I think you are missing the point, Matt is alluding to. The "fly within 1-year from the date of booking" rule has been in place for ages and is an industry standard. You might think that how does a few hundred/ or thousand dollars affect an airline but there are hard economics that force to airline to institute such rules.
I think there are tons of rules and practices the airlines have that are unfair, but this isn't one of them.
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