I haven't used my United miles for a saver award in a lot of years. I've managed to accumulate about 270K points after flying a fair amount in recent years and wanted to look into a business class saver award for my wife and me. I'm a Premier Executive and unlikely to reach 1K this year, so I won't qualify for the wider availability of saver award dates that 1K status offers.

I started checking today for anything from my general area (ORF or IAD) to AKL and SYD and came up with nothing through next September. I couldn't find anything to western Europe (e.g., LHR) for the next 331 days, either. I managed to find some domestic availability (e.g., ORF to SFO), but pickings were very slim. Are business class saver awards from the US to international destination even possible? Is my search strategy all wrong?

Any advice would be welcome. Thanks.