[QUOTE=VegasGambler;35750370]Last year (2022) I booked J award flights to Rome and back on AY. The travel was late June to early-mid July and IIRC I booked in March. PHX-ORD-HEL-FCO (booked with AA miles) and flew back FCO-HEL-JFK, booked with AS miles with a stopover in HEL.

This year (2023) at the end of March, I booked PHX-SEA-CDG on TN for July-August travel, with a return of FCO-HEL-JFK on AY (both directions in J with AA miles)

I also have DFW-HEL-FCO, FCO-HEL-LAX (all J) booked for next year late May - early June, but I booked that at the end of August this year so it's a little too early to meet your criteria for booking 4-5 months after the schedule opened up.

I'm not sure if it meets your criteria of "significant availability" but I didn't have a ton of flexibility on dates (in particular, the trip in 2022 was for a family wedding and a week of preceding activities, so I wanted to be there very specific days) and I was still able to find awards that met my needs, even booking in spring for peak summer travel. I did have flexibility with gateways though, which always helps. [/QUOTE]

Key Words.

That is why the concept of positioning flight is important if one still wants to find availability.