I am not sure if you will have any better success on other airlines except SWA (and that bird doesn't fly to Europe....yet). But it is depressing to hear yet another report from someone who is unable to book off-peak award flights far in advance of their travel dates.

AA and the other carriers could go a long ways towards improving customer satisfaction by providing more detailed information on when they plan to make seats available (if at all). But of course that is "proprietary" info (as if their competitors don't already use similar formulas).