It worked! Thanks UAE777! I was able to call up the exec platinum desk and they had to talk to various folks to make it happen, but they said they'd let me change fares waving the fare change fee for the tickets. Thanks to everybody on flyertalk for helping figure this out.
Originally Posted by
UAE777
I have had exactly the same issue in May this year as I needed to book a TATL leaving for the US in August and planning to come back in June 2014. This wasn't possible as no dates in June were available for booking yet...so I ended up calling AA and was surprised by their generous policy.
Here is a quick summary of what they told me - and yes, it worked:
1) Book flight on aa.com and pick a preliminary departure date for the return flight that is close to the latest date currently available for booking
2) Call AA and advise them that you could not book your desired return date as it is not available for booking yet. They will add a note to your reservation.
3) Once your desired return date is available for booking (just check aa.com) call AA again and ask them to change your booking.
In this situation AA will give you a one-time waiver for the ticket change fee and as long as there is availability in the same fare bucket as your original booking you will not incur any additional cost.
However, you would need to pay any fare differences if, for example, you originally booked an N-bucket ticket, but there is only L-bucket availability.
Expertflyer will help you keep track of that.
Personally, I really found this to be very generous of AA and did not find any other US or European carrier offering this.
I hope this helps for your planning.