My thoughts are that this needs putting back to the old system and thinking through again. It’s problematic in so many ways and creates a whole minefield of complexity when it comes to schedules - not least as it renders interlining close to useless (unless you and your partners flights align perfectly in both directions).
There’s so many more unintended consequences but I think we’ve highlighted a good few of them. I’d love more complexity on the scheduling side - something like crew rostering would be brilliant - but this change seems to only have negative consequences. If return fares are wanted, I feel this would be better as something acheived through fares.