Originally Posted by
Emirated
(Pity there isn't such a thing as being able to book a return flight with a confirmed departure date under 365 days ahead, and, say, a set date for the return, even though it's over a year away ... that way they'd still have my money, for even longer, and I wouldn't have all the worry!
)
I've done similar to this in the past when I've called them pre-booking, described my predicament and had them agree to put a note on the ticket that I would get one free date change for when my preferred return date opened up.
It was a few years ago and I can't recall all the details but it was for similar reasons to you that I wanted to grab cheaper fares on their release for peak dates on the outbound before they were all gone.