It's not particularly new to summer 2025. It's been ongoing for years and in some respects has to do with things like AA, BA, CX, etc. reserving their awards for their own loyalty programs instead of partners, and in some cases does have to do with AS like the new charts (which demolished some amazing values that frankly stuck out like sore thumbs), or losing options like EK, AF, KL (trading IB/AY for AF/KL is a losing trade if you want to go to Europe from the USA).

That being said I know DE and AY availability isn't "330 days or you're doomed". My DE and AY awards have been made when it comes up, sometimes months into the schedule it just opens up.

Frankly if your goal is regular J/F award redemptions, having multiple sources of points and miles to draw from is far preferable than being stuck in one system in a world where partner availability is intentionally diminished (not by AS, but by partners). I do not particularly perceive an advantage of sending all my domestic airline travel to AS because of MP, when my annual accrual on card SUBs and spend multipliers outweighs annual accrual via travel substantially. The differential between MP and SkyPesos just isn't big enough to tip the scales. This doesn't mean I won't fly AS or accrue MP (I don't particularly find MP to be a good "coach award airline", I'd rather have SkyPesos) but it means MP as a differentiator compared to the holy trinity of price/service/time isn't often a factor.