Hi all,
Award trip for JJJJS + significant other to Japan with LH.

Back in June (exactly 330 days out) I managed to book a single trip LH4945 Business EDI-FRA, LH710 1st FRA-NRT, flying out Sat 25/4/08. Only one seat available at the time, so hedged my bets with further 2 seats LH4945 Business EDI-FRA, LH736 1st FRA-NGO (Nagoya Chubu), NH3204 Econ NGO-NRT. All 3 seats booked cash + miles (+ huge taxes etc.) Better availability on the way back direct Sat 9/05/09, 2 seats LH711 1st NRT-FRA, LH4942 Business FRA-EDI, again booked 330 days out, cash + miles.

I’ve been watching the ANA tool off & on, and today noticed a new single seat released on direct LH710. No routing available if you looked as EDI-NRT, but available if checking single legs.

Called ICC to change one of the EDI-FRA-NGO-NRT to EDI-FRA-NRT, plus cancel the other one – 7 minutes to pick up the phone, then very helpful assistant (Suhil?). Initially couldn’t see seat, but with prompting found the single legs available. Checked with supervisor if OK to change then took £25 change fee. At this point problem flagged up as original booking made as cash+miles – have had to pay the difference in miles, as LH 1st not available as C+M even for change to pre-existing booking. Being honest, I kind of expected this but thought others would like to know. 20 minutes on the phone in total

Lessons learned:
1. Amendments to existing cash & miles bookings in LH 1st no longer allowed, instead have to pay the difference
2. Always watch for extras seats being released – extra LH 1st released almost exactly 3 months after I grabbed the first one - not bad in the lead up to a national holiday in Japan
3. Always check single leg routings on ANA tool & always ask the ICC to do the same

Thanks to everyone on the BMI Flyer talk board who have indirectly made this trip possible.^^^
Looking forward to the FCT...

Cheers, JJJJS

PS there should be 2 LH736 1st seats FRA-NGO released soon, for anyone one who wants to visit the Toyota factory etc.