One way gouging
 

What is the deal with one way airline tickets!? They’re always almost as expensive as round trip and sometimes on the net, one way isn’t even an option. I want to fly home and then drive my car back to school, but the prices are ridiculous.

gouging
 

I’ve heard that airline don’t give you a break on one ways because they are trying to discourage people from taking them. I’ve seen some one way fares that were more expensive than round trip if you can believe it. It’s cheaper to buy a round trip then not use the return flight. You might check online at StudentUniverse and see if they have anything cheap. I know they have some one way deals.

And, be prepared, when you buy a one way ticket you get a security flag so they will be searching you very carefully.

I was once going to St. Louis, then driving to Chicago with mr. honeychile, then flying home. The cost of the flight as originally planned was roughly $1,300!!! If I would have bought two round trip tickets (one from Pittsburgh to St. Louis, the other Chicago to Pittsburgh), the cost would have been $480.-ish. So, I used my Dividend Miles. Silly people.

I don't think it's fair to say you drop a security flag getting a one-way ticket -- that's getting more and more common with the "cheap" airlines (FlyI, Ted, JetBlue) because they almost exclusively sell one-way tickets.

What you WILL drop a security flag for:
* being a foreign national, especially from a few specific countries
* photographing/videotaping an airport
*attempting to bring "no-no" items on the plane that clearly aren't mistakes (i.e. your 8 inch butcher knife, but not your quarter inch Swiss Army)
*refusing to comply with requests to do things like take off your shoes, have the security personnel look in your bags, etc.
* wearing inappropriate clothing -- heavy overcoat, etc in the summer

Normal American citizens behaving naturally, wearing appropriate clothing, and acting cooperatively will NOT raise a red flag. The security personnel are actually pretty good at what they do and pretty educated in what to look for, believe it or not.

The one way ticket security flag has been well reported.

one article

That link kind of doesn't say anything. It has some unnamed travelers who say they get held up sometimes but no one can confirm that's why.

I'm sure there are other sites making a stronger connection. I guess my point is, you may get held up at the airport, but there are a *lot* of reasons that happens, not just one-way tickets.