What's the trick with one way air fare?

As so many people have told me, I'm looking for my air ticket 6-4 months ahead.  I'm planning to leave round December/January.  Now, having looked at the air fares, I see that one way tickets for the same departure are twice as expensive as round trip.  What's up with that?  What if I buy round trip, what will I do with the remaining return ticket?  Can I just ignore it and not go?  Can I sell it to someone? 

What have you people done?  How much was your ticket?  The ones I looked at were round $400-500 round trip, and over $800 one way.  What is your story?

you kind of get caught up in an endless cycle of round trip tickets. fortunately, i've been able to use all of the ones i've booked.

it is a joke, paying double just for a one-way fare.

I got a round trip ticket from St. Louis to London Heathrow for ~$320 total last November. I got the fare through www.1800flyeurope.com. It shows times but not the airline until you purchase the ticket but you can figure out who it is looking at what comes up on Orbitz or Expedia. You'll have better luck getting a good one way deal using a consolidator like 1800 Fly Europe or Cheap Tickets vs Expedia or the airlines themselves.

You are under no obligation to use the return portion of your ticket but you will not be able to sell it on.

I had no problem with my one-way.  It cost around $320 and roundtrips were running for $500 for the same departure, *shrug*.  I fly Virgin - maybe it depends on the airline?

Mobissimo.com is my favorite search for flights...it searches all the low-price engines so you can compare.

Try playing with your dates a bit - sometimes that helps.

the only way I've been able to get cheap one ways is by virtue of being a student.  (Although...I'm not technically a student now as I graduated in May and won't start grad school until September...but I was still able to use my old uni email address to get my $332 one way ticket.)

Aer Lingus do one way fares. I think it may be easier to fly one way from certain cities. Where will you be flying from/to?

I got one way from Aer Lingus through Orbitz...$300ish...

I did One-Way, on Virgin Atlantic but through STA Travel (they do student and youth ie under 25 travel). I got mine for $600 from Orlando - London. Roundtrip would have been around $1000 or more (because of the time of year) but I decided to just to the one-way on STA because the other one way tickets I saw were around $800. I was going to do a RT ticket and save the other half for coming home to visit, but I decide to keep it simple in the end.

the only way I've been able to get cheap one ways is by virtue of being a student.  (Although...I'm not technically a student now as I graduated in May and won't start grad school until September...but I was still able to use my old uni email address to get my $332 one way ticket.)

I did the same (only as a *youth* since I graduated in April but am not doing further schooling) however mine was twice that price  Because I'm flying out of Orlando to London in mid August - smart 

I was planning to fly from Philadelphia, PA, as this is the closest airport city (only 30 minutes drive), but I might as well do Newark, NJ.  And round $300 is what I was hoping to find.  No, I'm not a student anymore, I just graduated in May.  Last time I went to London was through STA Travel, and got my round trip ticket for round $600, which was in March.  And thanks for the advice, I really should play round with my dates, since I'm not sure of the exact date yet.  It depends on the job I'll be able to get to earn the money for the move.  Oh, and thanks for the websites, they're a lot of help