I ended up calling back and getting new rep and sure enough she checked and immediately said she saw the space so I booked it. Its just frustrating dealing with AA sometimes. In any event I have my arrival and departure flights booked for my long haul segments. although I will probably switch over from JAL to CX close in when CX space opens up. As it is this trip would last three weeks which is a bit longer than I would like and I will want to start it a couple days later. Still it made sense to book more than 21 days out to avoid the close in booking fee and CX seems to have very good availability once I get close in and I'd rather at least have a flight than worry about something going wrong and nothing opening up.