Originally Posted by Kacee

So you can book that Nov. 10 LAX-ICN-SYD outbound right now for 80,000 miles. The ICN-SYD leg would be in Y. If you search for awards LAX-SYD, that routing will show up on the united.com search results (towards the bottom of the page). You could then hope that better saver award options will open over the next two weeks (odds are good they will) and change the award. That change would cost $100 per ticket.

Alternatively, you could wait until something better opens to book. That would save you the change fees; the risk is that nothing better may open and you wind up with no flights.

Or if you can travel Nov. 5, book the SFO-SYD routing in F for 80,000 miles.

For the return, you would basically book whatever you can now, and then keep watching for better options. Subject to the $100 per ticket change fee (assuming the change is made within 21 days of departure).