And keep looking!

A friend was able to book a single F ticket 330 days out (booked this past January for next Dec.). I tried the same night and had no luck at all.

Fast forward to just last week - I kept checking expertflyer.com, and suddenly some seats opened up! I saw at least two open F seats on one flight, and a single on another flight (which I nabbed). I had to stay a few days longer than I would have preferred to get a flight home (now staying three weeks), but overall it was a fairly painless process. You just have to be vigilant and keep checking, you never know when things might open up.