thanks for the welcome! I checked with UA and they told me you cannot book one way trips on international travel at this time.They told me I could book the outbound and leave the return open until the earliest date I could call. Since I am returning on a UA filght operated by Swiss I'm not sure if I can use miles for the open retun when I call 331 days ahead.

I have done this same senario with UA a couple a times where I got up at midnight 331 days ahead and called in to use the miles--I have never had a problem getting seats but I have always flown UA "metal" both ways. (Not sure what metal means?)