Basically no airline can issue a ticket entirely open jaw.. even after the 1st confirmed segment.. For an itinerary to exist, there has to be an active 'live' segment somewhere.

I think number_6 meant that if the ticket was to be issued say in Nov 07, for travel starting next Sep 08, the validity of that ticket is till Sep 09. Thought not entirely Kosher, some people using paper tickets have successfully used it beyond their supposed expiry date. It could be that some ticket offices do not bother putting down the date of expiry on (mostly) hand written tickets. With e-tickets, this loophole will forever be closed. As well as using coupons out of sequence!