After weeks of looking for non-stops out of EWR roundtrip I tried the one way trick and it worked and booked direct with United economy seats. Round trip for 2 went from $1900 to $1100. Was very happy for a $550 fare each ,round trip but now after reading the threads about AA canceling bookings etc, feeling like United might do the same and I am checking the reservation every day.

Initially I booked unit separate and then round trip fares- with travelociity and was able to get round trip nonstop with AA, one hour later it was changed ..to a one stop MIA going and then....return to MIA and leaving us in St Thomas. Had to cancel that and there was very little help from travelocity other than to cancel the flights which I did and the search began for our flights as the room was booked.

The compromise was we need to stay an extra two days to get the nonstop fares out of EWR which when you think about it not that bad. Still don't have anything book for the last 2 days of our trip but I am confident getting a decent rate on those last two days will be much easier than the nonstops. I recall pre Irma/Covid/inflation it was easy to find the fares at around 500 each.