That might cover short-haul, but not necessarily for long-haul.

If I wanted to (ab)use the system (as was), I'd book 3-4 redemptions over a period of days/weeks for the outbound leg, do the same for the return flight (when availability opened up) and then cancel the un-needed flights when my own availability became clear. If I used a 241, i've have it applied to the flights i eventually decided to keep.