Day of flight awards hardly ever happen as QF processes upgrade requests then (and there are usually far more upgrades -- paid for by miles -- than available seats. Also QF will fly with empty F and J seats rather than open up more award inventory. Basically any award seats will be from cancellation of awards by other people and those will happen a week or more before the flight. If you can't get a seat 2 days before the travel date, it is hopeless (unless you have higher than EXP status). At least this was the case for the last 3-5 years trans-Pac (but 2009 has *very* big decline in J/F bookings, so you picked a good time to try). Checking qantas.com for J/F award availabilty is good advice; when you see it there, phone AA immediately and you will get that seat (QF shares all such inventory with AA).