Originally Posted by paulj2k
it seems like you almost have to book 10 months in advance.
That's worked well for me!
Just returned from Athens, booked last Feb. 2.
In the last few months I have booked three other domestic award tickets 2 days to 2 months out and have always received standard coach awards on the flights I wanted.
I was able to get one DTW-ACA-DTW award trip to come up for 47.5K miles (depart 3/3, return 3/11) but could not repeat it a few minutes later. If you can manage 47.5K miles somehow, you might keep trying or call the elite line.
Otherwise, some tenacity might pay off, if someone cancels his/her plans and you are looking at just the right moment.