Is it your job that could potentially prevent you from traveling on the selected dates? Is there a point in time when you better know your availability? (e.g., 6 months out?) I honestly don't think the 11 month rule is as magical as it once was: I've done 11 month searches and found zip; I've done searches 1 month out and found 2 J seats together on an acceptable routing. I think if you had a few months notice, and a bit of reasonable date flexibility, and some knowledge of where to query different airlines' award inventory, you'd find J seats somewhere acceptable.

I think your real choice is a regular J award now or not booking yet at all. You can always snag the AAnytime Y award later.

In a roundabout sort of way, if we're doing a large international trip, I kind of like locking in the dates 6-9 months in advance. That allows me plenty of time to plan my work and also provides structure to my schedule, especially if it's a summer trip where we're trying to fit 15 other things around it.