What's up with ridiculously expensive one-way tickets from CX site?
 

Out of curiousity, I looked at tickets for Edinburgh <-> Hong Kong, since it's the only route I really fly anyways. Why is one-way much more expensive than returns? I'm looking at £2400 for EDI-HKG but £1500 for a return.

Hypothetically, could I get a return and cancel the return part?

Nothing unique to CX, most network airlines do this to push business travelers to buy more expensive flexible tickets. You can buy a return and not use it

Wouldn't that incur the no-show charge? It's still cheaper than one-way... still.

One-ways are notoriously booked in the highest most flexible booking class and as such expensive.
Your return is probably the cheapest available, completely inflexible, non-refundable, etc.

When you "not" fly segments, the ticket is not void, but still does have a value, which you can use for a later date. To change the booking for a later date, you have to contact the airline. Depending on the ticket conditions, you have to pay a change-fee and (if you did no-show on the original flight), have to pay the no-show fee. Both fees are subtracted from the remaining ticket value. For low cost tickets, this results in zero remaining ticket value, so your changed date flight will need a new ticket.
Be aware, the new ticket can be significantly more expensive, since often the lower tickets classes are sold-out and you have to purchase a very expensive full-flex ticket at walk-in rate.

I have never heard of airlines chasing after passengers with a no-show, though if you have a missed connection, with separate tickets/PNR's you are probably going to pay a lot more. What might happen, if you intentionally miss a last segment on a cheap married ticket, that the airline will try to "rebook" you to the destination where you dropped off. That can be a significant cost, though they will need to have good reasons to do so.

Given the difference in pricing, it often happens, people purchase a return in-stead of a one-way and just throw away the return leg (ie no show).

You're right - I mistakenly looked at Standard tickets for the £1500 figure. It's actually £1900 for the Flex return tickets. The figure for one way is Flex however. Still doesn't explain the huge price parity. Could I simply call them after I fly the one-way and cancel the return + ask for a refund? Even if I get zero dollars back I'm still better off.

When you "change" a ticket, they will recalculate for the new route and you'll be back at the original pricing for the one-way + rebooking fees. So, if the departure of your virtual return is going to be set in stone, and you don't need the flexibility on departure: Just purchase the cheapest return.

What you can try to do, is if, you want to fly PE or J, is get the outbound in J and the return in the cheapest Y. That'll result in a return ticket, where you are maybe able to get a low-price J fee and a low-price Y fee. For this, you have to call in. Never mention, you are going to drop the return leg.

Yes you can, but most fares have heavy penalties for cancelling the return after flying the first segment. After adding the cancellation fees you may end up with nothing anyway. If your time is better spent elsewhere rather than on the phone with CX, then forget about calling them..!

Like @flubber said, even if I call in to get a cheap "virtual" Y return, I might have to pay on top to cancel the flight? Sounds awful. I wonder what the cancellation fees are in general.

Even if worst case I book a virtual PY return for £1900, that would still be a £400 cancellation fee before I break even. Thoughts?

EDIT: It would appear that common sense has eluded me. Of course - the refund fee is deducted from however much the cost of the unflown sectors were.

My suggestion is a mixed cabin booking, where your return is in the cheapest flying (and if possible booking) class. Whenever you go the cancel-return route, your WHOLE ticket will be recalculated to the factual one-way flight you fly and expensive again (+ cancel fee). Forget about cancellation, refunds, etc, unless you have pretty flexible tickets (you would know so, since you would have paid a fortune for it). Just buy the cheapest return, when possible/wanted mixed cabin :D

i usually get presented EUR 300 cancellation fee (it's visible in the ticket conditions, when you book). YMMV.

300 euros, ouch!! If I do try this, I should get the cheapest ticket possible for the virtual return, then... no show? I thought no-show fees were always higher than cancellation.

The no-show fee would be another EUR 300.00 :D
And the rebooking fee is also EUR 300.00.

So, I plan my connections carefully, so I am pretty sure, to be "on-time".

Though these are J class fees.

Just go the no-show route. Though you have to phone in to CX to get a mixed cabin ticket, which in turn would be another nasty experience, sorry, I did not mention this earlier. Unless you are a DM, expect to be on hold for an hour or longer. You may want to try by email, maybe that's easier/faster, I don't know. Expect another fee for "over the phone booking", for items they don't sell on-line. Some EUR 40 or so.

So what that means is, if I buy a mixed ticket with a Y return leg that I will never fly, I will be charged the no-show plus rebooking fee if I try to claim a refund? I assume that they won't charge my card automatically when I no-show. Or can I avoid the no-show fee by calling them beforehand and saying "oops I can't fly haha" (then applying for a refund to see if I get a penny back)

I have done many no-shows especially on Mileage Runs at destinations I don't care much about and have no intention of going back. I have never been charged for a "no-show fee" but then again, I have never called CX to try to claim a refund for the unused segment!

Just no-show, forget about calling in. It is highly unlikely, they will charge you an additional no-show fee if you not show up. Your no-show is the "end-of-the-deal", remaining ticket value will be "grabbed" by CX to cover the no-show fee, etc. The rebooking fee is only applicable, when you change the date of the return, which is not something you want anyway and will be able to, since your low-cost Y ticket will be non-rebookable anyway (as according the ticket conditions).