Different flight times offered when booking return flights?

[TracyK]

I'm trying to get decent flight times for flying to Palma in Oct. Using skyscanner and thomascook.com etc.

If I choose a single fare option search I get much less search results than if I put in a return date option. Does this mean that sometimes you have to book a 'return package' as such to get onto some flights
ie I couldn't fly out with Easyjet and return with Thomas Cook?

You can fly out with one airline and back with another, I have done it before. If you look at Skyscanner you can choose a different airline for each way. I'm not sure why you would get less options looking at one way.

If I put in that I want a return ticket - I get thomas cook options that say charter next to it - would that make a diff?