How to book AAdvantage award flights around a year in advance?

Frequent Flyer Programs
1

Hi - I need some advice.  We are planning a trip to Europe next year (2016) - departing MEL or SYD in late April and returning in mid-June.  I’m looking at the current AA promotion and trying to decide if it is realistic to plan to book award flights (we only have around 1 week of flexibility in dates at the start and end of the trip).

Given that award seats are released by date (I think it is 330 days in advance) - how do I go about booking?  Should I book the first leg as soon as seats are released and then 6 weeks later book the return leg?  Or should I wait until I can be certain that there are seats available on both of the dates I want?

2

What’s your intended destination(s) in Europe? And are you looking to fly Business or First?\r\nAny other constraints in terms of how many seats, family friendly routings etc - basically how flexible are you overall?

3

Personally, assuming you have some certainty that award seats will open up on the route and class you are looking for, I would book the outbound first on one ticket, then book the return on a separate ticket once they open up. Worst case scenario you’ll lose the cancellation fees on the first ticket if the return flights don’t open up.

4