Two single reward tickets cheaper than a round trip!

Its weird, but 2 single reward tickets seem cheaper than a round trip:

When booking from the US, an Economy round trip NYC>LHR rewards flight is $444 in fees, (plus 25,000 miles) However, two single reward bookings same flights are $132 outbound and $282 return - total $414. A saving of $30!

It's not a lot, but worth having. There's your Heathrow Express paid for, at least! Makes no sense to me - can someone explain why this is ?

Odd!

Another weird one I saw was on the VS website: looked to see what the prices were doing on VS29 on 28th of this month (returning on 12th October). The cheapest PE seat available outbound was more than £200 more expensive that the cheapest UC seat. I guess the PE fare included some flexibility but if this is the reason, there's nothing on the page pointing this out...

That often happens - it's simply because the cheapest PE fare buckets have sold out so it's offering the most expensive, most flexible bucket. I agree it does look odd for the average passenger who doesn't understand the various buckets.

Re the OP's post - I assume it's something to do with differences between US and UK taxes.

Odd!

Another weird one I saw was on the VS website: looked to see what the prices were doing on VS29 on 28th of this month (returning on 12th October). The cheapest PE seat available outbound was more than £200 more expensive that the cheapest UC seat. I guess the PE fare included some flexibility but if this is the reason, there's nothing on the page pointing this out...

I know that when you search for a cheapest available club ticket on BA, if First is cheaper, it will automatically select it and tell you!