At the end of this month I will be making my last flight between BHX and BKK after some 10 years of regular commuting.

As this is the last flight, I’ve decided to treat myself and fork out on a J flight (all previous self-funded fights have been in Y except for the occasional upgrade using my miles or opup).

I’ve just looked on EK for a single J ticket BHX-DBX-BKK and been quoted Ł2042.01. This showed that the ticket was a Flex.

I then did a couple of other searches (using the same outbound date and flights) but requesting a return flight.

A return J was quoted at Ł2012.11, some Ł30 less than the single, and both ‘legs’ this time showed they were Saver fares.

A third search requesting a J on the outbound and a Y on the return was quoted at Ł1446.11, nearly Ł600 less than the single fare. Both ‘legs’ showed as Saver fares.

In the ‘good old days’ I seem to recall that a return fare was normally made up of 2 singles. It now seems that a return is cheaper than a single. I know that I’m getting long in the tooth but I fail to see the logic?

If anyone can advise how I can get a single J Saver fare it would be much appreciated.

I think that your recollection is flawed. There are some routes around where this may apply but it isn't the norm

Buying a return can be cheaper than a single but the change rules/refund rules can be very different.

The one way cheapest fares also have better availability than cheapest r/t saver fares ( I class vs O class )

EK has regularly had one way fares that aren't half the return fare, no surprise. For as long as I can remember, the cheapest r/t DXB-SIN was cheaper than a one way, because only higher fare buckets are offered on the o/w

Not just limited to EK... i found the same on BA and AA recently on a route i wanted. Not only that they were unable to do a date change (even though they had seats available) but they were on a much higher fare bucket, this 24 hours prior to the flight...

Airline fares that are logical? Since when??

That's so true

Most intl. carriers have for a long time sold RT at less than 2xOW, often at less than 1xOW.

The largest variable in commercial carrier pricing is flexibility. That's largely what you've got here.

If truly your last flight, won't matter if you "throw away" the last segment. If you do it regularly, you get bagged.