I get a number of appointments from out of town clients who are traveling to NYC on business. They will often communicate several weeks in advance to check my general availability during their planned visit, even though they cannot commit to a day or time. As the trip draws closer, they will take care of screening if I am still on their "short list."  I think this is a smart and courteous way to proceed and it  allows me to accommodate short notice arrangements when their schedules ultimately fall into place.

I generally only hobby when I travel for business. I usually know my dates and sometimes even available times for extracurricular activities  a few months in advance. Once I know I will be in  a particular city I email the woman whom I would like to see, sometimes repeats and sometimes new faces. More often than not we are able tentatively  able to confirm meetings ( or know that she will be traveling and unavailable)  that  far in advance.
I am sure that this approach is quite unusual however.

Give her a range of time in advance,  and tell her as soon as you can firm up you'll agree on  a specific date.  That should work out fine for both of you rather than last minute.

Life I always had my schedule planned far in advance. It was quite common for my friends to know up to 6 months in advance, an one even had a standing annual appointment with me as he knew he would be in my city same time each year. I loved that!! and the build up of anticipation is also quite a turn-on for me. Of course, these engagements were for weekends and overnights, so the mutual interest went far beyond the private spaces...

I get too much angst about last minute appointments, wondering if they will cancel, not getting a chance to know them too well in advance, etc. I suppose I am getting used to that, however, as that's just the way it works in this realm. But I love when a man inquires in advance about my availability, as some still do.

I see that many women post their preference in this regard on their websites. If your lady has not, I don't think it would hurt to send her a preliminary email letting her know your intentions. There is no guarantee that it will work out, but then there isn't doing it any other way either.

weeks in advance. It is always a good idea to get the screening out of the way and then finalize the date/time. If your schedule is that inflexible, you might want to get screened by more than one lady in case your first choice can is not flexible enough to see you on short notice.

My .02

I welcome advance appointment requests the more notice the better.While,I know a gent who is traveling to my city might not know the exact day or his schedule yet but has an idea of when he is going to town I would rather he let me know.He can send his screening info to me I will verify him and then when he has a better idea of his schedule he we can set a date.That way when he gets into town and he might want to change the day or time I do not have to wait to verify him this works best for me.
Most of the time if my schedule allows I can do same day appointments in this case.
I had a gent request an appointment 2 months in advance he sent his reference info we confirmed a dayand everything went fine.Every provider works differently but I found advance notice works best for me rather than last minute.

Seems as though it all boils down to communicating and seeing what she says works best for her.

Appreciate each and every response.