th and catch a flight back to Los Angeles in the early evening on the 18th, rather than take a red-eye and be tired all day on the 18th)

I called the Plat office and they got the tariff people on the phone who explained that because they are different markets, there is a dramatic fare difference.

Has anyone encountered this issue before? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.