Strategy for booking JL in J with Avios?
I have been very successful in booking our flights on BA to Europe and on Qantas to Australia, always in J, using Avios. My strategy is to book the day and hour the seats are released----355-365 days in advance for those two airlines.
Now in the early stages of planning a trip to Japan, starting at either LAX or SFO. I have not been able to figure out when JL first releases their J award seats to OneWorld partners like BA. That is, I cannot find any at all, whether I look 355 or 330 days out. And the BA website does not offer an availability calendar for the JL flights (like it does for BA flights).
From reading the JL forum, it appears that the airline tends to release a number of J and maybe F seats very close to the travel date, like a week or two ahead. That will not work for us at all.
Does anyone when (or if) the award seats are originally released? Is there a better way to get them, such as calling BAEC instead of booking online?