Time to resurrect this thread...

Which route/airline did you book and which class?
MAN-FRA-HND//NRT-ICN-FRA-MAN in LH C/F and OZ F (2.5 hr flight on 744)

How many pax and how many award miles?
1 pax, 210K miles plus £629 taxes

How many days/weeks/months did you book in advance?
6 weeks

Have you been able to book your preferred dates of travel?
Within a day or two of the original plan.

Were you happy with the award booking procedure (e.g. online/by phone)?
6 out of 10. Called the UK SEN number but the agent first tried to book me on LX. After I told her I wanted to fly to HND she could not book me on a connecting flight with a long layover in FRA. So I had to book the outbound online.

How often did you have to check/call until you got the seats?
Once. But I've done a lot of preparation.

I've never flown on the 744 with new F. FRA-TYO flights used to (still do until the end of March) arrive around midnight European time and I can't usually sleep on these flights. Starting in the Summer 2014 schedule most flights to TYO will arrive in HND and FRA-HND will depart almost 5 hours later so there's a chance I may be able make use of the bed. On the way back there was no F award availability ex-HND, so I decided to have a 23hr 50mins layover in Seoul to fly back on the 748i.